CIF STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Small Steps for Calvary Chapel

Calvary Chapel took halting steps toward the team championship on the first day of the CIF State wrestling meet Friday at the University of the Pacific’s Spanos Center. But that was OK, because so did Clovis and Shingle Springs Ponderosa, expected to be the Eagles’ closest challengers.

Some results were predictable, others were not. The only certainty Friday was that nothing was certain.

By night’s end, Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo shrugged and said, “Who knows? I think we can still win it if the guys can keep up the fire.”

After the quarterfinals, Calvary Chapel led Clovis, the three-time defending champion, 40-37. Ponderosa, stumbling worse than all others, had slipped all the way to sixth place.

Twins Shane (112 pounds) and Dane Valdez at 119, and Ed Mosely at 145 advanced to today’s semifinals for Calvary Chapel. Shane Valdez’s 5-3 overtime victory over Jake Roberts of San Diego came courtesy of one penalty point for a false start by Roberts with eight seconds left and Roberts ahead, 3-2.

Luck was fleeting for the Eagles, however.

Moments later, Calvary Chapel’s Joey Coughran appeared to have worked into a position sufficient enough to have recorded a last-minute takedown that would have sent his 130-pound quarterfinal match to overtime. The mat official thought otherwise, though, and Sergio Mar of Gilroy hung on for a 4-2 victory.

“I feel mad,” Azevedo said. “That ref ripped him off. But as Joey said afterward, ‘I blew it.’ ”

Coughran and Josh Holiday, at 140, are still alive in the consolation round. Of the six Calvary Chapel wrestlers who qualified for the State meet, only Mauricio Mora is out of the tournament.

“We still have the possibility of five placers, which would be awesome,” Azevedo said. “On a championship team, the top guys get knocked off sometimes and other guys come through. Very rarely do you have everybody who’s supposed to do great come through.”

Heading into today’s semifinals, Calvary Chapel appears to have a firm hand on the title, although if Friday was any indication, anything is possible today.

Clovis had only two wrestlers advance to the semifinals and Ponderosa had none.

For Clovis, which won the Central Section championship by a mere three points over Madera, 130-pounder Chad Snapp and heavyweight Chad Mast advanced to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, Snapp defeated El Modena’s Juan Alvarez, 8-4, and Mast overwhelmed Chris Wellisch of Monterey, 9-2.

“It’s been up and down like a roller coaster today,” Azevedo said.

Orange County’s other semifinalists were:

--Savanna’s Teak Sato, who defeated Mike Collier of Fairfield, 7-6, in the quarterfinals.

--Zac Tapia of San Clemente, who overwhelmed his three opponents Friday. Tapia won his first-round match, 16-0, over Ricardo Mendoza of San Jose Overfelt, then defeated Ryan Elliot of Manteca, 12-4, in the second round and Kyle Swan of Clovis, 9-3, in the quarterfinals.

--Wali Sibrie of Buena Park, who advanced with a 4-3 victory over Mike Gamble of San Diego Kearny.

Meet Notes

The semifinals are at 10 a.m. today. Third- , fifth- and seventh-place matches begin at 2 p.m. with the finals to follow at 7. . . . In his annual State meet predictions, Bill Grant of The California Wrestler newsletter picked Dane Valdez of Calvary Chapel to win the 119-pound title, Joey Coughran of Calvary Chapel to win at 130 and Zac Tapia of San Clemente to win at 135. . . . An omen? Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo awoke Friday to find his picture on the front page of the Stockton Record. The newspaper had a story on the shortage of hotel rooms for the weekend and Azevedo was pictured checking into his hotel. The Eagles, top-ranked in the final State Coaches’ Assn. poll, are one of the contenders for the team title.