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Elijah Schoepp was the lone victor from the valley as San Lorenzo Valley High School wrestled against a very light-manned Santa Cruz Cardinals wrestling team in the schools Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League dual meet on Tuesday, Jan.17 at SLV.
Though the Cougars won the meet, winning five of the eight matches, the Cougar coaches took the win with a grain of salt.
“This is my first time as a coach to lose a meet on the mat but win the meet overall,” said SLV Head Coach Ken Pollastrini. “Don’t get me wrong, I have lost a lot of matches, but losing on the mat like this was a first for me. (The Cardinals) wrestled us very well tonight.”
The victory was bittersweet for the Cougars as the Cardinals had brought only four wrestlers to the match and three of the Santa Cruz wrestlers won by pin. SLV won four matches by forfeit.
“They matched up really well against our weaknesses, unfortunately for us,” Pollastrini said. “None of our top wrestlers had any real competition to wrestle against.”
Schoepp, a senior, pinned his freshman opponent in the first round on a night where every match ended in a pin and the entire meet took only 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Cougar senior Ben Landauer, the Central Coast Section’s No.1 ranked 220-pound wrestler and SLV’s other elite were sidelined because they did not have any opponents.
“He was really raw, I could tell right away that he was inexperienced,” Schoepp said. “It is always tough in this sport for a freshman to do well against a senior.”
The Cougars will hit the mat again this weekend on Friday and Saturday Jan. 20 and 21 at the Mid Cal tournament at Gilroy High. The team’s next dual meet will be at Scotts Valley high in a cross town rivalry match at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24.
Falcons best Harbor
Scotts Valley High School defeated Harbor High School 46-27 at a dual meet Jan. 17 at Harbor High School. At 108 pounds, Scotts Valley’s Michael Sandavol defeated JJ Mazon by decision 12-0. At 115 pounds, SV’s Kevin Edington defeated Anthony Cursma by a pin. At 122 pounds, SV’s Jake Revino topped Rolando Colmares with a pin in the second period.
Grant Margerum pinned Carlos Garcia in the first period in the 128 pound weight class. At 134, Shelby Baker lost to Harbor’s Willy Macchada a pin. At 140 pounds,
SV’s Devin Fleschute fell to Alex Kavaldoa by a pin. At 147 pounds, Doug Peyser won by forfeit for the Falcons. At 154 pounds, Andy Ramirez lost 1-8 to Harbor’s Brian Battisto. At 162 pounds, SV’s Scott Boynton won by forfeit. In the 172 pound class SV’s Baldan Dashiev won by forfeit and at 184 pounds, SV’s Daniel Garcia won by forfeit. The Falcons wrestle next at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24 at home against San Lorenzo Valley.
