Wrestling: Estancia floors Sea Kings

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - With a Wrestlemania-type ambience, Estancia High’s

wrestling team used the verbal voltage as leverage in Thursday’s 50-24

Pacific Coast League meet with Corona del Mar.

“The biggest thing I was most impressed with tonight was the crowd,”

Eagles’ coach Nate Skaar said. “We had a lot of alumni here and they were

really into it. It really made it fun for the kids competing out there.”

The first intriguing match of the night came in the 119-pound class, as Estancia senior Abe Inoye went up against his brother, Ben Inoye.

The elder Inoye defeated the younger Inoye by a technical fall, 15-0,

in the third period, but Skaar was impressed with the CdM sophomore.

“Ben really worked hard and you could tell he really wanted it,” Skaar

said. “But Abe had too much for him. It was a tough, brotherly grudge

match out there.”

Jeremy Valdes, who doubles as the Eagles quarterback on the football

team, moved up to 152s and managed to defeat CdM’s Anthony Trankorn on

points, 4-0, in one of the more closely-contested matches.

“It was a last-minute decision moving Jeremy up to 152,” Skaar said.

“But he really stepped up and did a good job for us.”

For the Sea Kings (2-13 overall), Aaron Hacker improved to 17-2 with a

pin over Brett Hellmich, 23 seconds into the second period in the

160-class.

CdM’s Nathan Thaler wore down Erik Fredrickson and earned a pin at

1:41 of the second period.

Also earning a pin for the Sea Kings was Ben Wynkoop over Miguel

Medina in the third period.

But the rest was all Eagles, as heavyweight Josh Veach gave up some

poundage to Sterling York, but still managed to pin the bigger foe midway

through the second period.

Victor Carmon (112s), Oscar Rubio (125s), Felipe Tapia (140s) and Matt

Mueller (171s) also earned wins by pinfall for the Eagles.

Estancia improves to 13-6 overall, but Skaar still sees the best days

ahead of his team.

“We definitely haven’t peaked yet,” Skaar said. “I’ll always feel like

we can do better.”