By Jason P. SkodaCoachesAid.com Content Coordinator
CHANDLER – Chandler wrestling coach Vidal Mejia should think about the team’s nickname to the Dodgers. Throw any bit of praise his way and Mejia sidesteps faster than a Dalton Brady shot.
Not that we saw a shot Wednesday from the impressive Brady, but more on that later.
Back to Mejia.
The Wolves improved to 14-3 in dual meets by beating Mesa Red Mountain 36-24 in an important Fiesta Region dual meet.
Red Mountain came in 29-1 in dual meets and a shot at winning the Fiesta Region in next week’s dual with Mesa, but that match will have less of an impact after Chandler won nine of the 14 matches.
Both teams have been better than expected this season and the Wolves, ranked No. 3 by CoachesAid.com, keep getting stronger. They won last night without defending state champion Max Vidal, who was out of state for a leadership conference.
“We’re getting better,” said the elder Mejia, who team has only lost to Mesa, Cottonwood Mingus and Mesa Mountain View. “We have been working hard. We are getting there.”
See.
The Chandler coach could have given in a little bit there and taken some credit. He gave plenty to his wrestlers, but didn’t put anything on himself when it comes to the team’s rise to a true state contender.
“These kids put in the time and deserve everything they are getting,” the coach said.
The Wolves were down 12-0 after three matches, after it started at 125 pounds, that was kick started by Red Mountain’s Ray Sanchez who beat Brian Devine 15-13 in OT when the former defended Devine’s shot and got the winning takedown.
The Mountain Lions got a pin from Ahmad Zeitoun at 130 and then snagged a big swing match when Matt DeRosa hit a Granby roll in the final seconds for a five-point move and a 8-6 win over JoJo Vega at 135.
“I wasn’t sure what to think after that start, but we came back with some big wins,” Mejia said. “There were a couple of swing matches that we figured we had to win.”
Chandler came back to win the next three matches to tie it at 12 all. The big one came at 145 when Manny Reyes beat Bobby Davis by forcing the action the entire match from the neutral position to carve out a 7-3 won to avenge a previous loss at the McClintock tournament.
“I kind of choked in the first one, but I wrestled a smarter match,” Reyes said. “I knew I could get some takedowns and that is what we stuck with.”
From there it was mostly Chandler as the Wolves won seven of the last nine matches, including heavyweight William Poehls 6-2 win and freshman Clint Sexton defeated Preston Pfeiffle 9-6.
Sexton stepped into the lineup when Brady bumped to 112 with Mejia out of the lineup. Brady ended up getting a forfeit despite the fact that Red Mountain weighed in Logan Bingham and the team score was only 27-24 at the time.
“It’s a credit to Dalton,” Red Mountain coach David DiDomenico said. “He was going to his tech or pin points 1,000 times out of 1,000 times. Bingham has the Mesa City match (for freshman) this weekend and I didn’t want to risk him getting hurt.”
That decision would have been tougher if Chandler’s Sexton didn’t pull off the win the match before.
“He stepped in and did a great job,” Reyes said. “I was really impressed. All of our young wrestlers stepped up.
“I think we were the same team last year, but we are more of a team this year. We are pulling for each other instead of wrestling for ourselves.”
Red Mountain wrestled a good match, but didn’t have enough to finish it off.
“We have some things to work on,” DiDomenico said. “We have move our feet (in neutral position) instead of standing flatfooted and some other things. We’ve come a long way. We were last in the East Valley Region last year and now we are 19-2.
“Give Chandler credit. They won the matches they needed to. We’ll learn from it and we will be better in a month from now for the state tournament.”
Chandler 36, Mesa Red Mountain 24
103 - Clint Sexton (Chandler) dec. Preston Pfeiffle, 9-6
112 - Dalton Brady (Chandler) by forfeit.
119 - Kyle Roberts (Chandler) dec. Nick Rivera, 8-6.
125 - Ray Sanchez (RMtn) dec. Brian Devine, 15-13 OT
130 - Ahmad Zeitoun (RMtn) pin Michael Morrissey, 1:13.
135 - Matt DeRosa (RMtn) dec. JoJo Vega, 8-6.
140 - Curtis Buelna (Chandler) dec. Eric Perez, 1:34.
145 - Manny Reyes (Chandler) dec. Bobby Davis, 7-3.
152 - Alexander Buelna (Chandler) dec. Zack Lott, 5-4.
160 - Patrick Oskvarek (RMtn) by forfeit.
171 - Jacob Vega (Chandler) dec. Nick Farris, 8-4.
189 - Francisco Gutierrez (Chandler) pins Bobby Worth, 3:08.
215 - Kalu Ukaku (RMtn) pin Kalu Ukaku, :35.
HVY - William Poehls (Chandler) dec. Mario Ramirez, 6-2.
