Coyotes leave no doubt over Stallions
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Mario Moreno works to get the advantage over Madera South’s Jaime Garcia. Moreno recorded Madera’s quickest pin of the night, getting Garcia 27 seconds into the match at 120 pounds.
After last year’s walk-off pin by the Madera South Stallions wrestling team, Madera Coyotes head coach Joe Romine was happy with the results from this year’s dual meet.
The Stallions won on a pin in the last match to defeat the Coyotes last year. This year, the Coyotes won 11 of 14 matches for a 63-8 victory to open County/Metro Athletic conference dual meet season.
“There was still some remembrances from last year,” Romine said. “I was proud of these boys. Our coaches do a great job of coaching these kids up. I have a good group of assistants this year.”
However, the Stallions were without seven wrestlers, who were out of the line up due to disciplinary reasons.
“There’s discipline action that needs to be taken by school administration on seven kids,” Madera South head coach Sal Gonzalez said. “The school and the district has to determine their eligibility for the season. It lets down our whole program. We built four years to get where we are. This was our year to bring home a state medalist for our program. Now four years of doing the right thing gets flushed away by bad decisions. It’s decisions the kids made and they have to face the consequences for the rest of their lives.”
In five of the 12 matches, the Coyotes won by pinfall. Two other matches ended in an injury default.
“They had a few guys out of their lineup,” Romine said. “That may have been a factor. We have a very solid team this year with not a lot of superstars. They are hard working kids and they came to wrestle tonight.”
“It was a tough day today,” Gonzalez said. “Tomorrow’s a new day. We’re back to square one and working. We need to focus on wrestling and get back to work with what we have. We can control our guys in the room that are making the right choices.”
The Coyotes opened the dual meet with pins in their first four matches. Jonathan Solorio picked up a pin at 113 pounds, 1:34 into the match. Mario Moreno, at 120 pounds, had the quickest pin of the night, recording a pinfall 27 seconds into the match.
Mauro Alejo took almost the whole first period to pin his opponent at 126 pounds. Rudy Paredes led 7-0 at 132 pounds before recording a pin with 25 seconds left in the second period.
Madera South’s Mathew Posas and Madera’s Matt Montelongo were tied at three, at 138 pounds, before Posas had to leave the match with a shoulder injury.
Madera’s Akram Pacheco used four takedowns to record an 8-3 decision over Madera South’s Miguel Hernandez at 145 pounds.
Florencio Hernandez of Madera South recorded three takedowns in the third period for a 9-3 decision over Madera’s Andres Delgado at 152 pounds.
Ricky Garcia, at 160 pounds, gave the Stallions their second victory in a row. He got an escape, takedown and two near fall points in the second period for an 8-3 victory over Oscar Ruiz.
Roman Guillen gave the Stallions their third straight victory, using a reversal and two near fall points for a 7-2 decision over Elias Garcia at 170 pounds.
Madera’s Josiah Morales won by pinfall with 25 seconds left in the second period at 182 pounds. Ranjel Miranda of Madera won by pinfall at 220 pounds with 14 seconds left in the second period.
At 285 pounds, Madera’s John Cook won by injury default after Roberto Vargas injured his elbow falling off the mat on the basketball court.
Codi Slayton, at 195 pounds, and Isaac Zuniga, at 106 pounds, each received forfeit victories.
