Bulldogs JV team places fourth at Stampeded Invitational
Despite having to wrestle a far more experience than themselves the Sobrato Bulldogs’ junior varsity squad placed fourth out of 21 teams at the Stampeded Invitational last week.
“Right now we’re pretty happy with where we are,” said Sobrato coach Phil Luna. “We still have a lot of work to do, but our young wrestlers are doing exactly what they are told.”
Sobrato brought several freshmen wrestlers to participate in the event that is traditionally for freshman and sophomore wrestlers. According to Luna, the San Lorenzo Valley team brought many of its varsity wrestlers that ended up dominating the tournament and injuring one of the Sobrato wrestlers.
Freshman Nick Hagiperos (171-pound weight class) wrestled a senior at the invitational and ended up with his shoulder dislocated after his opponent lifted him up and dropped him down on his elbow. Hagiperos will be out for at least four weeks, possibly the season.
“In this tournament you’re not supposed to be wrestling seniors,” said Luna. “Our coach got into it with the San Lorenzo coach, but it is really up to the coaches who they bring to wrestle and I guess it was more important to San Lorenzo to come away with the win.”
The Bulldogs varsity squad ran into the San Lorenzo Valley team again on Saturday at the Coast Classic. Sobrato, with only five wrestlers in tow, placed 20th out of 47 teams in the tournament.
Moses Gillardo (125-pound weight class) came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed and placed second, losing only to the Rio Linda wrestler, who was the 2005 freestyle and greco-roman wrestler of the year, in the finals.
“We were a little too aggressive in the final,” said Luna. “Everytime Moses would go after him, he would get around on him. We thought we could take him down.”
Unseeded heavy weight Genaro Redman (275-pound weight class) came out of nowhere according to Luna and won his first two matches before falling to a Gilroy opponent in a close match. Redman was hanging tough in the match before getting pinned with 30 seconds left in the third and final round.
Redman earned a fourth place finish as he went on to win his next four matches in the loser’s bracket, falling in the third place match 6-3.
“We are very impressed with Genaro,” said Luna. “He’s picking up everything we’re teaching him and we are finally convincing him that he is one of the big boys.”
On Wednesday the Bulldogs wrestled in their first Tri-County Athletic League dual meet against Hollister and was defeated 42-21.
Sobrato was forced to give up five matches to forfeit due to illness and the injury to Hagiperos. The Bulldogs did, however, win five of the eight matches they had wrestlers participating in.
“It was a pretty impressive showing,” said Luna. “We had several kids who were unable to wrestle, but still managed to come away with five wins.”.
