Amy Fearnside didn’t stop moving in the 108-pound Central Coast
Section girls championship until it was over. The Live Oak senior
pinned Sabreena Shelton of Santa Teresa with 1:10 left in the
second period Saturday at Oak Grove High School, put her head to
the mat and savored the moment she had waited for her entire
career. After back-to-back runner-up finishes at sectionals,
including a finals loss in 2010, Fearnside is second to none.
Amy Fearnside didn’t stop moving in the 108-pound Central Coast Section girls championship until it was over.
The Live Oak senior pinned Sabreena Shelton of Santa Teresa with 1:10 left in the second period Saturday at Oak Grove High School, put her head to the mat and savored the moment she had waited for her entire career.
After back-to-back runner-up finishes at sectionals, including a finals loss to Shelton in 2010, Fearnside is second to none.
“It’s like Christmas and New Year’s together,” she said.
Fearnside (29-3) dominated the match from the opening whistle, scoring six takedowns on counterattacks and single-leg shots in rapid succession. She led 12-5 when she put Shelton to her back using a wrist hold.
“I wasn’t looking for a pin; I was just looking to go all out for six minutes,” said Fearnside, who her four matches in the tournament by fall. “If the pin was there, I was going to take it.”
Fearnside wasn’t out for revenge as much as fulfilling one of her season goals.
“Last time we wrestled at CCS, she came in and did very well,” Fearnside said. “She’s good with her legs when she’s in control, and she’ll counter if you don’t watch that leg she hooks with.
“I just felt like this was going to be different. This whole year has been different. I know I worked hard, and I was ready for her.”
Fearnside’s defense was especially crisp.
“She handled everything Sabreena threw at her really good. She was awesome,” Live Oak coach Robert Fernandez said. “We’re very happy for her. That’s the payback for training as hard as she does.”
The 108-pound final was steeped in local ties. Shelton (22-4) attended Martin Murphy Middle School and wreslted at Sobrato along with her brother, Kyle, as a freshman before transferring to Santa Teresa.
She has become the face of her program, according to Saints coach Jorge Barajas.
“We call her the princess,” he said. “She runs the whole team, girls and boys. She’s very hard-working. She keeps everyone in line.”
Although disappointed, Shelton was optimistic looking ahead to the Feb. 24-25 CIF Girls State Invitational Championships in Lemoore. She and Fearnside could meet then or possibly later. Both have received scholarship offers and plan to wrestle in college next year.
“I don’t know what happened tonight,” Shelton said. “I got out there, and I couldn’t focus. Amy’s a lot stronger than me, and I didn’t have a takedown.
“What upsets me the most isn’t that I lost to her, but that I gave her the satisfaction of winning. She got what she wanted.”
The celebration didn’t last long. Minutes after her biggest win, Fearnside was thinking about state.
“I’ve had my mind on it since I went last year, and it’s always been my motivation,” she said. “I have my eyes on the prize, I guess.”
- Fearnside isn’t the only Acorn heading to state. Sophomore Isabella Fernandez earned her first invite with a fourth-place finish at 114 pounds.
“I’m super excited,” she said. “I knew that I could place, and I knew that I could make it.”
Fernandez, Robert’s daughter, is following in the footsteps of her brother Steven, who went to state in 2010; and her sister, Moriah, who took first at the Girls State Wrestling Championships in 2008.
- Live Oak (60 points) placed eighth out of 47 schools. Alvarez (97) won the team championship.
