A cancelation of one event allowed Corona del Sol boys wrestling coach Jesse Whitson to explore options to test his athletes in mid-January with hopes of reaping some benefits in February.

The Aztecs didn’t have to wait long to see the dividends.

Corona racked up a ton of bonus points Wednesday in a 45-27 win over formidable, and previously undefeated Williams Field. The Aztecs, in addition to receiving two forfeits, won seven of the 12 matches competed, which isn’t a large discrepancy, but it was the way they won.

Corona del Sol (18-1) had four technical falls, a pin and a major decision to distance itself from the Black Hawks (15-1).

The Aztecs set the tempo, controlled the action and hit a ton a tilts that led to the technical falls.

“We’ve been really pushing the offense in practice a lot,” he said. “It’s good to see them go out there and get the offense going. I’d like to see us get in our ties and positions a little bit more, but it was good to see us pushing the action.”

Whitson feels like the Aztecs were ready to go against Williams Field because of the exposure to quality wrestling at the Doc Wright tournament in Winslow last week. They were set to head to Poston Butte for a tournament, but received word on Jan. 7 the event was canceled.

It led to a good scramble of finding a spot, getting the paperwork ready and rooms booked.

Clearly, it was worth it.

Finding a spot in the Doc Wright had the Aztecs wrestlers competing against some of the top smaller school programs in the state like Morenci and St. Johns. Corona finished second with seven placers, including champion Caden Morris at 175.

“We definitely needed it,” he said. “We haven’t  been wrestling our best. That’s not a knock on anybody. We needed the tough competition to get woken up. Same thing with (Williams Field). They are really tough. These are good matches to see where we are at sectionals.

“I’m glad it did get canceled. It ended up being a blessing for us. It was good for our guys.”

Senior Caden Gorishek had a quick pin and is coming off a third-place finish at Doc Wright. Gorishek wrestles at the national level, and was pinned in the semifinals after getting the initial takedown against Morenci freshman and nationally-ranked Caden Woodall.

“Caden has been on the national team twice,” Whitson said. “It was good wake up call. He saw A., I could take him down and B., I have to be locked in the whole time. It gave us some things to focus on that got exposed as well.”

For Williams Field, it was a bit of letdown on Senior Night after winning all of their previous dual meets.

Those who won, however, also piled up bonus points as four of their five wins were pins, including heavyweight Colin Campbell. The Michigan St. football commit picked up a pin in seven seconds with an ankle pick straight to the opponent’s back.

Williams Field coach Travis Fentress takes some solace in the fact he knows his wrestlers can redeem themselves going forward, correcting mistakes and closing the gap if they see a Corona wrestler at sectionals or state.

“They caught us on cross wrist (tilt) over and over again even though it was something we worked on,” Fentress said. “The kids allowed it. It something we have to keep working on.

“Last year in the match against (Corona) we had some very similar (individual) matches and we ended up beating them later in the year. We’ll sit down and watch the film, and hopefully make those corrections so we can be ready for a different outcome next time.”

In girls dual meet, Williams Field won five of the six matches competed, including Gray Gomez-Hasal, who secured a takedown in the final 15 seconds for a 5-3 win over Brynn Nicolson at 126 and five second pin by Peighton Eda at 100.

Senior Taylor Kinkead moved 22-4 on the year with a pin in 41 seconds at 132. She is wrestling with an edge this season.

As a sophomore, she finished sixth at the state meet but failed to qualify for state last season. She has some regret, learned from it and is now determined to make up for it.

“I knew I could do better,” she said. “I know I didn’t give it my all last year. I think I let my ego get to me because I did good the year before, and I was like I don’t need to put all the work in or I can go out afterward or whatever.

“Then I got slapped in the face.”

At least it came in her junior year, and now she has a chance to finish with a much stronger senior season.

“I’ve been more committed this year,” she said. “I’m just doing whatever I can to get better. I want to make sure I can redeem myself.”

 

Boys

Coronal del Sol 45. Williams Field 27

106: James Collins (CDSH) over (WFHS) (For.)
113: Jonah Owens (CDSH) over Marco Sayson (WFHS) (TF 15-0 1:39)
120: Shamaree Hasan (WFHS) over Evan Castleberry (CDSH) (Fall 1:00)
126: Max Valencia (CDSH) over Zach Peters (WFHS) (Fall 3:22)
132: Diego Vasquez (CDSH) over Nikolaos Bates (WFHS) (TF 15-0 2:41)
138: Dylan Martinez (CDSH) over Ethan Jackson (WFHS) (Dec 13-8)
144: Carlos Miranda (WFHS) over Damyan Navarro (CDSH) (Fall 3:05)
150: Baylor Veres (CDSH) over Cole Varagnat (WFHS) (TF 20-3 4:08)
157: Caden Gorishek (CDSH) over Joshua Davila (WFHS) (TF 17-2 2:19)
165: Ali Elasfia (WFHS) over Gunnar Higgins (CDSH) (Fall 0:50)
175: Caden Morris (CDSH) over Magomed Abdurakhimov (WFHS) (MD 9-0)
190: Abraham Kramer (WFHS) over Miles Brown (CDSH) (Dec 4-1)
215: Jameson Reed (CDSH) over (WFHS) (For.)
285: Collin Campbell (WFHS) over Kache Myles (CDSH) (Fall 0:07)

Girls

Williams Field 45, Corona del Sol 12

100: Peighton Eda (WFHS) over Lei Meas (CDSH) (Fall 0:05)
107: Keirah Reese (WFHS) over Trinity Slezak (CDSH) (Fall 0:43)
114: Caliann Ray (WFHS) over Delvina Martinez (CDSH) (Fall 3:53)
120: Name unlisted (CDS) pin Mallika Grewal
126: Mia Gomez-Hasal (WFHS) over Brynn Nicolson (CDSH) (Dec 5-3)
132: Taylor Kinkead (WFHS) over Mya Polec (CDSH) (Fall 0:41)
138: Alaya Felix (WFHS) over (CDSH) (For.)
145: Brylee Wray (WFHS) over (CDSH) (For.)
152: Double Forfeit
165: Dalilah Ochoa (CDSH) over (WFHS) (For.)
185: Double Forfeit
235: Double Forfeit