"There were 2 seconds left on the clock after the stoppage of activity, and had Berry come back out to wrestle, Davis would have won and the Panthers would have won the dual."

January 29, 2009
By LELAND GORDON-Sports Writer

CHICO — The word "safely" caused quite the stir late on Wednesday night in Varley Gym, where Pleasant Valley's wrestling team edged Chico High 32-26 on a final-match pin by heavyweight Ken Young. With a chance to seal the Eastern Athletic League dual meet victory in the 215-pound division, Chico's Michael Davis held a 14-9 lead over PV's Rod Berry with 5 seconds left and lifted him off the mat in an effort to return him flat. He was called for an illegal slam, and when Berry failed to rise up after a 2-minute timed break, the match was forfeited in Berry's favor. What that did was pull PV even at 26, and gave Young the opportunity to be a hero.

Davis was penalized for not returning Berry to the mat safely, as the rulebook defines. If you ask both coaching staffs, one saw it safe and the other didn't. Regardless of whether it was, the call took away what was destined to be a CHS (3-1 EAL) victory and gave PV (3-1 EAL) a chance, something Young seized on against Luke Haight, who had beaten him 1-0 over the weekend at a tournament in Sacramento.

"On Saturday he beat me so I just came out today and wanted to win it for the team," a jubilant Young said while being mobbed by teammates. "This is probably the best feeling ever. It's amazing."

He got that chance because of the slam call, which Chico coach Keith Rollins said he didn't agree with.

"I did not think it was a slam, it would be questionable," he said afterwards. "(Safely) is a very gray word."

The PV side saw it as a definite slam, though head coach Joe Rios was occupied with another wrestler during the call.

"I was with my heavyweight but my assistant said he could see it and our kid was knocked out. I looked at his eyes and they were dilated so I told him to take the full 2 minutes," Rios said. "I'm not going to take a chance on my kid going out there regardless of how much time is left."

There were 2 seconds left on the clock after the stoppage of activity, and had Berry come back out to wrestle, Davis would have won and the Panthers would have won the dual.

"I don't know that I would do it as a coach but it's not saying that it's against the rules to do," Rollins said. "(This) morning we'll be in practice and we'll be fine. Hopefully we get a chance to meet these guys at league and division and masters and come out ahead."

Chico dominated early but PV roared back into the dual with a string of victories.

With four matches left the teams were tied at 20 with the Vikings erasing a 20-3 disadvantage in the middle weights. Ryan Pickering (140) started the run with a 9-0 handling of Chico's Justin Vaught, Matt Henry (145) took a 5-1 decision over Matt McGowen and Desi Rios (152) continued it with a pin of Alex Campos that only took 1 minute, 26 seconds. Quest Cummings' dominant 10-1 major decision over Mark Jorgensen (160) finished the run.

Ross Longnecker (171) got Chico back ahead 23-20 after holding Jackson Matheson in check for a 6-0 decision and Jessen Cole (189) got three more Chico points by using a late takedown to beat Will Castillo 5-0. All that set the stage for the final two matches of the night.

"I thought Ross Longnecker came up big tonight," Rollins said.

Chico built its 20-3 lead in the light weights with big wins from big names. The first match of the night was the premier matchup as the top-ranked competitors in the Northern Section's 103-pound division renewed their rivalry that began last Saturday in Sacramento. Chico's Nahshon Garrett and PV's Thomas Ocegueda battled last weekend for the last match of the medal rounds and Garrett pulled off a last-second comeback on his way to a medal while Ocegueda had to go home.

Ranked No. 1 by www.thecaliforniawrestler.com, Garrett won again this time but with less suspense. He used a double-leg takedown 30 seconds in to get control and then a double arm bar tilt to get three more nearfall points. That 5-0 lead turned into an 8-2 advantage and despite allowing a penalty point and a late escape, Garrett won 8-4 for three team points.

PV evened it on the next match after No. 6 Derek Tenckhoff (112) shut out No. 5 Mason Sauseda 5-0 for a minor upset. Tenckhoff recorded takedowns in the first two periods and withstood Sauseda's attempts in the final round to turn him to his back.

The 119-pound tilt exhibited a comeback attempt by Chico's Jesse Silva. The youngster who placed second at last year's Northern Section Masters meet is attempting to come back from a recurring shoulder injury and his match Wednesday, his first of the season, went well for him. Silva yielded a reversal to PV's Brenden Green with 28 seconds left in the match and a 7-3 lead. Rather that finish out the final seconds, Silva hit a fierce Peterson roll that got him two reversal points and then a two-point nearfall at the buzzer for a 11-3 major decision.

"It's a dislocated shoulder. I did it a couple years ago and popping it in has made it worse. I don't know if it will stay in the rest of the season," Silva said. "On the Peterson, I just saw his leg and his arm and went for it."

Chico's Jake Bolen (125) beat Bryant Wood 8-4, Panther Efren Rodriguez (130) pinned Casey Rubinoff and Phong Lee (135) whooped Tim Duntsch with an 18-4 major decision as well.