Martinez was one of only two Rams to place in the top eight in their weight class at the Blossom Valley Athletic League wrestling finals held Feb. 12 at Lincoln, and he will be the only Ram participating in the Central Coast Section tournament Feb. 25­26 at Overfelt.

Martinez had quite a handful in the championship match at 132 pounds against Eric Nakagawa of Leigh. Nakagawa defeated Martinez in a sudden-death overtime round.

The score was tied after the first two minutes of the match. Neither wrestler could gain the upper hand enough to even score a takedown and the clock expired on the first round with the wrestlers scoreless.

It was more than 20 seconds into the second round before Martinez finally scored the first points of the match with a two-point reversal. But he couldn't hold the lead when seconds later Nakagawa tied the match with a reversal of his own, then took the lead with a near fall for another two points. The second round ended with Martinez trailing 4-2.

Nakagawa scored another point on an escape to extend his lead to 5-2 early in the third round, but Martinez wouldn't be counted out. He was able to take Nakagawa to the mat to score two points of his own and close the gap. Then Martinez scored another point on a penalty by Nakagawa to tie the match just before the end of the regulation.

The match went into a sudden-death overtime where the first to score a point would win. Nakagawa was able to score two points on a takedown with only 16.9 seconds left in the one-minute overtime to win the match. Martinez lost, but still took second place in the tournament and earned a CCS berth.

After a bye in the first round of the league tourney, Martinez pinned Tuan Nguyen of Pioneer at 5:51 of the third round and pinned Reggie Estoesta of Overfelt just seconds into the second round.

Willow Glen's Eliseo Anaya was also able to place in the top eight at the BVAL tourney. Anaya won his final match against James Tabaldo of Independence 10-5 to finish in seventh place at 137 pounds.

Anaya suffered his second loss of the tourney to Sean Kelly of Leigh by pin after a consolation round victory over Nate Navratil of Pioneer by a pin after only 54 seconds had passed in the match. Anaya lost his first match to Farid Rivera of Oak Grove by pin with a second left in the first round.