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The high school wrestling season may have just ended Saturday night with the CIF State Wrestling Championships at Centennial Gardens in Bakersfield. But Fremont coaches Bobby Soto and Eric Duus must already be looking forward to next year.
Why not? Their Firebirds finished 13th as a team thanks to the performances of five state qualifiers--Filip Novachkov, Greg Crane, Boris Novachkov, Kurtis Ogasawara and Tommy Staats. And they are all underclassmen.
Juniors F. Novachkov (second) and Crane (fifth) each won medals for Fremont at the state tourney, and all five of the Firebirds won two matches or more.
F. Novachkov led the Fremont effort with his runner-up finish at 112 pounds. The junior battled three-time defending state champion senior Brian Moreno of Foothill right to the wire before losing a tough 5-3 decision.
Novachkov took the early lead with a first-round takedown, but Moreno fought back with an escape and a takedown to lead 3-2 at the first buzzer.
Moreno started the second round on the bottom and reversed Novachkov to go up 5-2. Novachkov escaped before the end of the round, though, to trail just 5-3 heading into the final round.
But Moreno was able to ride out Novachkov through a scoreless third round and hang on for the 5-3 victory.
The Fremont star opened the tournament with four straight victories to get into the championship match. He pinned junior Anthony Frank of Laguna Hills at 4:41, beat up senior Keith Gibson of Mt. Whitney 11-4, won on a 16-0 technical fall over sophomore Chad Perez of Galt and handled junior Justin Paulsen of Calvary Chapel 10-2 to earn the shot at Moreno.
Crane supported Novachkov's effort with a fifth-place finish at 152 pounds. The talented junior won three straight matches in the championship bracket before losing two straight. He came back with a vengeance, though, pinning senior Cory Beeson of Temecula Valley at 1:44 of the first round in the battle for fifth place.
Boris Novachkov won three bouts and Kurtis Ogasawara and Tommy Staats each won a couple of matches for the Firebirds at the state tourney.
Monta Vista senior wrestling sensation Dan Montanez won one of three matches at the state tourney.
Montanez opened with a tight 7-6 victory over senior Scott Baughman of Lemore High School at 160 pounds, but lost a 3-1 heartbrearker to senior Kyle Dubs of Vacaville a match later. The Matador then lost 12-2 to senior Jay Regner of Fallbrook to face elimination.
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