And the county has lost four wrestlers, so far. Adam Sabene (Western) and Kevin Barton (El Modena), both at 112 pounds, Trevor Gray (San Clemente, 152) and Anthony Duarte (Fountain Valley, 160). All four have just lost their second match, eliminating them from the tourney.

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Bland just deposited his first victory of the tournament. Bland is looking for his third state title. I have a feeling, he’s going to get it. He recently signed with Washington State on a football scholarship.

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I’m sure there will be more upsets today, but so far, the winner has to be Mitch Newcomer of Laguna Hills. Newcomer rallied from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the state’s second ranked wrestler Scott Sakaguchi of Clovis, 9-5 in the championship second round.

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But I see people walking around with nachos. At 10:30 in the morning?

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Jimmy Martinez (Savanna) was one of my picks to place at 119, now he’s going to have work for it. He lost 6-3 to Diego Quintana of Selma to fall into the consolation. Rene Ortiz (Magnolia) earned a 11-1 major over Nick Nelson of La Costa Canyon at 112.

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There really isn’t anything like 10 wrestling mats going simultaneously. This is my fifth year (i think) covering the state tournament. I know what to expect, where to go, who to be nice to and who to ignore.

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After a two hour drive, I have finally settled into my hotel room at the Best Western. The previous couple of years I stayed approximately across the street at the Courtyard By Marriott. I wanted to stay there again, but the nightly rate was ridiculous.

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The CIF-SS Masters Meet is known as the “meatgrinder.”

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It is difficult enough to focus on one team during a wrestling tournament (trust me). Imagine how difficult things were Saturday as the El Dorado coaching, wrestling and support staff had to keep an eye on two other teams during the final round of the CIF-SS Central Divisional at Brea Olinda.

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Wrestling at midnight? I didn’t sign up for this, but that’s where we headed here at the first day of the CIF-SS Coastal Division Individual Wrestling Championships at Marina High.

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