Sonoma bounces back

The Sonoma County League wrestling championship has run in cycles in the past, and the Sonoma Valley Dragons are hoping to be the most recent trend.

Sonoma, having already captured the SCL dual season title, grabbed the whole enchilada Saturday on a full day of wrestling at Petaluma High, comfortably winning the SCL championship tournament.

Sonoma, with five individual champions, scored 209 points, Petaluma was second with 174.5 and Healdsburg was third with 158. Points are awarded to the top three teams in the dual season, meaning second- and third-place teams can win or tie for league titles. Sonoma wouldn't let that scenario develop Saturday.

"The kids have worked hard all year, and after that devastating thing last week, we had some kids step up," said Sonoma coach Deets Winslow.

Winslow was referring to the loss of heavyweight Sam Prohoroff, who was injured last week in the North Coast Section dual championship meet, which the Dragons also won. Prohoroff, a junior, would have been a top seed on Saturday.

Nick Conaway took Prohoroff's spot and wound up in third place.

The Dragons also had three second-place finishers -- Jordan Winslow (132 pounds), Brady Wicklund (173) and Sean Lehane (217) -- and three third-placers.

Sonoma, which has just three seniors and should be strong again next year, last won an SCL championship in 2004. But there was a five-year stretch (1993-97) where the Dragons won the title every year. Petaluma followed that with five consecutive titles. Healdsburg also had a two-year streak.

Winners for Sonoma included sophomore brothers Evan Murden (105 pounds) and Steven Murden (114), who by the way are not twins; junior Jake Powers at 137; junior Nick Fedrick at 147; and senior Nick Pappas at 162. Pappas figures to be the No. 2 seed at his weight in next weekend's NCS championships at Newark. He won a section title as a sophomore.

Another who could vie for a top seed at today's seeding meeting is Healdsburg senior Andrew Tsarnas, who won the 154-pound class with a 5-0 decision against Petaluma's Joey Tresch.

The top three finishers Saturday move on to the NCS. The top four finishers at NCS then advance to every wrestler's dream, the state championships Feb. 29-March 1 at Bakersfield.

Healdsburg had four champions and along with Tsarnas, winners included Wesley Young (127 pounds), Dillon Cattalini (142) and Barrett Coughtry (173).

Windsor's two champions, both of whom should get near-the-top seeds at NCS, were junior Cody Howe at 121 pounds and Joe Ramos at 132. Ramos won by a second-round pin.

Petaluma's lone champ, Adam O'Brien at 191, was impressive, winning a third-round pin of El Molino's Alan Hanson.

The quickest win of the day went to El Molino heavyweight Max Apodaca, who won with a pin at 42 seconds of the first round.

El Molino's Mason Lewis won the 217-pound division with a 5-0 decision.

Longtime Petaluma wrestling coach Denny Plyler was honored with the NCS wrestling coach's award. Plyler, who coached against many current Empire coaches when they wrestled, has been a varsity coach for 33 years, 31 at Petaluma.

You can reach Staff Writer Rich Rupprecht at 521-5275 or rich.rupprecht@pressdemocrat.com.