GRANITE BAY YOUTH RULES RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE VI
By Delton Lowery
LoweryDigitalPhoto.com
TURLOCK -- There was a lot of green at Saturday's high school wrestling tournament.
It was, after all, called the Rumble in the Jungle.
Of course there was Pitman-Turlock's green and silver. The Pride was the host to 28 schools.
There also were Grace Davis-Modesto's green, Hilmar's green, Sonora's green, Liberty-Madera Ranchos' green and even the green letters on the silver singlets for Manteca.
But the most dominant green of the day was Granite Bay's. Call it Grizzlies Green.
The Grizzlies powered their way to the Rumble in the Jungle VI title with 200.5 points, 24 clear of runner-up Golden Valley-Merced.
Grizzlies Green also was manifested in Granite Bay's roster, which sports only two seniors. The Grizzles had two individual champions, but they were freshman Johnny Cooley and sophomore Gavin Andrews.
They might be green, a little wet behind the ears if you will, but they're no slouches on the mat.
Cooley, unseeded in the 135-pound bracket, opened with a pin of Turlock's Gerardo Garza in 5:32; then a pin of Sierra-Manteca's Austin Soto, seeded third, in 5:16; then a 14-10 decision against Golden Valley's Javier Luque, seeded second; before finishing it off with a wild 18-17 victory against San Leandro's Abel Robles, seeded fourth, in the championship match.
Andrews, seeded third in the 285-pound bracket, breezed to the finals with pins in 2:45, 1:55 and 3:49 before locking up with top-seeded Dakota Smith of Yosemite-Oakhurst in the final. There, Andrews and Smith were knotted at 2-2 through three rounds and Andrews took Smith down in the 1-minute overtime period for a 4-2 decision to cap Granite Bay's performance.
"It's a really young group, only two seniors in the lineup," said Granite Bay coach Mike Lynch, who has coached the team since the school opened in 1996. "We've got a really good bunch of kids, they work hard, have good chemistry and they're doing well."
And, they're improving.
With just two seniors and three juniors to go with a whopping five sophomores, three freshman and a hole at 140s, Granite Bay was able to make amends for an earlier runner-up finish.
"We got second at the Grizzly Invitational," Lynch said. "Golden Valley won our tournament."
The Cougars tried their best to win the Rumble, too, with Ben Weber earning the 112-pound title, and Austin Bondi (119s) and Antonio Guizar (140s) taking second place.
Granite Bay also had two runners-up, sophomore Adam Wagner (145s) and senior Carson Schmidley (152s), both of which lost to No. 1 seeds.
Third through fifth was close with Turlock taking third with 129.5 points, Grace Davis fourth with 121.5 and Pitman fifth with 117.5.
The Rumble in the Jungle also gave teams an opportunity to put out its junior varsity wrestlers in four novice divisions.
Grace Davis finished first in the JV standings with Golden Valley finishing second.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1. Granite Bay 200.5; 2. Golden Valley-Merced 176.5; 3. Turlock 129.5; 4. Grace Davis-Modesto 121.5; 5. Pitman-Turlock 117.5; 6. San Leandro 92.5; 7. Hilmar 82.5; 8. Sonora 73.0; 9. Beyer 72.5; 10. Yosemite-Oakhurst 71.0
11. East Union-Manteca 69.0; 12. Sierra-Manteca 50.0; 13. Patterson 49.0; 14. Atwater 43.5; 15. Summerville-Tuolumne 37.0; 16. Liberty-Madera Ranchos 34.0; 17. Lathrop 33.0; 18. Hughson 29.5; 19. Riverbank 24.0; 20. Denair 23.0
21. Bret Hart-Angels Camp 20.0; 22. Castlemont-Oakland 12.0; 23. Manteca 3.0; T24. Enochs-Modesto 0.0; T24. Gustine 0.0; T24. Modesto 0.0; T24. Orestimba-Newman 0.0; T24. Tenaya 0.0; T24. Waterford 0.0

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP-MATCH RESULTS (Wrestlers were given a 2-pound weight allowance)
103: Garrett Fortado (Turlock) major decisions Dominique Dominguez (Grace Davis) 10-0; 112: Ben Weber (Golden Valley) pins Jose Zuniga (Turlock) 3:27; 119: Tyler Klinkhammer (Pitman) decisions Austin Bondi (Golden Valley) 10-3; 125: Fabian Garcia (Turlock) technical falls Marco Castaneda (East Union) 16-1; 130: Jason Cortez (East Union) decisions Derrick Avila (Pitman) 5-4; 135: Johnny Cooley (Granite Bay) decisions Abel Robles (San Leandro) 18-17; 140: Omar Montes (Turlock) decisions Antonio Guizar (Golden Valley) 8-3; 145: Carson Gracia (Summerville) decisions Adam Wagner (Granite Bay) 5-3 in 2OT; 152: Mike Crowell (Grace Davis) technical falls Carson Schmidley (Granite Bay) 17-2; 160: Gabe Gonzalez (Grace Davis) decisions Luis Rebolledo (Beyer) 8-4; 171: Eric McCray (Grace Davis) decisions Zac Andrews (Beyer) 8-6; 189: Gustavo Verver (Pitman) decisions Alex Nuanez (Sierra) 7-0; 215: Edgar Tolentino (San Leandro) major decisions Grant Hendrickson (Yosemite) 13-2; 285: Gavin Andrews (Granite Bay) decisions Dakota Smith (Yosemite) 4-2 in OT.

EARLIER RUMBLE ROUNDS: To check out the earlier rounds of the Rumble in the Jungle VI, click here.
PHOTOS FROM MID CALS: To read an article on the Mid Cal Championships and to view photos from the championship matches, click here. For the Mid Cal Medal Rounds, click here. For the Mid Cal Consolation Semifinals, click here. For the Mid Cal Championship Semifinals and Consolation Quarterfinals, click here.

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