El Dorado pins down Liberty Ranch

The El Dorado High wrestling team won seven of nine matches over visiting Liberty Ranch on Tuesday night in a Sierra Valley Conference match, posting a 43-18 victory inside the Cougars’ small gym.

Willy Gadow started (106 pounds) the match for El Dorado against the Hawks’ Devon Pollan. After giving up a takedown, Gadow used a reversal to tie the match 2-2 entering the second period. Choosing to start on bottom, Gadow used a head and arm to reverse, and pinned Pollan for a Cougar 6-0 lead.

Alex Ollar (113s) kept the Cougars going, as the senior battled his way to a 5-1 decision over Aristeo Flores. Ollar scored on double leg takedowns in each of the first two periods, and an escape in the third, putting his team up 9-0.

But Liberty Ranch took a 12-9 lead thanks to a forfeit win by Dominic Lambert at 126s, plus a pin by Chase Agrella at 132s. Agrella, highly ranked in the Sac-Joaquin Section, used a cradle to secure the fall against the Cougars’ Kieran Taylor.

The Hawks’ lead was short-lived, as the Cougars’ Nathaniel Erskine (138) walked to the center to receive his forfeit and put the Cougars back up for good at 15-12.

El Dorado put the dual away with four consecutive wins in the middle weights. The Cougars’ John Kunkle out scrambled William Willmon for the first takedown in the 145s. After yielding an escape, Kunkle got another takedown and transitioned into a cradle to secure a first period pin to the delight of the home crowd.

“I dropped weight so that we can get more guys into the line up” said Kunkle, who previously wrestled at 152s. “I wrestled my best for my team, and my school.”

Other El Dorado winners was Rickey Reed (152s) bested Darian Graham 15-6, for a major decision, and Jeremiah Romero (160s) earned a 13-6 decision over Jason Medlock. That gave the Cougars a 28-12 lead. Tyler Land (170s) followed with a 7-0 victory over Derek Bonslett.

The two schools had a double forfeit at 182, and the Cougars won by forfeit in the heavyweight class.

The Cougars’ Alex LeBaron (195s) battled the Hawks’ Manuel Holman, who took LeBaron down twice in the first period for a 4-2 lead In the second period, LeBaron hit a blast double, and moved into a half nelson to gain his near fall points. Leading 7-4, LeBaron chose the bottom position, stood up to escape, and repeated the blast double to a half, this time getting a pin in the third.

The Hawks got their final six team points as Anthony Jones pinned the Cougars’ Sam Osterhout in the 220s.

“Sam is a great kid that only needs more mat time” El Dorado head coach Robert Hart said. “With his family time out-of-state during the Christmas break, we’ve only been able to work with him for a few weeks. But we had a varsity opening, and he was willing to fill it. This experience is going to help him, and our team, in the weeks and years to come.”

Zach Brazell (heavyweight) concluded the evening for the Cougars, winning by forfeit.

“As a team, I think we did great,” said LeBaron following the match. “We just made some little mistakes that cost us. But we’ll fix them in practice, and come back even harder next week.”

El Dorado improved to 2-2 in conference action.