Browning delivers late for Golden Valley wrestling

With his team trailing by five points, the only way Golden Valley High wrestling’s Tanner Browning could deliver a win was with a pin in the final match.

The Cougars senior delivered, pinning David Ortiz in the third round to lift Golden Valley (13-1, 1-1 Central California Conference) to a 34-33 win over Buhach Colony (8-1, 1-1) on Wednesday night at Cougar Arena.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better spot to end on,” Golden Valley coach Chopper Mello said. “Tanner is our top guy. The guy he wrestled, Ortiz, is a tough kid. But you ask your senior leader, your best kid to deliver and he goes out there and gets a pin. That’s the guy you want to put it on.”

Mello had actually alerted Browning midway through the dual meet that they will probably need a pin from him to win.

After Buhach Colony’s Brandon Mendoza held on to defeat Criselio Rivera 6-4 in the 113-pound match, the Thunder took a 33-28 lead.

The pressure was on.

“It made me focus a lot more,” Browning said. “I went out there knowing we were down and knowing I had to find a way to stick him.”

Browning had to change his attack and go for riskier moves in search of a pin. It put him in some precarious positions earlier in the match, but he still led 5-2 entering the third round.

“I was getting a little frustrated, but I knew if I could trap his arm, get it in an arm bar, I could run it and turn him,” Browning said. “I had to give it everything I had.”

Browning finally worked an arm bar into a pin 25 seconds into the third round, which set off a wild celebration on the Golden Valley bench.

It was a tough loss for the Thunder, who battled back from a 28-15 deficit with a string of four consecutive victories by Jay Johnson (220), Oscar Curiel (285), Leem Kue (106) and Mendoza.

“I’m proud of our guys, especially the way they came out at them,” said Buhach Colony coach Eric Osmer. “They’ve been a little bit more successful than us. We’ve had some success this year. Our guys came out and wrestled hard.”

The biggest win for Golden Valley (not counting Browning) was a third-round pin by Jacob Pavey (195) over Salvador Sanchez with just 21 seconds left in the match.

“Huge, absolutely huge,” Mello said. “Without that, we don’t have a shot.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2015 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Browning delivers late for Golden Valley wrestling."