File photo – Fortuna’s Andrew Hansen, bottom, competes at last weekend’s North Coast Classic at Eureka High. The Huskies beat Eureka in a dual meet on Wednesday. Hansen won his matchup with Eureka’s Skylar Carroll at 145 pounds.
The top two wrestling teams in the Humboldt-Del Norte League will compete at the upcoming North Coast Section Dual Team Wrestling Championships at Eureka High on Feb. 2.
Fortuna and Del Norte have each qualified for the prestigious meet after a dominating campaign locally.
The Warriors got the better of the Huskies in a dual meet between the two at Fortuna High on Tuesday, but that was just the first chapter in what is shaping up to be an exciting battle between the two programs this winter.
The two will compete with some of the best Division-II and Division-III teams from around the NCS at the dual meet championships, and a week later, they’re both likely to be leading the way at the H-DNL Championships.
Huskies respond
The Huskies bounced back nicely from Tuesday’s loss and got the better of Eureka 48-30 in another dual meet on Wednesday.
The Huskies took control of the match early, opening up a 45-5 lead, before the Loggers closed out with some wins in the later matchups.
Fortuna had six wrestlers pin their opponents, including Joey Pontes, who defeated Casey Sidoti at 160 pounds; Adam Medeiros, who defeated Micah Burke at 170; Jace Garcia, who defeated Kayden Je Mene at 182; Del McKenzie, who defeated John Burley at 220; Shane Kirk, who defeated Shyloh Nicholson at 285; and Logan Krause, who defeated Isaac Cook at 106.
Fortuna’s Andrew Hansen (145), Levi Nyberg (152) and Micaiah Montalbin (126) each also won by decision over Eureka’s Skylar Carroll, Ruben Gutierrez and Gavin Simpson, respectively.
Eureka won five of the 14 matchups, all by pins.
At 195, Micah Carrel defeated Luke Del Monte; at 113, Jeremiah Martin defeated Jesus Cruz; at 120, Anthony Giovani defeated Tristen Jones; at 132, Inder Singh defeated Weylan McKinight; and at 138, Justice Woods defeated Tai Bolden.
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Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.
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