The Corcoran High School Panther wrestling team competed at the Division 2 Valley tournament last week which was held at Shafter High School and Brock Rogers came home a Div. 2 Valley Champion.
Corcoran had three wrestlers place as winners and one wrestler finished as an alternate, said Coach Andrew Saldana.
Corcoran started the tournament with bad news, Saldana added when two of the top wrestlers did not make weight. East Sequoia League Champions and brothers Chris Price and Joseph Price both missed weight and their seasons instantly came to an end, Andrew noted.
“The Panthers were left to wrestle with half a squad but would still go out and do what they been doing all season and that’s battle,” Coach said.
Jonah Hernandez who is ranked 20th in California pinned his way to the finals, where he met up with California’s 12th ranked wrestler Dominic Mendes of Righetti High. In the finals match Hernandez couldn’t stop the speed of Mendes and lost by the score of 8-2. Jonah took second place.
At 115, Corcoran high freshman Noah Hernandez finished the tournament 1-2 and was able to secure an alternate spot for the Masters Tournament.
“Noah is Tough with a capital T. He is giving up at least ten pounds to everyone he wrestles but no matter what he gives 110 percent all the time,” remarked Coach Saldana.
Freshman Esteban Ramirez’ season ended Friday after he went 0-2. Senior Juan Perez’ season also ended Friday as he went 1-2. Sophomore David Bega II had a really impressive tournament by going 2-2 with two pins to finish in seventh place.
“David is another wrestler who is undersized for his weight and he gives up close to 10 pounds to wrestle at 197 yet he wrestles every match with confidence. I respect that quality about him,” Saldana added.
The highlight of the tournament was Corcoran High’s Senior Brock Rogers winning a Valley Championship by capturing the 147 pound division in impressive fashion. Rogers was 5-0 with five first round pins in the tournament. “Brock is on a mission to place at the state meet and this was exactly what he needed to do to get the ball rolling for this week’s Masters Tournament and the State Championships,” Saldana commented.
Brock is Corcoran’s first Valley Champ in four years. Up next is the Central Section Masters and two wrestlers are seeded; Jonah Hernandez is the fifth seed and Brock Rogers is the third seed. David Bega will look for some upsets to make the State Meet. Wrestlers need to place top 10 at Masters to make the State Meet which will be held at the Rabobank Arena next week.
