Albino Orozco came through when it counted Saturday morning.
The 170-pound Turlock senior suffered a quarterfinal loss in the CIF State Wrestling Championships on Friday meaning he would have to win his opening match Saturday morning for a top-eight finish at Rabobank Arena. Faced with elimination by Nevada Union’s Will Sumner, Orozco battle through with an overtime win on his way to a seventh-place finish in the California State Wrestling Championships at Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena.
Besides elimination, Orozco had some added incentive as Sumner defeated Orozco 10-3 at the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament.
“I came out with a plan of attack (against Sumner),” Orozco said. “I kept that plan going and in overtime I kind of scrambled a little bit, kept going and got the win.”
The The Bulldogs senior was tied with Sumner 0-0 after three periods.
“I wanted to keep it 0-0 after the first period and then get an escape in the second period, but that didn’t work out too well. But I was able to hold him down in the third period.
“That was my first match ever tied at 0-0 after three periods.”
Orozco advanced to the quarterfinals with a 17-2 technical fall over Kolton Osborn of Trabuco Hills followed by a 34-second pin over Dillain Potter of Caruthers. St. John Bosco’s Anthony Valencia sent Orozco to the consolation bracket with a pin in the third period. After defeating Sumner, Orozco lost his next match but took seventh when his final opponent defaulted due to injury.
Senior teammate Rafael Herrera (126) finished two matches away from a medal.
“I gave it my all,” Herrera said. “And I came up a little short. It feels all right to have made it this far, but I’m a little bummed out, too.”
Turlock coach Mike Contreras would have liked to have qualified more wrestlers.
“Obviously we would like to have qualified more guys,” Contreras said. “What disappoints me is that they are both seniors and I will not get to coach them any more.
“Our intention was to come and get two medals and we came pretty darned close to that, so I am pretty happy with that performance.”
