Coyotes get share of CMAC
Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune
The Madera Coyote wrestling team celebrates its seventh straight County/Metro Athletic Conference championship after winning the league tournament Saturday in Joe Flores Gym.
Six individual champs lead Madera to seventh straight county title
After losing to Madera South on a walk-off pin in a County/Metro Athletic Conference dual meet in January, the luster could be fading from six straight CMAC titles for the Madera Coyotes wrestling team.
However, with six individual championships, the Coyotes outscored the Stallions 245-216.5 to capture the CMAC tournament championship and earn Madera’s seventh straight CMAC title.
“I was a little worried,” Madera head coach Joe Romine said. “I always do the math because I’m a math teacher. I added up predicted points and I had us winning by six. You don’t have a lot of margin for error. We always try to look at the kids at what they can do rather than what they can’t do. Even if a kid hasn’t won a match all year, I know he’s got one in him. We kind of broke it down to where if every kid does their job, good things will happen.”
Madera South went undefeated through 12 duals, including four in the CMAC to win the dual meet portion of the championship. The Stallions had three individual championships Saturday in Joe Flores Gym.
What made the difference for Madera was four individual victories over Stallions wrestlers in the finals and three victories over the Stallions in third/fourth place matches.
“Anytime we went head-to-head against Madera South and come out ahead, those are key matches,” Romine said. “We won a few. At 220, Jonathan Perez was able to get a win for us after a tough semifinal loss. I was real proud of that senior. He had to be mentally tough to come back from a one-point loss from being in the finals to winning a head-to-head to third.”
For the Coyotes, Mario Moreno (113 pounds), Abraham Del Toro (132), Moses Contreras (138), Nathan Alvarado (145), Josh McMillon (152) and Jorge Gonzalez (160) won CMAC titles. Carlos Posas (106 pounds), Dylan Miracle (170) and Nathan Chavez (195) won CMAC championships for Madera South.
Despite the championships, Romine felt the turning point came in three third/fourth place matches when Madera went head-to-head against Madera South. Rudy Paredes defeated Matthew Posas at 126 pounds, Jonathan Perez defeated Santiago Madrigal at 220 pounds and heavyweight Isaiah Hernandez defeated John Urena, 5-3.
“Rudy battled in last match in the dual (against Madera South) and things didn’t go his way,” Romine said. “He got a win for third place. I was proud of those guys. Obviously, I was proud of our champions, but you look at your role players and I was happy for them and for the kids.”
At 106 pounds, Posas battled Madera’s Jonathan Solorio. Posas jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two takedowns and a two-point near fall. Solorio scored an escape points and points from two Posas stalling penalties for a 6-0 Posas victory.
Moreno took a 4-3 lead at the end of the first period over his Sanger opponent. He held the lead through a scoreless second period. Moreno ended the match with 4.7 seconds left with a pinfall. Paul Bustos fell behind 2-1 after the end of the first period of his 120 pound finals match and eventually fell victim to a pair of near falls and lost by decision, 9-1.
Del Toro and Madera South’s Florencio Hernandez had a tight match through all three periods. The match was scoreless after two periods. Del Toro chose to be on the bottom to begin the third period, but Hernandez elected to give Del Toro the escape to get a chance at a takedown. However, Del Toro held onto his position and recorded a 1-0 victory.
Contreras faced Madera South’s Garcia and took an early 2-0 lead. Garcia got the escape, but Contreras recorded another takedown with 54 seconds left in the first period. He scored a three-point near fall 11 seconds later. Contreras recorded a pinfall with 19.2 seconds left in the period for the victory.
At 147 pounds, Alvarado jumped to a 2-1 lead in the first period. He recorded an escape and a takedown to open a 5-1 lead in the second. He fell victim to an escape and takedown with 15 seconds left, but got an escape at the end of the period for a 6-4 lead.
In the third period, Beltran recorded an escape and takedown, but Alvarado escaped the hold with six seconds left to tie the match and force overtime. In the sudden death overtime, Alvarado recorded the match-ending takedown with 18.5 seconds left for a 9-7 victory.
McMillon battled Madera South’s Auggie Garcia for an epic match at 154 pounds. Garcia took the first lead with a takedown for the only points of the first period. McMillon got an escape and then recorded a takedown and a near fall to open a 5-2 lead before Garcia closed the period with an escape.
In an eventful third period, Garcia recorded an early escape. McMillon recorded a takedown 17 seconds later. However, Garcia got a reversal to cut McMillon’s lead to one. McMillon got an escape with 30 seconds left for an 8-6 lead. McMillon recorded a takedown to take a 10-6 lead, but Garcia got a reversal at the end of the period for a 10-8 McMillon lead when the final buzzer sounded. However, it was ruled that Garcia didn’t get two points and the match ended tied.
Both wrestlers battled through a scoreless overtime period. McMillon got a reversal eight seconds into the second overtime. However, in the second half of that overtime, McMillon held on before Garcia got an escape with seven seconds left, but McMillon won 12-11 for the title.
Gonzalez recorded four takedowns in his 160-pound match against Madera South’s Ricardo Adame. Adame recorded escapes from all of the takedowns, but Gonzalez scored an 8-4 victory.
At 170 pounds, Madera South’s Miracle was dominant. He led 6-2 at the end of the first period. He then jumped out to a 9-3 in the second before he started looking for the technical fall (ahead by 15 points). He got a takedown with a minute left and let his opponent escape. He added another takedown, his third of the match, and a near fall for a 16-4 lead heading into the third.
In the third, Miracle recorded three takedowns while allowing three escapes for a 22-7 technical fall just 47 seconds into the third period.
Madera Chavez Jonathan Contreras faced Sanger’s Andrew Azua at 184 pounds and fell to a takedown 19 seconds into the match. Contreras trailed 8-1 at the end of the second period and got an escape in the third for an 8-1 loss.
Chavez jumped out to an early lead in his 197 pound match. He got a first period takedown. He then got an escape and a takedown with 1:20 left in the second period for a 5-1 lead. He got an escape and another takedown in the third period to record an 8-1 victory.
