Bearcat roars at PAL boys’ wrestling championships

Now Half Moon Bay returns to this Saturday’s Central Coast Section championships after finishing in the top 15 last year. Head coach Ronnie Eki said he expects an even better showing this season.

“That was on limited numbers,” Eki said. “And we’re bringing a couple of extra kids, and we’re bringing a lot of the program back. … So, I think our goal would be to finish in the top 10. And we have the capability to do that.”

But the PAL tourney ended with quite the upset as San Mateo junior Soane Kolokihakaufisi emerged to defeat two-time defending PAL heavyweight champion Caspian Grabowski, scoring a 2-1 win on a sudden victory.

The careful pace of the match saw no winner at the end of three regulation periods. Only 1 point had been scored at that juncture with Grabowski having tallied a second-round escape. With the 1-0 score being considered a virtual tie, with no takedowns or near-falls being scored, the drama built as the two 287s went to overtime.

“It took me a while to realize he was up high,” Kolokihakaufisi said. “I’m not wrestling against, like, a 5-5 guy. So, it’s tough to take a shot.”

Finally, as time wound down in the first overtime period, Kolokihakaufisi went for a single leg shot and took Grabowski down, ending it right then and there. The San Mateo junior credited his older brother Samuela, who “keeps beating on me,” as well as inspirational advice from his mother Losana, for helping him endure the lengthy match.

For Grabowski, who was looking to three-peat, it was a disappointing loss.

“If Cas wrestles his match — and tonight, he didn’t wrestle the match he wanted — he’s tough to beat,” Eki said.

Half Moon Bay set the tone from the start of the tournament, winning individual titles at the first two weight classes. At 108s, Tommy Sendino scored a first-round fall against Burlingame’s Vinaey Ruocco. Then at 115s, HMB junior Fernando Diaz-Marquez pinned El Camino’s Brenden Meneses at the tail end of the second round.

It was the first PAL individual title for each Sendino and Diaz-Marquez.

“It sets the tone for the rest of our guys in finals,” Eki said of the back-to-back wins. “Of course, it didn’t always work out the way we wanted to in these finals. We had a couple guys go down. But it kind of sets the tone and gets us in the right mindset going forward.”

At 122s, Burlingame junior Cian Hennebry won a major decision over Half Moon Bay senior Richard Tucker Cecil. It was the first of two Burlingame titles on the night. Later at 140s, Hennebry’s step-brother, Kyle Botelho, captured the championship at 140s, the fourth straight PAL title of his varsity career.

Kyle Botelho enjoyed a dominant win over Woodside sophomore Jonathan Ureel, earning the pin in the second round.

“He has his own style and he wrestles to his opponents,” said Eric Botelho, Burlingame’s head coach and Kyle Botelho’s father. “But he wrestles his match, Kyle’s match. He always dictates the pace and dictates what’s going to happen in the match. He wrestles in control, which is really good.”

Prior to Kyle Botelho’s historic victory, the Oceana tandem of Irvin Reyes and David Orozco put the Sharks on the map with back-to-back championships in their respective weight classes.

Reyes — who was names Outstanding Lower Weight Wrestler of the Tournament — earned a technical fall against Half Moon Bay sophomore Bo Volynsky-Krug.

“The cradle worked really well for him,” Orozco said. “He put him to his back like five times, probably, with the cradle.”

Orozco followed with a 7-3 decision against Burlingame senior Joshua Wong.

“It was really nice because last year we both got second place,” Orozco said. “It was nice this year because we were able to get our revenge and finally win PAL.”

El Camino earned one individual title as senior Luis Vazquez, at 147s, earned a first-round pin against Menlo-Atherton junior Caleb Prouty.

Then at 162s, M-A won its first of three individual titles when sophomore Bryan Bekemeyer pinned Burlingame senior Evan Jones in the second round. At 172s, M-A sophomore Cyrus Durham topped the podium with a second-round pin against San mateo junior Mohammed Sarsour.

At 184s, the title match ended in some controversy with Sequoia junior J.P. Boyle claiming a 7-4 decision against South City senior Sergio Sanchez. Sanchez was gaining momentum during the final 30 seconds of the match, but with :08 remaining on the display clock, the match was stopped due to an error by the scoring table, as the official clock was not synched with the displayed time. With the official time being eight seconds faster, the match ended before Sanchez could try one last-gasp effort.

At 197s, Half Moon Bay senior Cade Duncan returned to the top of the podium, earning a third-round technical fall over Burlingame junior Robert Ennis. Duncan nearly pinned Ennis at the end of the second round, but the referee rules Ennis’s shoulders did not touch the mat prior to the end of the round.

“I just thought it was a pin,” Duncan said.

At 222s, M-A senior Misiteni Eke scored a second-round pin against Capuchino senior Armand Royeca.