Despite continuing to not have wrestlers in three weight classes, Camp Verde High School showed it was still powerful Jan. 12, sweeping four other teams in its final home meet of the winter.
“There’s a lot of people that have been doing a lot of talking — they think that we’re through, we’re finished, [our] kids are all flunking,” said Mario Chagolla Sr., who is closing his 30th year as CVHS assistant wrestling coach. “Even the coaches that were coming to this tournament said, ‘Hey, are we still having a dual? We heard you guys are shutting down.’
“I said, ‘Come on down. Come see for yourself, how through we are.’”
Seniors Alex Casillas, Kyle Little and Matt Mejia all made their final meet at CVHS count, going undefeated against rival Mingus Union High School as well as three other schools in a warm-up for what is scheduled to be their regular-season finale Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22 and 23, at the Sand Devil Wrestling Classic in Page.
The Cowboys downed the Marauders, 48-27, and routed Shonto Preparatory Academy by 30 points, allowing a total of six other points — one match loss — against Mayer High School and Rough Rock Community School.
While CVHS forfeited its four matches against the four other schools at 106, 113 at 170 pounds, only four other Cowboys lost head-to-head matchups.
For the first time all season, that situation may improve in the 106-pound weight class, as Cowboys head coach Tracy Tudor has assured that the whole team will be together wrestling by the end of the season.
“We’re hoping it’s going to be a good surprise this coming week,” Chagolla said. “We’ve been holding onto it for a while now.”
Chagolla’s grandson, Favian, and nephew, Anthony, both won all their matches at 160 and 220 pounds.
“My nephew was 170, but he’s dropped down to 160,” Chagolla said. “Everybody’s dropping [weight], making our team stronger.”
Senior Jesse Etienne, swept Jan. 12 at 182 pounds, also plans to drop weight to wrestle at 170 pounds, Chagolla added, with junior Oscar Berrelez going down 18 pounds to 152.
“That’s the next hurdle we’ve got to get through,” Chagolla said. “You can’t blame them — they’re kids, it’s some of their birthdays, but coming back from [the] holidays, some of our kids ballooned up.”
Chagolla’s case in point was sophomore heavyweight Jesus Curiel, with whom Chagolla has had to cut weight weekly just to keep at 285 pounds.
“It drives me crazy,” he said. “He loves food, man.”
The fifth and final CVHS senior wrestler, 195-pound Hawk Brown, bounced back against the Marauders after getting pinned by Shonto Prep junior Galvin Bedonie in 56 seconds.
“He knows how to choke,” Chagolla said. “[Brown] got stuck in a headlock. He thought he could tie up for a split-second and maneuver from there, but that’s all that kid needed.
“We told [Brown], ‘Son, this guy’s a headlocker. Watch out.’ That’s the cheapest move in wrestling — the worst thing you can do.”
But Brown learned from the experience, pinning MUHS junior William “Gus” Henley in 2:52.
Rough Rock was not scheduled to wrestle Jan. 12 but showed up at the last minute and begged to “let us in,” Chagolla said. “‘We want to wrestle the best.’”
Along with the Chagollas, sophomore heavyweight Jesus Curiel faced three girl wrestlers, pinning Bella Dean, Alicia Cruz and Rochelle Young in a combined 33 seconds at 160, 220 and 285 pounds, respectively.
“Everybody else is experiencing the same problems, but when you’re up there, you know, on top, everybody’s trying to bring you down. I know who [we’ve] got in the stables. When those kids get their act together, they always finish strong.”
For more photos and all of the Camp Verde High School wrestlers’ results from their dual match with Mingus Union High School, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 20, issue of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
