Terra Nova's varsity wrestlers came up short in team points last Thursday, narrowly losing to Half Moon Bay in the last dual meet of the year. The final team score was 30-32 in a meet where half of wrestlers were CCS ranked.
By luck of the draw, the first contest of the night was 120lbs. Patrick Palomata (CCS ranked 6th) had the upper hand over HMB's Bautista (CCS rank Honorable Mention) the whole round, beating him 10-3, one takedown away from earning an extra team point for a Major Decision. At 126lbs, Michael Pitts came up from JV to fill in for an ailing Sam Nelson, and while he fought well, he came up short against HMB's Dalporto. At 132lbs, Niko Richardson was pinned by HMB's Spencer Boling (CCS ranked 6th).
The next match of the night was 138lbs. Chase Edgington (CCS Honorable Mention) pinned HMB's Lauson in the 2nd round. Edgington has dominated the PAL field this season, pinning almost all of his opponents in the first round, and overwhelming his competitors with speed and fierce tenacity. At 145lbs, Ryan McGannon and HMB's Spiegelman fought to a 1-1 tie at the end of the 3rd round, and neither wrestler was able to score in the sudden death overtime that followed. In the next phase of overtime, Spiegelman escaped for a one point win. At 152 lbs, Terra Nova's Iakona Simpliciano reversed a takedown by HMB's Dexter to pin him in the first round. The 160lb match between OJ Gazo and HMB's Alves was a nailbiter. There was one takedown the whole match, and most of the rest of the points scored were by reversal – the wrestler on the bottom was able to overtake the wrestler on top. In the end, Gazo carried the round 8-7.
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At 170lbs, Terra Nova's Leo Grabowski faced off against HMB's Dominic Pintarelli. Both are CCS ranked 18th, but Pintaerelli's rank is at 160lbs, the weight he has wrestled at 2 of the 8 tournaments he competed in this season. Pintarelli scored the first takedown, but in the 2nd round, Grabowski was on top, would not let Pintarelli build a base, kept him down for the next 4 minutes, but was not able to pin him. Final score was 4-2. At 182lbs, Terra Nova's first year wrestler Tsubasa Borisoff was pinned by HMB's Raul Hernandez (CCS ranked 9th). Dante Campagna handily dispatched the Cougar's Bloomer at 195lbs, pinning him in the first round.
The next round of the night saw the return of Terra Nova's stand out senior, David Melton, who has been out with injuries since early January. Melton, who is CCS ranked 7th at 195lbs faced off against the Cougar's Marcos Sarabia, CCS ranked 4th at 220lbs. Melton exploded off the whistle, surprising Sarabia with his speed, taking him down, and rolling him into a 3 point near fall which almost resulted in a pin, but Sarabia was able to escape. Sarabia scored his only takedown in the 2nd round, and Melton answered back with a takedown in the 3rd. Despite the 25 pound weight difference, Melton won 7-4. He maintained a commanding position for most of the match, but was not able to pin Sarabia. In the 285lb match, Terra Nova's Adam Noce (CCS ranked 11th) lost by pin to HMB's Jose Ayon (CCS ranked 4th) after being reversed in the 2nd round.
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The last matches of the night belonged to the smallest weight classes. Wrestling at 106lb but weighing in at around 90lbs, Danny Borrego lost to his much larger opponent, HMB's Tristan Keller (CCS ranked 11th). At 113lbs, Justin Pesino (CCS ranked 10th), fought HMB's Evan Marshall (CCS ranked 9th). Marshall won by minor decision.
This was Terra Nova's first and only loss of the season. It should be noted that a 2 point team win is not the result of one team winning more matches than the other: the smallest team award for an individual victory is 3 points. In fact, each team won 7 matches. The 2 points difference resulted from the ways those matches were won. If the Tigers had won just one more match by pin instead of decision, they would have finished the season undefeated and defended their dual meet title from last season. Nevertheless, Terra Nova's wrestlers would like to congratulate Oceana's team on their championship title in the Ocean Division.
The Tigers compete in the PAL League Finals on February 22 and are well positioned to defend their tournament title from last year, with high hopes of sending a large contingent to compete at the CCS tournament.
