Yuba City wins Battle of the Buttes

One gym, three mats, seven local teams.

That was the scene at River Valley High on Tuesday as a handful of wrestling programs from around the Mid-Valley area competed in the second annual Dow Lewis Battle of the Buttes team duals.

And while defending champion Wheatland found itself in the finals for the second consecutive year, this day belonged to the Yuba City Honkers, who topped the Pirates 45-24 in the finals to take home the tourney title.

Local bragging rights highlighted the all-day wrestling showcase and all coaches involved are hopeful the event will only continue to get bigger and better as the years go on.

"I think it's a great community event and River Valley does a great job promoting the sport in this area," Yuba City coach Erik Lambert said. "It's a good place to have friendly competition."

The Honkers opened the day strong with a 65-9 victory over Live Oak in the first round and followed that up by beating Lindhurst 54-26 in the semis.

They then took on Wheatland in the finals and used five pins to secure the victory. Yuba City actually trailed Wheatland 15-12 early in the match before winning the next five bouts to pull away.

Leading the way for the Honkers were Gavin Benbow (140 pounds), Shannon Casaulong (154), Julian Saavedra (172), Diego Herrejon (197) and Wes McMahon (222), each of whom finished the day with perfect 3-0 records.

Saavedra's undefeated performance also upped his mark to 11-0 on the year, with 10 of those victories coming by way of pin.

"He's been on a mission since the end of last year and all the hard work and preparation is paying off," Lambert said of his senior standout. "I was really happy with the performances of all of them. The effort was there and I'm happy with where we're at."

Also faring well for Yuba City was Jeffrey Thornton (134) and heavyweight Christian Diaz, who both went 2-1.

But the key to the final for Lambert actually came in the 145-pound division where Wheatland standout Alex Luttrell beat Juan Gomez by major decision. Gomez was on the defensive for much of the match, but he managed to stay off his back long enough to save his team two points, something Lambert said helped in the long run.

"To me, that was the match of the night," Lambert said. "(Lopez) refused to get pinned and that was very inspirational for the team."

Wheatland wasn't without some strong performances of its own, though. Alex Lopez (122), Austin Shinn (128) and Luttrell (145) each went undefeated for the Pirates, while Emiliano Gomez (115) and Kalen Hastey (162) each went 2-1.

"It's cool to get all the local teams together and have a fun day of wrestling," said Pirates coach Cy Olsen, who saw his team best Marysville 65-9 and River Valley 39-36 to reach the finale. "There were a few close matches (in the finals) and we lost every one of them. That was the difference. We've got to step up in big duals."

Lindhurst also looked strong by beating Gridley 54-21, Marysville 66-16 and River Valley 50-27 to take third place.

Leading the way for the Blazers was senior Christian George, who went undefeated on the day and was voted the outstanding wrestler for the heavyweight divisions.

Jesus Yanez (134) and Elijah Myles (128) also went undefeated for Lindhurst, while Armonte Gonzalez (140) and John Nichols (172) both went 3-1.

"I think we did really well considering we were missing three starters," Lindhurst coach Rob Taylor said. "Nine of our 14 wrestlers are either freshman or sophomores and we brought up some JV guys and they stepped up to the plate today."

River Valley had a bye in the first round and beat Gridley 54-24 to finish in fourth place.

Cody Sapp (162) led the charge for the Falcons by going undefeated and was named the outstanding wrestler for the middleweight divisions and Gridley's Haiden Johnson (122) went unbeaten and was named the lightweight outstanding wrestler.

Gridley took fifth, Live Oak placed sixth and Marysville was seventh. Sutter opted to compete at the Coast Classic in Santa Cruz and was the only local team not to attend.

"It's a good tournament. We have a lot of fun at it and it's nice that it's all local," Gridley coach Brannon Byrne said. "There's a lot of good teams and a lot of good wrestlers. A lot of them are from the Sac-Joaquin Section and we're from the Northern Section, so we never get to see these guys."

The post-tournament trophies were presented by Murry and Ted Lewis, the sons of late Yuba City car dealer Dow Lewis, who passed away last April after a year-long battle with cancer. The event is named in his honor and a perpetual trophy from the tournament will be on display at Dow Lewis Motors.

"This whole thing is for their dad and what he did for local schools. That's why I keep it local," River Valley coach Ron Benton said. "He had tremendous support for this community and that's what this is all about — to honor that man."

Both Murry and Ted Lewis were happy that their dad was recognized for making such a big impact on the lives of so many youths in the area.

"It was awfully nice for coach Benton to do this," Ted Lewis said. "Whether it be athletics or sending kids to Woodleaf, (our dad) always wanted to help further their education. It means a lot to us."