San Manuel’s Jose Torres throwing Morenci in his championship match. Photo by Nathaniel Lopez
On Saturday, Feb. 15, the San Manuel boys wrestling team traveled to Morenci to compete in the Division IV Section IV Sectional Wrestling Tournament. Other teams competing in this tournament were: Morenci, Wilcox, Benson, Bisbee, Catalina, Pima, Round Valley, Andrada Polytechnic, Santa Rita, St. Augustine, Thatcher, The Gregory School, Tombstone, and Valley Union. With wrestling starting at 10 a.m., it was a day full of nonstop wrestling on the two mats in Morenci’s gym.
Adrian Leonard at the 120 lb. weight class started the day off as the first match for the Miners. His first opponent was St. Augustine, winning by a technical fall (beating the opponent by 15 points) in the first period. During his second match, he wrestled against Morenci, losing by pin in the first period. Taking on Valley Union for his third match, Leonard won by a technical fall in the second period. Andrada Polytechnic was his fourth opponent, where he lost by pin in the second period.
Derrick McGee wrestled at the 132 lb. weight class. During McGee’s first match he wrestled against Pima, where he lost by pin in the first period. His second match was against Andrada Polytechnic, where he suffered a loss by pin in the first period.
Brody Fletcher is San Manuel’s 126 lb. wrestler. He claimed a pin in the second period against his first opponent from Tombstone. During his second match, Fletcher took on Morenci suffering a loss by pin during the second period. Wrestling Thatcher for his third match, he claimed a technical win in the third period.
Juan Torres wrestled at 113 lbs. for the Miners. Torres took on Round Valley during his first match, losing by a pin in the first period. Redeeming himself in his second match, Torres claimed the pin in the third period against Thatcher. For his third match he wrestled Morenci, suffering a loss by pin during the first period.
Jose Torres was the wrestler at 106 lbs. Taking on St. Augustine for his first match, Torres claimed a win by technical fall in the first period.
Derek Anaya wrestled in the 157 lb. weight class. For his first match, he wrestled against The Gregory School, claiming the pin in the first period. During his second match, against Pima, Anaya lost by pin during the first period. Coming back in his third match, Anaya claimed a technical fall in the third period against Morenci.
Sean McDermott is San Manuel’s 175 lb. wrestler. During his first match against Pima, he won by pin during the first period. In his second match, he faced off against Benson, which went into all three periods. McDermott claimed a 13-4 win over Benson.
As the tournament wound down, and the brackets became slimmer, only four wrestlers were left standing for the Miners. Jose Torres and Sean McDermott made it to the finals to wrestle for first and second. Brody Fletcher and Derek Anaya made it to the finals to wrestle for third and fourth.
During his championship match, Jose Torres went up against Morenci, and suffered a loss by technical fall, making him the runner up for the Division IV Section IV 106 lb. weight class.
Brody Fletcher wrestled against Catalina for his finals match. Going all three periods, Fletcher clutched the win 12-1, making him the third place finisher for Division IV Section IV 126 lb. weight class.
Derek Anaya faced off against Bisbee in his finals match, also going all three periods, claiming the win with a 10-0 score, making him the Division IV Section IV third place finisher for the 157 lb. weight class.
San Manuel’s Sean McDermott working to pin Benson. Photo by Nathaniel Lopez
Sean McDermott met up with Thatcher in his championship match, suffering a loss by pin in the first period, making him the Division IV Section IV runner up for the 175 lb. weight class.
All four placers will continue their journey towards the state championship, which will be held at the Veterans Memorial Colosseum in Phoenix on Feb. 21 and 22. Finish the season strong, Miners!