Tigers seek 21st wrestling championship in a row despite loss of Martinez, Williams

His talented teammate, Sean Williams, upset the nation’s top-ranked grappler in the state semi-finals and then came within four seconds of a second state title for Lemoore. What will Botelho and the Tigers do for an encore in 2014?

For starters, Botelho would of course love to see his beloved Tigers win their 21st straight WYL championship, a streak that began when George Bush was president – and not the one married to Laura.

Martinez is long gone, now redshirting at the University of Illinois, where many of the Illini faithful expect him at some point to win a Big Ten championship and a national title. Williams, based on his showing in the California State Wrestling championships, earned a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, where he is also redshirting.

Martinez was of course expected to win the state championship. If was a foregone conclusion, but for Williams, winning a title was a longshot, but he came within for seconds of winning the title, losing only in the final seconds to the state’s No. 2 ranked wrestler, Israel Saavedra of Modesto. In the semi-final match, Williams defeated nationally top-ranked Zahid Valencia of St. John Bosco 3-2, which turns out was the biggest upset of the state championships.

“Those kinds of guys don’t come through here very often,” said Botelho of Martinez and Williams.

The era of Martinez and Williams is old news. Botelho, in his sixth year at the helm of the Tigers, is looking forward to another championship season, but it may not be as easy as the first 20 in a row. “We need a lot of work,” said Botelho. “We’re not where we need to be right now.”

He’ll get an opportunity this weekend at the annual Clovis West Shootout, one of the Valley’s premier wrestling events, to test the mettle of his Tiger squad.

“Our team just needs to get focused and work hard and get everybody in the right weight class,” Botelho said. “If that happens we can repeat as league champions. We have just a great group of kids this year.

Boteho has a mixture of returning talent and some newcomers, starting with returner Dom Lopez, who at 160 pounds this year, was a state qualifier a year ago. He was also a WYL champ and placed in the section tourney.

At 182 pounds senior Brett Lowe was a league finalist last year, but he’s battling fellow senior Colton Banuelos for the position. Banuelos was third in the WYL last year.

At 115 pounds, senior Stephen Cano is coming off a year in which he was a WYL finalist, while at 120 pounds, senior Jaylen Hill is expected to go far in the Valley.

The top returner has to be Adrian Garza, a two-time WYL champion and 10th in the Section finals last year. At 195 pounds seniors Nick Bettencourt and Banuelos will battle it out. Banuelos is also slated for 182 pounds.

Heavyweight Nathanial Ibarra, a junior, was last year’s junior varsity WYL champ.

At the lightweights, junior Hector Zavala and sophomore Samuel Lopez will battle it out for the starting spot while newcomer Freddie Esquivel, a sophomore, seems to have the inside track at 126 pounds.

Senior Justin Ludington and freshman Greg Guzman are both vying for the 132-pound division while senior Axle Huml seems to have the 138-pound job locked up. And at 145 pounds Jose Romero, a junior, and sophomore Patrick Gonzalez are fighting it out to the finish.

At 152 pounds Ozage Osunde, a league finalist last year, is the projected starter and seniors Don Piper and Patrick Charron are vying at 170 pounds.

“Nothing is set in stone,” said Botelho. “Our guys can move up or down.”