Aldo Villavazo (royal blue singlet) prepares to get a pin over Corvallis wrestler Lucas Darby in a 285-pound bout (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings).
The McNary wrestling squad took home victories in both of their dual meets on Tuesday, Dec. 10 in a tournament at Cascade High School.
The Celtics defeated Corvallis by a score of 60-21 and later defeated Junction City 42-40.
“When we get a chance to compete with schools that are in a similar place as us in skill level, it allows our kids to focus on what we need to improve on,” McNary head coach Jason Ebbs said.
McNary went relatively untested in their meet with Corvallis as eight Celtic wrestlers ended up earning pins against the Spartans.
Grady Burrows (120 lbs.) Eoan Sharabarin (126) and Aldo Villavazo (285) earned their falls in the first round while Gage Dubois (132), Hunter Roberto (152), Matt Mehlhoff (160) and Anthony Garcia Reyes (220) got pins in the second round.
Gilbert Parra, the Celtics 145-pounder, was pushed into the third round in his opening match. But eventually, Parra forced his opponent into submission with at the 12 seconds remaining in the bout.
“He came around right at the end. We had guys that kept their nose to the grindstone. That is extremely pleasant to see this early in the season and hopefully it will become contagious for our other kids,” Ebbs said.
Despite all the individual victories, another match that Ebbs was impressed with was the 113-pound bout, featuring McNary’s Rigoberto Hernandez.
Hernandez was battling leg cramps for nearly his entire match, but still was able to go the distance with his opponent, Aziz Alshuwaiee — who won a 9-6 decision.
“Rigo could hardly stand. It would have been really easy for him to give up a pin, but he fought through and kept the match close until the end,” Ebbs said.
While they got through their first dual with ease, McNary was challenged greatly by 4A power Junction City — despite getting five wins via forfeit.
“They were a hard-nosed group. Those kids were tough,” Ebbs said. “That was a good test for us. Our guys had to battle for everything they did. We had a few guys that hammered out some hard-nosed matches,” Ebbs said.
Burrows earned his second straight first round pin in this one, but it was 138-pounder Daniel Hernandez who helped clinch the Celtics victory with his third-round fall over Bodee Haddy.
McNary will return to action at the Liberty Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 21.