CHANDLER – Chandler wrestling coach Vidal Mejia should think about the team’s nickname to the Dodgers. Throw any bit of praise his way and Mejia sidesteps faster than a Dalton Brady shot.
Not that we saw a shot Wednesday from the impressive Brady, but more on that later.
Back to Mejia.
The Wolves improved to 14-3 in dual meets by beating Mesa Red Mountain 36-24 in an important Fiesta Region dual meet.
Red Mountain came in 29-1 in dual meets and a shot at winning the Fiesta Region in next week’s dual with Mesa, but that match will have less of an impact after Chandler won nine of the 14 matches.
Both teams have been better than expected this season and the Wolves, ranked No. 3 by CoachesAid.com, keep getting stronger. They won last night without defending state champion Max Vidal, who was out of state for a leadership conference.
“We’re getting better,” said the elder Mejia, who team has only lost to Mesa, Cottonwood Mingus and Mesa Mountain View. “We have been working hard. We are getting there.”
See.
The Chandler coach could have given in a little bit there and taken some credit. He gave plenty to his wrestlers, but didn’t put anything on himself when it comes to the team’s rise to a true state contender.
“These kids put in the time and deserve everything they are getting,” the coach said.
The Wolves were down 12-0 after three matches, after it started at 125 pounds, that was kick started by Red Mountain’s Ray Sanchez who beat Brian Devine 15-13 in OT when the former defended Devine’s shot and got the winning takedown.
The Mountain Lions got a pin from Ahmad Zeitoun at 130 and then snagged a big swing match when Matt DeRosa hit a Granby roll in the final seconds for a five-point move and a 8-6 win over JoJo Vega at 135.
“I wasn’t sure what to think after that start, but we came back with some big wins,” Mejia said. “There were a couple of swing matches that we figured we had to win.”
Chandler came back to win the next three matches to tie it at 12 all. The big one came at 145 when Manny Reyes beat Bobby Davis by forcing the action the entire match from the neutral position to carve out a 7-3 won to avenge a previous loss at the McClintock tournament.
“I kind of choked in the first one, but I wrestled a smarter match,” Reyes said. “I knew I could get some takedowns and that is what we stuck with.”
From there it was mostly Chandler as the Wolves won seven of the last nine matches, including heavyweight William Poehls 6-2 win and freshman Clint Sexton defeated Preston Pfeiffle 9-6.
Sexton stepped into the lineup when Brady bumped to 112 with Mejia out of the lineup. Brady ended up getting a forfeit despite the fact that Red Mountain weighed in Logan Bingham and the team score was only 27-24 at the time.
“It’s a credit to Dalton,” Red Mountain coach David DiDomenico said. “He was going to his tech or pin points 1,000 times out of 1,000 times. Bingham has the Mesa City match (for freshman) this weekend and I didn’t want to risk him getting hurt.”
That decision would have been tougher if Chandler’s Sexton didn’t pull off the win the match before.
“He stepped in and did a great job,” Reyes said. “I was really impressed. All of our young wrestlers stepped up.
“I think we were the same team last year, but we are more of a team this year. We are pulling for each other instead of wrestling for ourselves.”
Red Mountain wrestled a good match, but didn’t have enough to finish it off.
“We have some things to work on,” DiDomenico said. “We have move our feet (in neutral position) instead of standing flatfooted and some other things. We’ve come a long way. We were last in the East Valley Region last year and now we are 19-2.
“Give Chandler credit. They won the matches they needed to. We’ll learn from it and we will be better in a month from now for the state tournament.”
Chandler 36, Mesa Red Mountain 24
103 - Clint Sexton (Chandler) dec. Preston Pfeiffle, 9-6
112 - Dalton Brady (Chandler) by forfeit.
119 - Kyle Roberts (Chandler) dec. Nick Rivera, 8-6.
125 - Ray Sanchez (RMtn) dec. Brian Devine, 15-13 OT
130 - Ahmad Zeitoun (RMtn) pin Michael Morrissey, 1:13.
135 - Matt DeRosa (RMtn) dec. JoJo Vega, 8-6.
140 - Curtis Buelna (Chandler) dec. Eric Perez, 1:34.
145 - Manny Reyes (Chandler) dec. Bobby Davis, 7-3.
152 - Alexander Buelna (Chandler) dec. Zack Lott, 5-4.
160 - Patrick Oskvarek (RMtn) by forfeit.
171 - Jacob Vega (Chandler) dec. Nick Farris, 8-4.
189 - Francisco Gutierrez (Chandler) pins Bobby Worth, 3:08.
215 - Kalu Ukaku (RMtn) pin Kalu Ukaku, :35.
HVY - William Poehls (Chandler) dec. Mario Ramirez, 6-2.
