BAKERSFIELD – Luciano Arroyo needed a break after losing his semifinal match Saturday morning.
Arroyo opened the second day at Rabobank Arena with an 11-5 loss, ending his dream of winning a state title.
However, he still had work to do.
“My semis match was not how I wanted it to go,” Calvary Chapel’s sophomore 120-pounder said. “My coach took me outside and said we can think about this later, let’s reset and take third.
“I was obviously rattled and I was angry, but I had to push those feelings away.”
He responded with a 3-1 victory over Greg Villoria (West High of Tracy) and then ended his tournament with a 6-4 victory over Ethan Leake of Buchanan, the top seed and top-ranked in the weight class, for third place.
Arroyo’s finish was the best among the six O.C. medalists.
Arroyo and Leake had faced each other twice, once in a preseason match again in the finals of the Zinkin Classic in December. Arroyo had lost both matches.
This time, Arroyo scored early and eventually took a 6-3 lead into the third period.
“The first time he smashed us, but we learned some stuff,” Calvary Chapel coach Jacob Harman said. “The next time, we took him into deep water. We had (him) backing up, no stalling calls, no nothing, and he won in overtime.
“He was already coming off of a loss and you know how this tournament goes. We’re going to roll on that momentum, so I told Luci to go out and give him a reason to quit, go fight him, be physical and see what he does.”
This is the second consecutive year that Arroyo has finished among the top eight. Last year, he was seventh at 113.
“I’m definitely a lot more mature than last year,” he said. “I take losses a lot better and I know how to control it. I just hit reset, got some fresh air, some water and some fruit, and I got ready for the next match.”
Arroyo’s teammate Elijah Palacio finished eighth at 126. Palacio won his first match of the day, 8-2, over Enrique Landeros (Orland) to secure a spot in the final eight. He dropped a 3-2 decision to Buchanan’s Tyler Deen in the seventh-place match.
Servite’s Troy Madrigal (152) and Los Alamitos’ Ethan Bakker (220) also finished eighth at their weights.
Santa Ana’s Joey Daniel started the second day in the semifinals, but lost by fall to Victor Jaquez. Daniel then won three consecutive in the consolation bracket, including a 2-1 decision over Bakker, before losing in the third-place match to Sultana’s Sam Aguilar, 5-1.
Daniel and Bakker met in the final at last week’s CIF-SS Masters Meet with Daniel winning, 1-0.
At 106, freshman Aaron Nagao of Esperanza won his first two matches to guarantee himself a spot in the top eight. He ended the tournament with an 8-1 decision in the fifth-place match over Clovis’ Giano Petrucelli.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@scng.com
