For the first time in a while, Half Moon Bay head wrestling coach Ronnie Ekis admits he was a little nervous heading into the Cougars’ match with San Mateo in the Peninsula Athletic League season opener.
Despite being the 10-time defending Bay Division dual-meet champion, often times facing little competition, Ekis thinks it will be a little more difficult to make it 11 in a row.
“It’s going to be tougher this year. We don’t have quite the numbers (as we’ve had in the past) and we’re a little young,” Ekis said. “It looks like we’re going give up 18 points (to forfeits) because we don’t have the little guys up top and a big guy, which we’ve always had.
“Fortunately for us, [San Mateo] was missing some guys.”
Perhaps that close match will come later in the season because the Cougars had little trouble with the Bearcats, coming away with a 51-29 win, taking six of the eight matches wrestled.
“[Half Moon Bay] sets the standard of where we want to be,” said San Mateo head coach Jason Cervantes. “We have a lot of new wrestlers. I want to see how the team works together (in this first dual meet). I’m hoping they get that experience and learn.”
San Mateo held a 12-6 advantage before a match was wrestled as the first three matches were forfeits, which are worth six points apiece. The first match that was actually contested turned into one of the best of the night with HMB’s Brian Hernandez pulling out a 5-2 win over Dylan Nagaya at 126.
There wasn’t a lot of action early on, with Hernandez missing on a takedown at the end of the first period, but he took a 1-0 lead with an escape for the second round’s only point. Both wrestlers were cautious in the third, but with just over a minute left in the match, Nagaya took a 2-1 lead with a reverse after avoiding a near fall.
But Hernandez tied the match at 2-all with another escape with 50 seconds left and with less than 10 seconds to go, Hernandez got the win with a three-point takedown.
The win, worth three points, closed the HMB team deficit to 12-9.
Gabriel Garcia Procopio gave HMB its first lead of the night with a third-round pin at 132. Garcia Procopio took a quick 3-0 lead with a takedown in the opening 30 seconds, but he would not score again until an escape early in the third period. But as he worked his way toward a finish, he slipped up and nearly got caught on his back. But he quickly regained control and got the pin with 29 seconds left in the match to put the Cougars up 15-12 in the team score.
San Mateo finally got a win on the mat with Pouya Awvari putting on a dominant performance at 138. He picked up a takedown and near fall in the final 30 seconds of the first period and duplicated that in the second period to lead 12-0 going into the third. Another takedown and a four-point near fall put Awvari up 18-0, which was good for a five-point technical fall and a 17-15 team lead.
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HMB would win the next four matches by pin to take control of the match. Fabricio Alvarez fell behind early to Ricky Gomez at 144, trailing 3-1 after the first period when Gomez notched a three-point takedown in the opening 30 seconds.
In the second period, Alvarez got a takedown for a 4-3 lead going into the third period. Starting in the down position to start the third, Alvarez got an escape before ending the match with a pin with 32 seconds left in the match.
Ekis said Alvarez just returned to practice this week after spending the holiday break in Mexico.
Aaron Landin made quick work of his opponent at 150, leading 12-0 nothing before getting the pin 29 seconds into the second period.
“He’s wrestling really well,” Ekis said of his team captain.
The Cougars then dominated at 157 and 165, with Lane Miller and Robert Mularkey winning by first-round fall: Miller won in 1:17, while Mularkey won in 1:03.
San Mateo won the final match of the night, with Drake Berta needing only 45 seconds to win his 175-pound match by pin.
HMB girls also win
The Lady Cougars also won their first dual meet of the season, 36-18, winning three of the five matches contested.
The highlight came at 130, where HMB’s Kat Abramenko faced off with San Mateo’s Hannah Villareale. Neither could muster much offense early with Villareale coming the closest to picking up some points when she attempted a carry, but Abramenko kicked her way out of trouble and the match was scoreless after the first period.
In the second, Abramenko came on strong. She got a three-point takedown and then ended things with a pin at the 2:32 mark.
“That was a tough match,” Ekis said. Abramenko, along with a handful of other HMB girls, will head to Napa this weekend to take part in the Napa Valley Girls Classic, which Ekis said is among the strongest girls’ tournaments in the country.
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