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To begin, on Thursday, Jan. 12, the Grizzlies began their official league duals against Cesar Chavez and Mission Oak at Mission Oak High School.

Coach Chris Sides, a former wrestler for the grizzlies, said “We have been working hard, so I know we can do a lot. It would be nice to have a full line-up so that the odds are not in favor of the other team before the match even starts.”

The Grizzlies first wrestled the Titans of Cesar Chavez and came out victorious with the score of 51-15 as a team. This score was helped by the wins of Basilio Arroyo, Rueben Arreola, Martin Ayala, Phillip Cortez, Tyler Jones, Danny Jacuinde, Sal Coronel and Ruben Corona.

After the match was over, the Grizzlies went head to head with the Hawks of Mission Oak. Although the Grizzlies fought hard with wins by Arroyo, Ayala, Jacuinde, Coronel and Corona, they still came up short for the win. The final score was 30-39 in favor of the Hawks. Arreola, a freshman, fought hard against state ranked senior Riley of Mission Oak, but experience showed the difference in overtime. Jones, a senior, also had a close match losing to state ranked senior Medley, 4-6.

At the end of the night, the Grizzlies had a team record of nine wins and five losses overall, (1-1 in EYL).

“We knew Mission Oak was going to give us a challenge, and they did. Not having a full team was the main cause of our loss,” said senior captain Ayala.

That following Saturday, Jan. 14, a few Grizzlies wrestled in the Redwood Invitational that was held at Redwood High School. Four out of the five wrestles that wrestled did not come back empty handed. Jones took fifth in the 160’s weight class while Jacuinde, a junior, took third in the 170’s weight class. Coronel, a freshman, took fourth in the 182’s weight class and Corona, another senior, took sixth in the heavyweight class.

“It felt great taking a medal at my first varsity tournament as a freshman. I plan for improvement because I still have a lot of time to work,” stated Coronel.

The Grizzlies are looking for improvement to finish the rest of the season in higher standings.