Both Turlock and Pitman High varsity wrestling programs have entered the newly formed Central California Athletic League with a bang. The teams each boast a 3-0 record after defeating their respective league opponents on Wednesday.
Pitman shutout a six-man Modesto High team in a 71-0 finish, while the Bulldogs won nine of 14 matches over Enochs to secure a 45-24 win.
“We weren’t at full strength but give Enochs a lot of credit, they are tough, that is a tough team, they came out and wrestled,” said Turlock head coach Mike Contreras. “It was a competitive dual meet as opposed to getting two shutouts in our first dual meets, so I give them a lot of credit, but we were not at full strength.”
It didn’t matter as they still managed to dominate Enochs, except for a minor miscue by the ref that also delayed the final match and left a wrestler with a separated shoulder after an opposing slam in the middle of the second period.
Seth Lopez (Turlock), waited on the mat for the ambulance to arrive and the match was called with plenty of controversy.
“We were missing Will Giron and Bonilla was two weight classes up, not our strongest lineup, but we won by 21 points,” said Contreras. “I am not going to complain and we had some tough matches, lost a 2-1 and 3-2 match, which we easily could have won, so it was nine matches to five, but really 11 matches to three.”
Enochs went up 6-0 after the first match, then Turlock evened the score in the next match at 170-pounds when Lance Couchman received a forfeit win.
From there they went on to handle Enochs with the exception of the ninth match when Enochs made things interesting with a win that saw the lead cut to 24-18 with five matches left.
Turlock won the next four, dropping just the last match at 152-pounds, which is when Lopez went down with an injury and the match was called.
Mike Jeffus (HWY), Cesar Rocha (182), Joe Silva (145), Adrian Heras (132) won via pin for Turlock, clinching six points apiece.
Next for Turlock is Gregori High in a dual meet on the road at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Pitman will next travel to Downey High for their fourth dual meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
