No Orange Belt wrestlers survive day 1 of tourney

BAKERSFIELD — Six representatives from the Orange Belt were sent to wrestle some of the finest the state of California had to offer this weekend.

And after day one, none survived.

Among the Porterville emissaries – 130-pounder Shane Yacuta (Porterville), and 135-pounders Micky Phanthavong (Granite Hills) and Gabe Ramirez (Monache) – the Grizzly Phanthavong wreaked the most damage, taking out All-State Honorable Mention Sean Regan (Sultana) in the play-in round, then defeating Los Angeles city champion Emerson Jimenez (Reseda), and Kris Zizzo (Central Catholic).

Phanthavong’s eventual Achilles heel, however, was the Sac-Joaquin’s No. 1 seed Tyler Johnson, (Vacaville), who pulled a reversal at the last moment to win, 9-8. Phanthavong rallied with a takedown to tie things up at eight and aggressively pursued Johnson from on top.

For two minutes, Johnson evaded Phanthavong’s holds – even receiving a warning for stalling – before escaping with the decisive reversal.

Phanthavong pinned two of his opponents – Jimenez and Zizzo – and kept alive his impressive streak of at least two pins in each tournament he ever entered. The senior finished with 57 pins (26 this season alone) among his 93 wins in his career, as well as a 42-7 record this year.

The Grizzlies’ coach, Marty Kouyoumtjian, knew Phanthavong could make a nice run from the moment he woke the wrestler up at 5:45 in a Bakersfield hotel.

“He seemed to be feeling pretty good,” Kouyoumtjian said. “ At this point in the postseason, it’s a lot of nerves. But some guys thrive under the pressure.  

“You’ve gotta be ready to go – make sure you get a good night’s rest, make sure you eat the right things, make sure you keep under your weight. There’s so many things.”

Kouyoumtjian said the turnstile nature of the tournament reduced all the physical challenges of the state’s toughest wrestling tournament into psychological warfare.

Downtown Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena essentially morphed into an assembly line factory, with 10 mats laid out and 10 matches going at once. The moment a single match finished, tears of joy or defeat were shed for mere seconds before wrestlers were shoved off the mat in favor of the next wave.

And in the tunnels off to the sides, hundreds of wrestlers waited their turn – side by side with their opponents-to-be.

“You could be in line there, 15, 20 minutes trying to warm up right next to your opponent,” Kouyoumtjian said. “It’s a real psychological chess match. They don’t talk to each other. When you’re here for all the marbles, everything’s for keeps. There’s no smiling, there’s no joking. It’s all business.”

Then there’s the small pressure of performing in front of thousands – usually the largest crowd that’s ever watched them.

“I think some of them get stage fright, some shock and awe, maybe,” Kouyoumtjian added, “but when they start moving and it feels like they’re in practice, then they’re in good shape.”

Exeter dispatched a threesome of lightweights: 103-pounder Lupe Florez, 119-pounder Jason Gagnon and 125-pounder Robert Patino.

Patino was the only one of any in the Orange Belt to make the final Central section rankings (third in his weight class).

Not surprisingly, then, it was Patino who had the most success in the 2009 CIF State Championship Tournament. The senior lost his first matchup to Joey Davis, of Santa Fe High, but reeled off three straight in the consolation brackets before flaming out to Saul Garcia, of Moorpark.

Patino was immediately dumped to the consolation bracket in his first matchup – a 3-2 loss to Davis.

After defeating Danny Mai (James Logan), 17-12, and Matt Guevara (Citrus Hill), 20-6, Patino set up his most impressive match of the night – a pin over South Section No. 2 seed Anthony Jarmillo (Northview).

Patino quickly built a 5-0 lead over Jarmillo with a takedown and a near-fall, but Jarmillo returned the favor to tie it up at six.

What followed between the two caught the attention of many in the crowd. 

The wrestlers showed their grasp of technical know-how, anticipating each other’s move with each advance as if it were choreographed. They cartwheeled and flipped over one another until Patino pinned Jarmillo with 15 seconds remaining in the second period.

Ramirez and Yacuta each suffered an apparent injury that hampered their days.

Ramirez suffered a hit to his left hip during a takedown, but finished in a valiant, 2-0 loss to Dylan Cataline (Roosevelt).

Yacuta suffered a similar fate when he injured his right thigh in a 9-5 loss to Tyler Diamond (Oroville). In his first consolation battle, Yacuta limped to the mat with his thigh taped up against Clovis’ Sonny Cervantes. The Panther quickly went down 3-0 after the first period, but held his own as long as he could before falling, 5-2.

The tournament continues all day today, beginning at 9 a.m. The championship finals will be decided at 7:15 p.m. at Rabobank.