Felipe Duenas was not happy when he left the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals more than a week ago.
He had taken second and vowed that night he would avenge the disappointment and punch his ticket to state.
And so he did.
Duenas took second at the Central Coast Section championships Saturday at Independence High School. And despite the loss, Duenas was thrilled with his effort and said he is ready to make his push to Bakersfield.
“Last week I wasn’t happy with what I did, but it gave me motivation to go further in and go to state,” Duenas said. “Last week motivated me to get hungrier and to win.”
Duenas had his real drama moment in the semifinals, taking on Masa Danovitz of Sequoia when he led 3-2 after two periods.
The seconds drained away and looked more and more like it would be heading into overtime.
But just as the time was about to expire, Duenas scored a takedown to win 5-3.
“I though it was going to go to overtime, but I pushed through it. I gutted it out and gave it all I had to go to state,” Duenas said.
That propelled him into the finals and clinched a spot going into state.
And Duenas nearly went to state as
a champion.
Going up against No. 1 seeded Emilio Bautista of Half Moon Bay, Duenas scored an early takedown to go up in the first period, but couldn’t hang on.
Bautista scored an escape and eventually a takedown to go up 3-2, where things stood into the third period.
Bautista eventually went up 4-2 when Duenas cut him to try to score a take down to either force OT or steal back points and win the match.
Still, Duenas is the fifth Bulldog to qualify for state and the first since Brandon Lefore in 2014.
He was so close to being one of two from Morgan Hill to go to Bakersfield as Jacob Locsin took sixth at the 182-pound division.
Locsin made it out of the first round with a pin, but fell to the consolation bracket with a pinfall in his next match.
But the Live Oak senior kept fighting, racking up four wins to get to the consol semis.
Locsin however fell to Kevin Ruiz of Alvarez to drop to the fifth place match, where he lost by pin in the first round.
Live Oak also had Javier Torres get in as an alternate at 106 pound, going 3-2.
Finally for Live Oak, Tyler Souza went 0-2 at 195 pounds.
