Pengilly, Panthers beat Monache

Porterville High wrestler Mason Pengilly doesn’t have time to take his time. He’s got postseason tournaments to wrestle, and state titles to seize.

It’s no wonder, then, the Panthers sophomore looked more frustrated than anything in a 5-0 victory over Monache’s Seth Hood in Porterville’s 46-16 dual meet victory over visiting Monache late Thursday.

After all, Pengilly was forced to wrestle a full 6 minutes before capturing his 23rd victory in 23 matches this season. He’d just the same pin his opponent in mere seconds and slip back into his warmup gear, as opposed to going all three rounds as he did Thursday.

“My goal is to pin every single person I wrestle and to do it as quickly as possible,” Pengilly said.

Normally, that isn’t a problem. Pengilly is the fourth-ranked 113-pound wrestler in California, and the second-ranked wrestler in the Central Section, because he is so good at making quick work of his opponents. That’s how he finished fourth in the state tournament and first in the section last year as a freshman.

“It doesn’t always happen, but you have to try,” he said.

Truth be told, there are worse things than wrestling a full 6-minute match at this point of the season. If anything, the Panthers have a lot of catching up to do after a smaller than normal schedule this season.

Pengilly, for example, has just 23 matches heading into the final month of the season. That includes a first-place finish at the prestigious Five Counties tournament in Fountain Valley last month, and three victories over top-10 ranked wrestlers in the state.

Many of his state-ranked counterparts are well into their 30s, with several more tournaments under their belt than Pengilly’s three. 

The reason: Porterville Unified School District has a seven-tournament limit for its teams, a policy it imposed last year.

With such a young team, Vanni went light on the front-end of this year’s schedule to give his younger wrestlers a chance to develop early and peak late. What he has found is it has left his better and more seasoned wrestlers behind their state-ranked peers in terms of mat time.

“You could tell we’re a little bit behind everyone else,” Vanni said. “I did a poor job of scheduling this time. I was trying to help our younger guys, but it’s a Catch-22. Other people are way ahead of us right now.”

Maybe, but there are advantages to having wrestled less than others. Some wrestlers will start to hit the wall when the postseason begins next week. Porterville is just starting to hit its stride, if Thursday’s city sweep of Granite Hills and Monache is any indication.

Take Pengilly, for example. In Hood, he faced a returning state qualifier ranked ninth in the Central Section. These are the sort of opponents Pengilly must beat in his return to the state tournament, and he had little trouble showing he is in perfect shape for the task.

Pengilly opened with a two-point takedown in the first period, added a second takedown in the second period and never let Hood off the mat in the final period for the shutout. He showed more than enough endurance to dominate a full 6 minutes.

“My goal isn’t to win the East Yosemite League, or Divisionals, or (Valley),” Pengilly said. “My goal is to win state. You can’t settle for mediocrity. You have to shoot for the stars.”

Monache was seeing nothing but stars the rest of the dual meet as Porterville overpowered the Marauders from the start.

Anthony Thompson got the blowout rolling with a pin, 2:22 into the 184-pound bout. Then, Lane Martin dropped a pin 1:44 into the 197-pound match. Gio Gonzalez got a pin in 1:55 at 197, and Edgar Madrigal took 1:29 to get his pin in the 220-pound bout.

Four straight pins meant Porterville 24, Monache 3. By the time fifth-ranked Abel Contreras edged 10th-ranked Ryan Poe 3-1 at 122 pounds, the inner-city rivals were left to simply wrestle out the final six bouts of Porterville’s third straight victory over Monache.

For Monache, Matt Gamble (106), Seth Hood (126), Justin Fornier (152) and Richie Galindo (171) went 2-0 against PHS and Granite Hills on Thursday. “I was really proud of how my kids wrestled,” Monache coach Arthur Demerath said.

Next up: the start of the postseason, with Granite Hills hosting the East Yosemite League tournament next Saturday.

Porterville High wrestler Mason Pengilly doesn’t have time to take his time. He’s got postseason tournaments to wrestle, and state titles to seize.

It’s no wonder, then, the Panthers sophomore looked more frustrated than anything in a 5-0 victory over Monache’s Seth Hood in Porterville’s 46-16 dual meet victory over visiting Monache late Thursday.

After all, Pengilly was forced to wrestle a full 6 minutes before capturing his 23rd victory in 23 matches this season. He’d just the same pin his opponent in mere seconds and slip back into his warmup gear, as opposed to going all three rounds as he did Thursday.

“My goal is to pin every single person I wrestle and to do it as quickly as possible,” Pengilly said.

Normally, that isn’t a problem. Pengilly is the fourth-ranked 113-pound wrestler in California, and the second-ranked wrestler in the Central Section, because he is so good at making quick work of his opponents. That’s how he finished fourth in the state tournament and first in the section last year as a freshman.

“It doesn’t always happen, but you have to try,” he said.

Truth be told, there are worse things than wrestling a full 6-minute match at this point of the season. If anything, the Panthers have a lot of catching up to do after a smaller than normal schedule this season.

Pengilly, for example, has just 23 matches heading into the final month of the season. That includes a first-place finish at the prestigious Five Counties tournament in Fountain Valley last month, and three victories over top-10 ranked wrestlers in the state.

Many of his state-ranked counterparts are well into their 30s, with several more tournaments under their belt than Pengilly’s three. 

The reason: Porterville Unified School District has a seven-tournament limit for its teams, a policy it imposed last year.

With such a young team, Vanni went light on the front-end of this year’s schedule to give his younger wrestlers a chance to develop early and peak late. What he has found is it has left his better and more seasoned wrestlers behind their state-ranked peers in terms of mat time.

“You could tell we’re a little bit behind everyone else,” Vanni said. “I did a poor job of scheduling this time. I was trying to help our younger guys, but it’s a Catch-22. Other people are way ahead of us right now.”

Maybe, but there are advantages to having wrestled less than others. Some wrestlers will start to hit the wall when the postseason begins next week. Porterville is just starting to hit its stride, if Thursday’s city sweep of Granite Hills and Monache is any indication.

Take Pengilly, for example. In Hood, he faced a returning state qualifier ranked ninth in the Central Section. These are the sort of opponents Pengilly must beat in his return to the state tournament, and he had little trouble showing he is in perfect shape for the task.

Pengilly opened with a two-point takedown in the first period, added a second takedown in the second period and never let Hood off the mat in the final period for the shutout. He showed more than enough endurance to dominate a full 6 minutes.

“My goal isn’t to win the East Yosemite League, or Divisionals, or (Valley),” Pengilly said. “My goal is to win state. You can’t settle for mediocrity. You have to shoot for the stars.”

Monache was seeing nothing but stars the rest of the dual meet as Porterville overpowered the Marauders from the start.

Anthony Thompson got the blowout rolling with a pin, 2:22 into the 184-pound bout. Then, Lane Martin dropped a pin 1:44 into the 197-pound match. Gio Gonzalez got a pin in 1:55 at 197, and Edgar Madrigal took 1:29 to get his pin in the 220-pound bout.

Four straight pins meant Porterville 24, Monache 3. By the time fifth-ranked Abel Contreras edged 10th-ranked Ryan Poe 3-1 at 122 pounds, the inner-city rivals were left to simply wrestle out the final six bouts of Porterville’s third straight victory over Monache.

For Monache, Matt Gamble (106), Seth Hood (126), Justin Fornier (152) and Richie Galindo (171) went 2-0 against PHS and Granite Hills on Thursday. “I was really proud of how my kids wrestled,” Monache coach Arthur Demerath said.

Next up: the start of the postseason, with Granite Hills hosting the East Yosemite League tournament next Saturday.