Corning wrestlers show well in loss
A pair of matches that didn't happen made all the difference for Corning High's wrestling team at home on Wednesday.
The Cardinals needed to forfeit at 132 and 182 pounds, and the 12 points lost was the margin of victory for visiting West Valley, who downed Corning 42-30.
"We wrestled well. If you take away the two weight classes we had to forfeit, we tied them," said Corning coach Cort Mitchell. "Their lineup is mainly juniors and seniors, while ours is mainly sophomores and freshmen, so we held our own against a more experienced team."
The Cardinals D.J. Deckman won a 17-12 decision over Spencer Lawrence at 106 pounds, but Devon Hiller was pinned by the eagles' Jacob Funk at 113.
Hector Valencia earned a stick-six for the Cardinals at 120 when he pinned Austin Miller, but Shane Hansen then lost by fall to West Valley's John Tomasello at 126.
The Cardinals got some big points out of Josh Shults (138) and Dakota Henry (145) following the forfeit at 132. Shults posted a second-period pin of P.J. Limon, and Henry was in complete control during his 17-0 technical fall over Mikey Maul.
Corning's Arnulfo Garcia (152) and Tony Carrillo (160) were pinned in succession by Nathan Burns and Logan Lawrence, respectively, but Ben Mister recorded a 7-0 decision over the Eagles' Hunter Jackson.
After the forfeit at 182, Calvin Abel came out on top of West Valley's Tony Fitzgerald at 182, and Tucker Carter scored a 10-1 major decision for Corning over Zach Zambrana.
The Cardinals' Juan Ruiz was pinned by Robbie Brown at 285.
"You can see the improvement in guys like Tucker Carter, who wrestled really well and is making strides toward being a really good wrestler," Mitchell said. "He was one of our outstanding wrestlers, as was Ben Meister. We asked Ben to wrestle up a weight class, and he came through with a victory wrestling a very solid match with no mistakes."
Corning is wrestling Saturday in the Folsom Tournament.
