Wrestling team loses third meet of the season to Santa Clara

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Justin Su

Junior Danny Reidenbach wrestles a student from Santa Clara High.

by Justin Su, Asst. Sports Editor

The wrestling team lost their third meet to Santa Clara High School 36-66, winning one match and losing four yesterday. Anthony Contreras (10) and Davis Howard (11) had forfeits from Santa Clara, giving them automatic wins.

Coach Karriem Stinson gave his thoughts on how the meet went for the team.

“Our young guys got a chance to get out there, so that was good, but I wish our top guys could have wrestled tonight,” Coach K said. “I’m happy about what happened tonight with the young guys, they were able to get experience, and we’re gonna get better.”

Kobe Howard (9), Dolan Dworak (10), Shikhar Solanki (10), and Anthony Cook (11) lost their matches against their Santa Clara opponents.

“[My opponent] had his hands very tight, very conserved, I was wondering what he doing, some kind of tactic; He was trying to get me off by tapping my head really fast, and then he went for the shot,” Shikhar, who wrestles in the 137 lb weight class said. “My whizzer is what got me. I wasn’t strong enough and I fell to my butt and he drove his legs in and pinned me.” 

The whizzer that Danny mentions is a defensive move used to counteract a takedown, such as the double-leg takedown.

Team captain Danny Reidenbach (11) was the only Harker wrestler able to win a match, which he did by pinning his opponent down in the third period.

“In the beginning of the match you have got to see how your opponent is: is he strong, does he go for heavy pressure or is he quick? You have got to decide what you want to try to do,” Danny said. “Once I was able to see what he was trying to do and how he was trying to use my weight against me, I was able to put him in a position for me to win.”

The team now prepares to wrestle Milpitas High School in an away meet on Jan. 28.