Tiger grapplers win 7 WYL titles but forced into tie for league championship with Redwood

Redwood narrowly defeated the Lemoore three years ago to end a long wrestling winning streak.

View West Yosemite League Wrestling Results

Surprisingly the Rangers recorded just two individual wins but collected five-second place winners and three third-place finishers to tie the Tigers. Lemoore finished with 233.50 points compared to Redwood’s 235 points.

Hanford finished third while Mt. Whitney took the fourth spot.

Lemoore will host the next step in the road to the Wrestling State Championships at Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena on March 2-3. The Divisionals will begin Friday (Feb. 16) in Lemoore’s Event Center at 9 a.m. and conclude with the final matches at 5 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 17).

“We are technically co-champs,” said Tiger Coach Marcio Botelho. “We had seven champions out of 14 weight classes. This is their (Redwood) second league championship in four years. They won it four years ago.”

After the Divisionals in Lemoore come the Masters at North Bakersfield High School Feb. 23-24. The top 10 wrestlers qualify for the Masters.

Lemoore will send a large contingent to next week’s Divisionals in Lemoore, including seven WYL champions headed by 222-pound Jacob Gonzalves who won his weight class on Wednesday. He beat Redwood’s Eduardo Maldonado to move forward in the state’s wrestling competition.

“Jacob is wrestling at a real high level,” said Botelho. “Hopefully he’ll find himself on that podium at State.”

Other winners included 115-pound freshman Wayne Joint, senior Joe Romero (140), Will Kloster, a sophomore 162-pound wrestler, John Panduro, a senior at 172 pounds, Mario Nieto senior, a 184 pounder, and senior Mateo Brewer, Lemoore’s heavyweight.

“I thought those guys should have won it,” said Botelho. Another bright spot for the Tigers was Romeo who defeated Redwood’s Lorenzo Delaware in the finals. “That was a good match. Both kids probably deserve to go to state.”