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Sports Beat
Murdock, Lopez lead wrestlers to CCS finals
By Dick Sparrer
Daniel Lopez has been winning big matches for the Willow Glen wrestling team all season long.
So when he found himself wrestling for third place at the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals, the Willow Glen senior was up for the challenge.
Lopez rolled to a 6-1 victory over Daniel Gomez of Overfelt to nail third place at 112 pounds and lead a solid Willow Glen showing at the league tournament.
Lopez, who helped the Rams to a championship in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL, wasn't intimidated in the least by the top wrestlers from the Mount Hamilton Division competing at the league finals. He went out and won four of five bouts to clinch third place overall.
Lopez topped a list of eight placers that helped Willow Glen to a team eighth at the rugged tournament. And three Rams made it to the third-place round of the tourney.
Fernando Betancourt pinned an Overfelt foe to clinch third place with a 4-1 record at 215 pounds, and John Belveal lost a tough 3-2 decision in his last match to wind up fourth at 130 pounds for the Rams.
Travis Murdock of Pioneer was another fourth-place finisher at the BVAL finals, heading a list of four Mustangs to place at the tournament. Murdock was the only Pioneer wrestler to make it to the third-place round.
Lopez and Betancourt will lead the Willow Glen contingent and Murdock will head up the Pioneer crew that will compete in the Central Coast Section finals set for Feb. 25 and 26 at Independence.
Wrestling begins Friday at 9 a.m. and continues through Saturday. The medal rounds begins at 2 p.m. Saturday with the championship finals set for 5 p.m.
Lopez takes a 30-7 season record into the weekend tournament. Betancourt and Belveal boast matching 24-10 marks.
Lopez and Betancourt were each third, Belveal finished fourth and Henry Chavez (135) and Mike Jaramillo (119) were each fifth for Willow Glen at the league finals.
"It was a tough tournament," said Willow Glen coach Phil Luna of the finals. "But we had a good day."
That they did. The Rams took 13 wrestlers, and 10 qualified as either top-seven placers or alternates for CCS.
Chavez beat a tough Overfelt wrestler 3-1 to claim fifth place at 135, and Jaramillo beat a Valley Christian 7-6 to get fifth at 119.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
