Coyotes ride hot start to win
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Akram Pacheco works his Turlock opponent into a pin at 145 pounds during a 42-25 victory Wednesday in Joe Flores Gym.
The Madera Coyotes wrestling team capitalized on five consecutive victories to open the match in an upset win over state ranked Turlock, 42-25, at home.
“They wrestled very hard,” Madera head coach Joe Romine said. “It’s early, so conditioning wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. They had some opportunities that they were able to take advantage of.”
Although Romine inherits a young team this time around, their performance against Turlock showed a lot about them.
“Anytime you can beat a really tough team like Turlock, they are ranked 24th in the state right now, that’s a pretty good accomplishment,” Romine said. “We graduated a few seniors last year, so I have what I consider a young team so it was a pretty good showing tonight.”
Madera tallied 24 straight points before the visiting Bulldogs scored. Coming into the game, Romine didn’t know what to expect, especially not such a hot start.
“I haven’t seen a lot of these guys wrestle too much,” Romine said. “Basically, I said I was pleased. Always, you can work on things, but for the most part, I was really pleased with their effort.”
By the time Turlock had any hope of a comeback, cutting the deficit to 33-19, the Coyotes’ Josh Romero pinned his man at 113-pounds to get six points and insure the win.
The Coyotes got off to a quick start behind Rudy Paredes at 132 pounds. After back-and-forth grappling, Paredes executed a takedown to increase his lead before he finished off his opponent with a pin. Madera took an early six-point lead and never looked back.
Madera won their second consecutive match after Matt Montelongo defeated his 138 pound opponent 9-4 after a tough battle back and forth. The home team led 9-0 after the first two matches.
Akram Pacheco continued the Coyotes’ dominance after he kept his 145 pound opponent on his back for the majority of the match, resulting in a pin and a 15-point team lead.
Andres Delgado, at 152 pounds, followed Pacheco’s lead and executed two takedowns in the first period and two more by the end of the third to beat his opponent 10-6.
The Coyotes then made it five in a row after 160 pounder Oscar Ruiz dominated the second period to pin his opponent.
Turlock finally got on the board after a 5-1 victory by Diego Cornejo, but it was too little too late for the visitors.
Josiah Morales stepped up after the Coyotes lost their first match and put his team back on the path to victory with a 10-6 win at 182 pounds.
“We had a senior in Morales who was really huffing and puffing out there,” Romine said. “He had chance where he could’ve cashed in his chips, but he stuck with it and got a last second takedown and secured the win. I was really happy for him and that was a mental toughness thing for him. That was a mental match for him.”
Madera’s 220-pounder Isaiah Hernandez recorded the quickest pin of the night, getting his opponent’s shoulders to the mat with 53 seconds left in the first period.
Turlock outscored Madera 25-21 down the stretch, but the Coyotes’ early lead ensured a victory. If there were any doubts however, Romero put those to rest.
Romero battled back and secured a pin in the 113-pound division in the second period. Although he was behind and was outmatched at first. With his teammates shouting his name, he clawed back and pinned his opponent.
Mario Moreno closed out the night with a 126-pound 6-2 victory.
