Three Empire wrestlers claim NCS titles

A wrestler dubbed as “strong as an ox” by his coach and a precocious record-setter have given Windsor High a pair of wrestling championships.

Windsor junior Blake Fredrickson (106 pounds) and sophomore Trent Silva (152) both captured North Coast Section titles on Saturday night at James Logan High in Union City.

Fredrickson missed two days of school during the week with flu-like symptom. His fever broke midday Friday and he managed to not only make weight, but claim a championship.

Not to mention, Fredrickson rampaged his way through the tournament with five consecutive pins.

“High temperature, throwing up, all the really nasty flu symptoms,” Jaguars coach Rich Carnation said over the phone Saturday night. “They didn’t even know if he was going to be able to wrestle because he was so sick.”

Fredrickson, ranked second in the state in his weight class, struggled in the second period against James Logan’s Romeo McNeal before prevailing with a pin 5 minutes, 8 seconds into the final.

“He’s a great kid, strong as an ox and a super good wrestler,” Carnation said.

Silva’s not too shabby, either.

The Windsor sophomore became the youngest-ever wrestler in school history to win an NCS championship.

Silva manhandled San Ramon Valley’s Casey Cox with a 13-3 major decision.

“It’s pretty rare air. He’s the first sophomore in our school history to place first at sections, and we’ve had a lot of really, really good wrestlers come through our program,” Carnation said.

The third champion from the area is Sonoma Valley’s Tyler Winslow, an 8-5 decision winner over De La Salle’s Cristian Villasenor at 220.

Winslow led 6-5 late in the third period against Villasenor.

Villasenor got an escape and went for the kill by lunging for Winslow’s legs - trying for a last-second takedown and win. It backfired.

Winslow moved quickly to evade Villasenor’s grasp and went on the counterattack, posting a takedown of his own.

While Winslow was able to finish the championship with style, Analy senior Trevor Bagan dropped his in heartbreaking fashion.

Bagan, an NCS champion in 2017, managed a last-second escape to tie College Park’s Gus Petruske at a point as the third period clock wound to zero.

Bagan signaled two points with his fingers - desperately trying to point to a reversal, not an escape - but it was not awarded.

Petruske won 3-1 in overtime.

“The hard part is he had a lot of wrestlers and coaches come up to him and say it was a two-point reversal, and not a one-point escape,” Analy coach Jimmy Stevens said, “so that makes it even harder on him.”

Yet Bagan will trek to Bakersfield in a momentous way, as his younger brother is coming as well.

Analy’s Preston Bagan took the 106-pound third-place match with a 2-0 decision over De La Salle’s Zavion Fernandez.

“I’ve seen brothers go to state, but not at the same time,” Stevens said.

De La Salle was the NCS team champion with 330.50 points. Windsor took fifth with 154 points as the top area finisher, while Ukiah was seventh at 126.50.

An additional seven Redwood Empire wrestlers are bound for the state finals - Upper Lake’s Jose Fernandez III (126); Ukiah High’s Jay Escamilla (138), Nathan Tyrrell (170) and Frankie Pomilia (195); Cardinal Newman’s Harry Bruno (145) and Nick Wycoff (220) and Kelseyville’s Alex Garcia.

Seven of the Empire’s state finalists are from the North Bay League.

“Our whole league is represented pretty darn well,” Carnation said.