Yacuta treading into rare Panther territory

For most of the year, Shane Yacuta is a normal, beach-going, 4-wheel-riding, TV-watching high school kid.

But for a few months in winter, Yacuta — a junior at Porterville High — gets to play superhero, using a lethal combination of speed and strength to take down Panther enemies.

Since Yacuta joined Porterville varsity wrestling as a freshman two years ago, he’s already trod into rare territory. Yacuta is one of four Panthers with multiple CIF state westling appearances and is the only junior to medal. (The other three who placed won state as seniors.)

In his second trip to Bakersfield, Yacuta lost his second match to Citrus Hills’ Matt Guevera, then battled through eight matches out of the consolation brackets to place fourth overall in state.

It wasn’t quite the result the Valley’s fifth-ranked 130-pounder had hoped for, but it was a vast jump up from his 2-2, un-ranked showing as a sophomore in 2009.

“I was nervous last year,” Yacuta said. “It was a big environment and I was like, ‘Wow.’ But this year, I was like, ‘I already got a taste of this last year. Now it’s my time to shine.’”

Yacuta’s pivotal moment came in his fifth match agaist Martin Luther King’s Cody Hancock in a do-or-die match. Hancock held a significant 6-0 lead, but Yacuta had other plans.

“(Hancock) had me in a banana split and I thought, ‘I’m not gonna not place,’” Yacuta said. “I worked too hard to get here.”

Yacuta went on to win, 13-10, by a series of takedowns, along with two more matches before falling to Oakdale’s Shane Tate in the third-place match.

Porterville coach Tim Vanni attributes Yacuta’s success to multiple factors, starting with the Panthers’ grueling schedule.

“I don’t care if he goes 10-10,” Vanni said. “If he’s able to compete on our rigorous schedule, he should be able to compete at state. Shane was probably the most consistent at making the events. He ran into some tough customers.”

Yacuta pounded out 50 matches in the 2009-10 season, winning 43 of them — 22 by pins. In statistical categories kept by Panther coaches, Yacuta finished first across the board in overall wins, most team points (205), wins by decision (16), most falls (22), most takedowns (83), most near-falls (38) and most escapes (26).

Yacuta clinched his third straight EYL crown and placed first at divisionals on his way to a Central Section fifth seed at state.

Yacuta’s talent and hard work has convinced Vanni that the junior is already one of the top pupils in Vanni’s 17-year coaching career.

“He’s obviously one of the best I’ve coached,” Vanni said. “He’s right up there. He’s tenacious. He doesn’t give up when he’s down; he keeps coming and coming. Is he talented? Yes, but his work ethic and experience has been far more important to his success than his talent.”

Yacuta entered Porterville High with five years under hist belt after his uncle, Michael Duran, introduced him to the sport in the fourth grade.

“I thank (Duran) a lot because if it wasn’t for wrestling, I don’t know what I’d be good at,” Yacuta said.

Having grown up watching “Stone Cold” Steve Austin of the WWE, Yacuta took a rather distorted view of wrestling into his first practice.

“I’m not gonna lie; I tried some of those WWE moves,” Yacuta said. “I’d go to practice and start smacking everybody. They told me, ‘Shane, no, you can’t do that. That’s fake wrestling.’”

Yacuta admits he spends little time training in the offseason, though he occasionally works out with former Panther greats Joe Soto and Shawn Klarcyk.

When the season starts, however, Yacuta is all business. With his father, Fernando, pushing him along the way and his expected growth and progression, Yacuta is considered a front-runner as a state champion in 2011.

Until then? He’ll take his time lounging on the California beaches and riding his quad.

“I would have a whole plan to train, but I just wanna enjoy myself,” Yacuta said. “Some schools go right into lifting right after wrestling and that’s good for them. I love wrestling, but I just wanna be a normal kid.”