For coach Mike Contreras, it was difficult to predict the future.

Before the season started, he was asked about the prospect of his Turlock High wrestling team being a Central California Conference contender once again. The year before, the Bulldogs failed to be on top. So once the question was thrown into the atmosphere, he just couldn’t provide a solid reaction.

His response was something like, “Let’s wait and see.”

His team has waited and seen plenty this season, and all of it has been beneficial to the Bulldogs, who are once again in league title contention. At 3-0, they will face the other undefeated team — Golden Valley High — in today’s showdown at the girls gym on the Turlock High campus at 6 p.m.

“As the season has gone on,” Contreras said, “we started believing in ourselves more and more. We’re taking care of business.”

The Bulldogs last won the CCC title two seasons ago and have won eight of the last 10.

This season, they’ve battled with injuries to their upper-weight wrestlers.

Even so, the Bulldogs have taken care of business. A win over Golden Valley will put Turlock in good position for a league title before facing Pitman High in the season finale dual meet on Feb. 2.

The Bulldogs also have another motivator.

“We got a little bit of fuel from (Golden Valley), because they were saying at the start of the season, this is between Golden Valley, Buhach and Pitman — no mention of Turlock,” Contreras said about preseason predictions. “Our kids kind of liked that. They got fired up on that.”

“It’s going to be a good match,” he added.

Inserted into tonight’s lineup for Turlock will be seniors Fabian Garcia and Brandon Egleston, considered two of the best wrestlers in the state. They’re also coming off stellar performances at last weekend’s Tim Brown Invitational in Sacramento; Garcia captured the 125 title and Egleston finished second to Connor Larsen, the Union Mine wrestler who’s ranked second in the state.

To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.