Two tie for Ocean crown: Oceana beats Burlingame; teams settle for co-championship

Working against Clark-Rimero was the fact he had lost his two previous two matches to Dizadji last season, but he didn’t wait long to prove that 2016 was going to be different.

Shortly after the opening whistle, Clark-Rimero immediately dove in for the takedown. Not only did he gain control, he quickly forced Dizadji to his back and it wasn’t long before Clark-Rimero heard the familiar “thud” of the referee smacking the mat, indicating a pin.

The Oceana bench erupted in celebration as the pin gave the Sharks 42-33 victory.

“I was ready for (the match),” Clark-Rimero said. “I had a motto in my head: ‘Sharks take bite out of Burlingame.’”

Oceana and Burlingame both finished the regular season with 5-1 dual meet records and will officially share the Ocean Division title.

While Clark-Rimero’s win may have clinched the win for Oceana, it was two matches in the lighter weights that turned the tide in the Sharks’ favor.

The first big turning point came in the 134-pound match. Oceana had already built an 18-3 lead, thanks to a pair of forfeit wins at 108 and 115 pounds, followed by a first-round pin by Sandeep Singh at 122. Burlingame picked up its first points when Arturo Molina won his 128-pound match by a score of 9-3.

The match at 134 was the most exciting of the meet. Both Oceana’s Justin Ng and Burlingame’s Kai Galvan battled back and forth. Ng led 3-2 after the first round, but Galvan would rally back to make it 6-5 after two periods. Late in the third period, Galvan took a 10-7 lead with a 2-point nearfall and was working his way toward the pin.

Galvan made a mistake, however, and in the blink of an eye, Ng had flipped Galvan and eventually got the pin with about one second left in the match.

There was some controversy about whether Ng was using an illegal hold as he squeezed for the pin, but the referee disagreed and the result stood, giving Oceana a 24-3 advantage.

“He slipped for a quick second,” Ng said of the sudden reversal of fortune. “I got really lucky.”

The match at 140 saw both coaches use a bit of gamesmanship. Neither Oceana coach Mike Tang nor his counterpart Eric Botelho wanted to show their hand too early, knowing that the other could make a counter move.

Botelho finally sent out one of his best in Jack Deasy. Tang countered with one of the best in the state in Josue Gazo, who quickly got Deasy in a cradle hold and pinned him less than 30 seconds into the match to put the Sharks up 30-3.

The Sharks then got another huge win at 147, where Andrew Shikora gutted out a win over Max Gaines.

Gaines controlled the first period and most of the second. He led 3-2 after the first round and built a 6-4 lead midway through the second. But Shikora, who was battling an illness, rallied with an escape and a takedown to take a 7-6 going into the final period.

Shikora needed a timeout early in the third and headed over the garbage can, believing he was about to vomit. Tang came over and got in his wrestler’s face, challenging him to finish strong.

Shikora heeded his coach’s advice. He earned five more points with a takedown and near fall before finally pinning Gaines to give Oceana a 36-3 lead.

“That was huge. I didn’t think [Shikora] was going to get the pin,” Tang said. “He needed that. He’s been battling the flu.”

Burlingame finally got some much-needed points when Oceana forfeited at 154 and then got a 10-9 win from Andrew Sloboda at 162 to cut the Panthers’ deficit to 36-12.

The Panthers crept closer, with Johnny Sarbagh earning a 10-6 decision at 172 and then picked up 12 more quick points when Oceana forfeited at 184 and 197.

Suddenly, Burlingame was down just 36-27. In reality, with Oceana forfeiting the heavyweight match as well, Burlingame was down 36-33 going into the Clark-Rimero-Dizadji match at 222.

“What a miracle,” Tang said. “That last match (at 222), we just had to win.”

Said Ng: “The whole week, coach said we had to be perfect today. We did make some mistakes, but we pulled it out in the end.”