Valley Center coach Brian Shelton made sure that didn’t happen and the Hornets powered their way to a 69-2 victory.
“If you allow kids to get lackadaisical, they’ll get lackadaisical,” Shelton said. “Our goal is to come out and wrestle the same every time.”
The Hornets earned three pins against the Tigers, including one by Josh Ortiz at 160 pounds. Ortiz focused on getting takedowns and led 14-6 before pinning Cody Cook 47 seconds into the second period. Jace Boone (126) and John McCune (152) got the other pins for Valley Center, which improved to 3-2 in league duals.
Valley Center added a technical fall win by 132-pounder Tyler Lapierre, a major decision by Danny Turkali at 113, and two regular decisions by Ben Martin (220) and Alex Charles (285).
Martin’s match went to triple overtime and the senior edged Khyree Walker 5-3. Neither wrestler was able to score in the first extra period with the match tied a 2. Starting in the bottom position at the beginning of the second overtime, Martin earned an escape and takedown for a three-point lead. Walker got his chance to start on bottom as the third overtime began, but he could only muster an escape point.
Out of all of Valley Center’s victories, Shelton was most pleased with Martin’s because Martin has dedicated himself to four years of wrestling but couldn’t quite beat out teammates Chad Blair or Garrett Foster this season for the top spots at 195 and 220. Blair is ranked No. 1 in Class 5A at 195 pounds and Foster is ranked third at 220.
“To see your JV kid -- who everybody roots for because he works so hard -- go out and get a win in overtime and never make a mistake, that is more satisfying to me than watching our best kids beat average wrestlers,” Shelton said.
Eisenhower coach Enrique Espinoza was happy with Walker’s effort against Martin. He felt the match came down to which wrestler wanted it more and he thinks Walker just needs to keep working in practice to get better.
“We’ve got to continue to work hard in the room to be able to come out and have those types of matches go our way,” Espinoza said.
The match that went Eisenhower’s way was at 182 pounds. Tyler Higgins, who is ranked fifth in 5A, defeated sixth-ranked Luke Weldon 4-2. Higgins scored the first three points of the match in the second period before holding off Weldon.
Shelton feels Higgins is a good wrestler and that the senior deserved to win, but he thought Weldon made a crucial mistake that ultimately decided the match.
“You can’t give up back points to good people and expect to win,” Shelton said. “The better guy won tonight.”
Shelton believes Higgins and Weldon might meet at regionals in a couple of weeks. Valley Center hosts one of the 5A tournaments on Feb. 18.
As for Thursday, Espinoza knew the Tigers were going to have a difficult time with 106-pounder Hunter Furnish being sick and two other wrestlers being out because of injury. Espinoza added that his team also was undermanned because some wrestlers who started the season didn’t finish it.
“It’s tough when the room starts to thin out because you get injuries, sickness and stuff like that, but we’ve still got to go out there and do the best we can,” he said.
Adding to Espinoza’s frustration was when the Tigers had a team point deducted late in the dual because of unsportsmanlike conduct.
