Live Oak entered Tuesday’s dual meet at Overfelt High School
with a chance to be 4-0 in the Mount Hamilton Division and knock
off one of the league’s traditional powers. Ranked No. 14 in the
section, the Acorns were ready to take the fight to No. 13
Overfelt. Mark Delgado took the fight out of their hands. The
Royals’ coach made crafty lineup changes that allowed his team to
wrestle around Isaiah Locsin and score 24 points off forfeits in a
crucial 52-25 victory.
Live Oak entered Tuesday’s dual meet at Overfelt High School with a chance to be 4-0 in the Mount Hamilton Division and knock off one of the league’s traditional powers.
Ranked No. 14 in the section, the Acorns were ready to take the fight to No. 13 Overfelt. Mark Delgado took the fight out of their hands.
The Royals’ coach made crafty lineup changes that allowed his team to wrestle around Isaiah Locsin and score 24 points off forfeits in a crucial 52-25 victory. Overfelt won five of the eight matches, but the pen, rather the pencil and eraser, proved mightiest.
“There was a lot of positioning back and forth with the lineups,” Live Oak coach Robert Fernandez said. “It was very strategic tonight. Unfortunately our strategy didn’t happen according to plan.”
Fernandez bumped Locsin, the second-ranked 113-pounder in the state, to 122 pounds, hoping to draw a match against Alexis Arciga or Nam Nguyen. Both are ranked in the top five in the Central Coast Section. But Delgado canceled out Locsin by wrestling Arciga at 115 pounds and Nguyen at 128. That left Locsin with a forfeit in the middle match, which was negated by a forfeit to Arciga; Fernandez opted to not wrestle Amy Fearnside at 115.
Nguyen’s second-round pinning of Austin Langford left the score at 12-12 with 10 matches – and three Live Oak forfeits – to go.
“We wanted to get the most points and didn’t want to have to wrestle Isaiah,” Delgado said. “When they chose (the odd matches) we got what we wanted.”
Several Live Oak wrestlers stepped up in the lower weights, but the Royals were too loaded in the upper ones and too determined to lose for the second straight week.
The teams moved into a tie for second place at 3-1 behind undefeated Oak Grove, which hosts Live Oak next Wednesday. The Eagles narrowly beat Overfelt in their Jan. 11 opener.
“It was a big one because I think Live Oak can beat Oak Grove,” Delgado said. “We need to keep winning and maybe tie for first.”
Should there be any ties at season’s end the division title will be decided in the Feb. 18 Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals at Branham High School. Live Oak experienced that last year when it tied Leigh for first place in Santa Teresa Division dual meets but lost the championship because Leigh finished ahead of the Acorns at BVALs.
Saturday Live Oak can make amends with the Royals at the 48th annual Overfelt Classic.
Fernandez likes his team’s chances next week.
“It’s funny about Oak Grove; we match up with them a little better,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot different. We’ll see what happens.”
The Acorns were in good shape halfway through Tuesday’s dual. Nick Locsin gave them a four-point lead with a 9-1 victory over Michael Rocha at 134 pounds. Locsin worked three cradles but could not get the pin.
“I thought I had him,” he said. “I was waiting for (the ref) to call it.”
Josh Acosta lost 18-4 in the next match to Overfelt’s Marc Joseph Ynostroza (ranked 15th in the CCS) but did Live Oak a great service by staying off his back. Acosta survived the final 40 seconds of the second period at near fall, with Ynostroza trying to turn a half nelson.
“It was huge,” Fernandez said. “That’s one of their better guys, and Josh held him to four points.”
Overfelt dealt one back at 147 pounds, as Brandon Segovia limited No. 12 Tyler Pederson to a 10-5 victory, and Live Oak to a 19-16 lead. Segovia was inches away from pulling an upset after taking down Pederson with a head-and-arm throw 30 seconds into the third round. Pederson held on the rest of the way.
Three forfeits later Overfelt led 28-25.
“We felt like we had to go for pins in every match with their lineup,” Nick Locsin said.
The shuffling caught Live Oak’s Derek Peralta by surprise in the pivotal 184-pound match. He expected a rematch with Sergio Cervantes, whom he lost to three weeks ago in the Apple Cider Invitational. They shook hands during the prematch introductions, but Peralta wrestled Pean Saetern, the fourth-ranked 170-pounder in the section.
Saetern took Peralta to his back with a double-leg takedown in the first round.
“I was a little surprised all around,” said Peralta, who’s listed 11th at 170 pounds. “I made a mistake. He went for a single and doubled up, and I got caught.
“Going into tonight we knew we can’t get pinned. They have some good upperweights, and they beat us up.”
Overfelt pushed ahead with a forfeit by Cervantes at 197 pounds, and pins by Lai Saechao (222 pounds) and ninth-ranked Jairo Rocha (287) over Morgan Smith and Hunter Schroff, respectively.
In the opening match Live Oak’s Jonathan Robles-Rials (No. 4 at 106 pounds) pinned Telma Talaveras in the first round.
The Acorns were slightly fazed after their second dual-meet loss in three years.
“It’s big because we all want to win league,” said Nick Locsin, now 16th at 132 pounds. “We’re going to make it up on Saturday.”
