Cougar wrestling tops in Division I south

MODESTO -- Before Chopper Mello loaded up his team to make the trip to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I-South Tournament on Friday morning, he brought them into the Golden Valley gym and sat them in the bleachers.

He pointed up to the blue Sac-Joaquin Section banner the Cougars won in 2008 hanging on the wall.

One last reminder of what was at stake.

Saturday night they brought home another.

Ben Weber and Hugo Chavez both won individual titles to help Golden Valley run away with the division title at Gregori High.

One by one, the nine Cougars wrestlers who earned a top-five finish to advance to next week's Masters Tournament stopped to drape the black wrestling shoes that belonged to DeAngelo Smith over their necks as they went up to accept their medals.

Smith, who would have been a senior on this team, was shot and killed last May and has been an inspiration for the team.

When they accepted the blue banner they jumped up and down, shouting "D-Lo!"

"This means a lot to these guys and the school," Mello said. "Blue banners are hard to get in any sport in Division I.

"This season has been like a movie for us. It really has with everything that happened with DeAngelo and the way we came together. It's like 'Hoosiers' or 'Miracle on Ice.' This was the Miracle on the Mat.

"I tried to express that to our guys. If this is like a movie lets make sure we finish it the way a movie should end."

The Cougars finished with 194.5 team points, 40 points ahead of second place Pitman.

The highlight of the day were the titles won by Weber and Chavez.

Weber improved to 40-2 this year with an 8-3 win over McNair's Gary Thao in the 119-pound final.

"After the semis I wanted to make sure I wrestled my match," Weber said. "I wrestled the other guy's match in the semis and it turned out to be a close match.

"I wanted to force him to do what I wanted to do and not get caught having to wrestle defensive."

Chavez dominated Pitman's Matthew Teeples to win the heavyweight final 10-3.

It's been a rewarding season for Chavez after battling back from an ankle injury.

"It was hard watching my team wrestle without me when I was hurt," Chavez said. "I felt like I let them down. When I got back I wanted to wrestle at a high level. Winning league and now being a Divisional champ means a lot."

Golden Valley's Julian Terry (125 pounds), Antonio Guizar (140) and Markus Davis (152) all finished second in their weight class.

Buhach Colony's Johnathon Salazar (112) and Atwater's Alex Grijalba (135) also finished second.

"I just need to keep doing what I've been doing and hopefully I can make it to state," Grijalba said.

Golden Valley took a little time to celebrate and pose for pictures with the banner before they turned their attention on Masters.

"After we left the gym we knew we had to go get it done," Weber said. "We had to wrestle our hearts out. This is a blue collar group. I look around and this is probably the last time the 14 of us are going to be together.

"We're not all going on to Masters next week, but we all helped get the banner. Even though DeAngelo wasn't physically here he was a big part of our team."