Since Oakdale High’s wrestling team hadn’t wrestled at home since Dec. 11, area wrestling fans may have forgotten why the Mustangs are currently ranked No. 4 overall in the state and considered one of the best teams in Central Valley history.
The Jan. 26 drubbing of Sonora on both the varsity and junior varsity mat served as a nice reminder.
Oakdale won every single contested match across both levels of action, losing just two junior varsity forfeits the entire night in a 75-0 varsity win and 66-12 JV blowout on senior night.
“We’re the best there is, no doubt about it,” Mustang senior A.C. Brown said. “We’re performing pretty good right now and we really wanted to destroy Sonora.”
And destroy they did.
Sonora had wrestlers at 10 different weights, but wrestled just six of them varsity, forcing four of the five Mustang seniors to take forfeits instead of anticipated matches in front of the home crowd.
Brown, the lone senior to wrestle, cruised to a 12-3 lead over Jonathan Lindsey at 215 pounds before nabbing a pin five minutes, 32 seconds into the bout.
Since the match started at 215, Oakdale saw Kyle Cupit land a 10-4 decision over Ian Friend at 275 for a 9-0 start to varsity action.
Anthony Hernandez followed it up with a 1:43 pin over Kyle Mantzouranis at 103, and watched Juan Garza topple Cal Johnson in an 8-0 showdown at 112. Garrett Fortado, normally at 112, had the most difficult task of the night in a match with 119-pound Sonora senior, Jared Mantzouranis. The VOL veteran challenged with some early take down attempts, but couldn’t stop Fortado’s attack, and surrendered a 4-0 loss.
“I thought I wrestled alright, but it wasn’t my best match,” Fortado said.
Ronnie Stevens’ forfeit win at 125 paved the way to the night’s final and most exciting match at 130 pounds. Tyler Noon trailed Sonora’s Austin Ramirez 2-1 into the second round, but tossed the larger Ramirez onto his back for a crowd-rousing pin at the 3:41 mark.
Consecutive forfeit wins from Tanner Feuerstein, Tyler Malone, Shane Tate, David Ferry, Dustin Harris, Miko Arpoika and Trent Noon signaled an end to the match.
“Most of the kids, especially the seniors, were a little disappointed to not get matches, but that’s nobody’s fault,” Oakdale coach Brian Stevens said. “This was kind of our week to recoup, and next week we really get after it to prepare for team sections.”
Oakdale’s junior varsity team won all eight of the contested matches by pin. Joe Jacobson landed the fastest, a 24-second thriller at 112 pounds. Zack Fallentine (215), Eric Barragan (275), David Viera (119), Robert Barnhardt (130), Travis Holder (145), Tanner Reeves (152) and Jeremy Brandau (171) also won by pin.
Oakdale can set another Sac-Joaquin Section record with a third straight Division IV team title at Saturday’s SJS Team Dual Championships at Lincoln High. The Mustangs will likely receive a first round bye and face the winners of two runner-ups from the VOL, Pioneer Valley League or Capital Valley Conference before one more dual for the D-IV title.
Oakdale’s first match should start between 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., and the D-IV final should begin at 4 p.m. These approximate times were taken from the SJS Team Dual format found at cifsjs.org. The front page of the format features a photo of Oakdale 145-pounder David Ferry winning last year’s state title.
The VOL championship tournament is Feb. 12 at East Union High.
