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Chavez sixth at CCS mat finals
First section placer in eight years at WGHS
By Dick Sparrer
The season may have not finished just the way Henry Chavez had hoped. But it was still quite a senior season for the Willow Glen High School wrestler.
Chavez wrapped up an outstanding 38-9 season with a sixth-place finish at 140 pounds at the Central Coast Section championships held last weekend at Independence High School.
And while he didn't get the state berth that he coveted, he did get the first CCS medal in eight years for the Rams.
"He put in the time," said Willow Glen coach Phil Luna of Chavez, a four-year varsity wrestler for the Rams. "We're very proud of him."
It was a rather dramatic performance for the Willow Glen senior. After a loss in his second match, he had to battle back to win four straight matches to get into the medal round of the tournament. And there to greet him for that fourth match was his season-long nemesis, Miguel Chavez of Santa Clara.
Willow Glen's Chavez had already lost three times to Santa Clara's Chavez this year--in the finals at the Overfelt and John F. Kennedy tournaments, and in the quarter-finals at the Gunderson tourney.
If the talented WG senior had any hopes of winning a medal and advancing to state, he had to beat M. Chavez.
"Henry took the guy down to go up 2-0, but Chavez reversed him to make it 2-2," said Luna. "Then Henry escaped to make it 3-2."
M. Chavez went up 4-3 with a takedown in the second round, and it took a late escape by H. Chavez to tie the match 4-4 in regulation.
The two wrestlers were headed into overtime, and with 30 seconds left in the OT period, H. Chavez nailed a double-leg takedown to go up 6-4. That turned out to be his margin of victory.
"Three of [Henry's] nine losses this year have been to Chavez," said Luna. "But he beat him when it counted the most. And to beat him to get into the medal round was huge. I was very happy for the kid."
Trouble was, the emotional and physical effort of beating M. Chavez took its toll on H. Chavez, and he had to win his next match to get to the state tournament.
"He put his heart into it," said Luna, but Chavez lost a 3-0 heartbreaker to Carlo Franciotti of St. Francis on a second round escape and takedown. Franciotti went on to finish fourth and qualify for state.
"To be that close," said Luna. "It was pretty emotional."
Chavez went on to lose a 6-5 heartbreaker to Bellarmine junior Steven Rechenmacher in the battle for sixth place.
Chavez had opened the tournament with a technical fall win over Ben DiGregorio of Cupertino, but lost 6-3 to Paul Montanez of Monta Vista.
He fought back to nail a quick 42-second fall against Maurice Budiao of Watsonville and beat Nick Gutierrez of Luck 5-1. Then he pinned R. Caruthers of Monterey in 43 seconds to set up his crucial match with M. Chavez.
Willow Glen's Chavez capped an outstanding year with his sixth at CCS. He was second at both the Overfelt and JFK tournaments, third at the Live Oak and Gunderson tournaments, 5-0 in the Willow Glen dual match tourney and second to Oak Grove's Kenny Bertron at the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals. Bertron finished second in the weight division at CCS.
Chavez led a trio of Willow Glen wrestlers to the CCS tournament. Daniel Valadez and Adam Copas, both seniors, also qualified for the section meet, but both lost their first two bouts.
Valadez lost his 135-pound opener 18-7 to Bobby Stack of Terra Nova, then dropped a 13-4 decision to Dominic Paz of King City.
Copas, at 152, lost by fall at 3:44 in his first match to Derek Supnet of St. Francis, then lost a 9-3 decision to Greg Kelly of Terra Nova.
Freestyle Program
Willow Glen will begin a freestyle wrestling program for those ages 6-18 interested in learning how to wrestle. The group meets Mondays and Wednesdays, 5-6:30 p.m., in the small gym at Willow Glen. For more information, call Willow Glen wrestling coach Phil Luna at 408.629.6881.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
