Newport falls short of goals, but shows encouraging signs

Rick Devereux

Newport Harbor High wrestling Coach Dominic Bulone knew going into

Thursday’s Sea View League match at Woodbridge the Sailors would be

in an 18-0 hole due to three forfeits. That is why his goal was not

to win the match but to have more wins than losses with the wrestlers

that actually participated.

Newport Harbor lost on both accounts, 54-26 overall and 6-5 in

individual matches.

“I’m very pleased with how we wrestled,” Bulone said. “We had five

go our way and we lost two heartbreakers that could have gone our

way.”

Zane O’Bourke (103-pound weight class) pinned his opponent in the

second period, one of three Sailors to win by pin. Craig Nordstrom

(135) and Jesse Marshall (152) were the others. Eddie Charcas (119)

won a technical decision by beating his opponent by more than 15

points and Michael Bates (140) won by decision.

“This is the best that we’ve done against Woodbridge since I’ve

been here,” said Bulone, who is coaching in his sixth year.

Bulone was especially pleased with the development of the mental

aspect of his team.

“Marshall was smart enough to see an opportunity to get a pin in

his match and he went for it,” Bulone said. “That’s what I like to

see.”

All six Woodbridge victories came via pins. But the Sailors were

ahead or tied on points in three of those matches, including the 125

and 275 weight classes where the Newport wrestler had the lead.

Bulone linked losing by pins, especially when ahead on points, to

endurance.

“Conditioning was definitely the key,” he said. “I thought our

guys were better than their opponents [in the 125 and 275 matches],

but they lost because they got tired.”

Woodbridge only had one senior wrestler compete in the match due

to disciplinary actions, but Coach K.J. Bentley was pleased with the

outcome.

“From a coaching standing, this was a good match because I was

able to enforce discipline [on the players] for breaking the rules

and I was able to see the younger guys step up and see action,” he

said.

The win pushes the Warriors to 8-1, 2-0 in league.

Bulone said before the match that even if Newport lost more

matches than they won, he would be happy if the wrestlers were able

to execute moves the team had introduced recently in practice. After

the match, Bulone was impressed with how the team performed.

“Our moves are coming along fine,” he said. “There were a couple

of instances where wrestlers could have done [the new moves] but

didn’t. There are some people that can do those moves in practice,

but getting out and doing them in a live match is another thing.”

Despite the loss, which drops Newport Harbor to 4-5 and 0-2 in

league, Sailor heads were held high leaving the gym.

“Our morale is high,” assistant coach Michael Miranda said. “We

gave up 18 points [on forfeits], but we’re happy.”

The Sailors host Aliso Niguel Thursday.