Seven Bulldogs win league wrestling titles

Folsom High's wrestling team backed up its Delta River League first-place finish by winning the league tournament on Saturday.In doing so, the Bulldogs qualified 13 of 14 wrestlers to this weekend's divisional tournament at Ponderosa High School. Folsom's Ryan Jensen, who was wrestling up two weight classes at 170, 18 pounds higher than he spent the entire season, finished fifth and is an alternate for the divisional tournament. Despite giving up size and strength, Jensen lost to the fourth-place finisher by one point and pinned his opponent from Sheldon to place fifth for the opportunity to be the alternate. Folsom had seven champions and 10 finalists, racking up 263.5 team points, nearly 40 points in front of runner-up Ponderosa, in winning its fifth league title in the last six years.Senior Connor Pollock made history by becoming the first wrestler to win four Delta River League titles. On Saturday he shutout Ponderosa's Sean Melton 5-0 to win the 126-pound weight class. He scored all five points in the first period.Sophomore Nick Fiegener earned his second his second-straight league title with a 17-2 technical fall win over Oak Ridge's Ali Atebar at 145. He's got a chance to equal Pollock's mark of four league championships, as do freshmen Lorenzo De La Riva (120) and Mason Koshiyama (140), who won titles on Saturday. De La Riva won by injury default over Jesuit's Kevin Winn and Koshiyama earned a 7-2 win over Oak Ridge's Taylor Ellerman. Seniors Tony Hernandez (134), Isaias Diaz (152) and Alex Wood (187) also won league titles. Hernandez, wrestling against Oak Ridge's Cameron Miller, had a big first period, working up a 7-2 lead on his way to a 12-2 victory. Diaz had a 4-0 lead over Jesuit's Nathan Zielke before pinning him 23 seconds into the second period to claim his third-straight league championship. Wood had an impressive effort at 187, avenging a previous loss to Ponderosa's Jorden Marinelli and beating him 6-2 to earn his second league championship.Devon Nooner (160), Trever Lewis (220) and Jordan Alleva (285) all placed second for the Bulldogs, Nooner and Lewis falling by pin, while Alleva losing 3-2 to Ponderosa's Jeff Camilli. On his way to the finals, Lewis upset the No. 2 seed from Pleasant Grove.Carlos Alvarez (106), Tyler Hoffman (113) and Alex Hurlimann (182) earned third-place finishes for the Bulldogs, all losing tough matches in the semifinals but rebounding to win their final matches of the tournament."We wanted to get everyone on to next week's divisionals and we had 13 of the 14 make it, and one alternate," Folsom wrestling coach Mike Collier said. "We had an alternate get in last year, so we are hoping for the same so we can get our whole varsity lineup in there with a chance to qualify for Masters."Folsom was equally as dominant at the junior varsity level. While no team score was kept, Folsom dominated with nine champions and four second-place finishers. Roger Berton (126), Kyle Parrott (132), Kyle Prado (138), Connor Watson (145), Jake Bienvenue (160), Sam Whitney (170), Jonathan Yslas (182), Robbie Cunha (220) and John May (285) won titles, while Kevin Borgh (120), Eli Diaz (145), Jason Mica (160) and Jerod Nooner (170) placed second. Connor Friery (113) and Austin Badger (195) placed third, while Matt Mitchell (132), Keen Prado (138) and Justin Badger (195) placed fourth."It was great to get another banner in our home gym, and I think many of our guys are starting to show they are peaking for the postseason, as they beat wrestlers who they had lost to earlier in the year," Collier said. "Our JV season is now done, and they had a great year going undefeated (16-0) and also winning the league. Our varsity now moves on to the Division I North Section Tournament."The top-eight finishers in each weight class will qualify for the Sac-Joaquin Masters held in Stockton.