Friday, Jan. 27, 2012

Dos Palos stuns Tigers on mat

Broncos overcome injuries to rout LB for Moreno Memorial trophy

The Dos Palos wrestling team felt it hit a low point after the Mid-Cal Wrestling Tournament in Gilroy, when senior Hank Thompson dislocated his elbow to end his season.

So heading into Tuesday's dual match against Los Banos, even DP coach Frank Lemos didn't feel great about the matchup.

"That's wrestling, man," Lemos said. "I didn't really think going in we matched up very well. I thought things would have to go our way."

Things more than went the Broncos' way -- Dos Palos routed Los Banos 55-18 to take the Noah Dru Moreno Memorial Trophy for the first time in the traveling trophy's three-year existence.

"They came out and wrestled a great match," Los Banos coach Josh Adams said. "Their guys were ready to go, and our guys not so much. A couple of our guys that on paper should have wrestled well ... actually some of them gave up pins."

Dakota Spinder and David Armenta earned victories to give DP an early lead, but credit Nathan Pimentel with galvanizing DP's wrestlers. Pimentel twisted his left shoulder in the third period of his match against LB's James Robledo. After using almost all of his injury time to shake off the obvious pain -- during which Lemos repeatedly asked him if he was sure he was OK -- Pimentel earned a reverse to defeat Robledo 5-3.

"He just got pinned by Robledo this Saturday in Gilroy," Lemos said. "There's a lot of pride in there when you get pinned. Nobody likes that, and sometimes you get an opportunity to redeem yourself.

"When the shoulder thing happened he could have easily bowed out. And that's a freshman against a senior."

All told, six Dos Palos wrestlers earned pins -- Armenta, Izzac Suarez, Jesus Cordero, Vic Barron, Luis Varela and Danny Beaton.

"It's a good humble pie going toward the postseason and finishing out our conference duals," Adams said. "All of those guys could have wrestled better, but I'm glad Dos Palos came in and did what they did. In reality it doesn't mean anything for us, but it lets us wrestle under pressure."

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com