High school wrestling: 4 from Redwood Empire win at King of the Mat tournament

Windsor High’s Dominic DuCharme won his weight division title at the King of the Mat wrestling tournament Saturday, but one wouldn’t have known it immediately after his hand was raised in victory.

“My goal in every match is to win by technical fall or pin,” the 170-pounder said after beating American Canyon’s Jimmy Hoang, 6-1. “He was a lot more dangerous than I expected, but it wasn’t at all the way I wanted the match to go.”

DuCharme was one of four Redwood Empire champions in the Windsor invitational that attracted 39 schools. Folsom won the team title going away.

Ukiah’s Nic Iversen had a spotlight win for Empire standouts. He won the 285-pound weight class with a first-round pin.

Elsewhere, Analy’s Trevor Bagan, a sophomore, won the 106-pound division by decision against Lower Lake’s Blake Fredrickson.

Luke Au-Yeung, another Windsor star, rolled Jonny Stalie of Grenada at 138 pounds.

DuCharme got an early takedown, but never really had the Vallejo school’s wrestler in position to be pinned.

“The score shows that I didn’t come anywhere near my goal,” DuCharme said. “It seemed like he wanted to bide his time more than actually wrestle. But there are no excuses. I have to wrestle better than that to get to the state meet. And, the section and state meets are my primary focus.”

Folsom had seven finalists to just clinch the team title. Spanish Springs, from Nevada, was second, followed by Liberty of Brentwood.

Windsor was the top Empire team, in fourth place. Ukiah finished seventh.

Windsor wrestled without Beau Colombini, ranked No. 2 in the state. He was sidelined with an injury not expected to slow him for long.

His absence eliminated any chance of a rematch of his 10-8 win against Folsom’s Jason Berquist, the state’s fourth-rated wrestler, at 160 pounds.

Analy’s Bagan dominated Lower Lake’s Fredrickson, winning 8-0. The match pit two competitors who have been facing each other since youth wrestling days.

“I hadn’t wrestled him in some time, but as soon as I saw the bracket I knew he’d be in the finals,” Bagan said. “He’s a super hard worker. I just wanted to keep him in front of me because he’s so explosive.”

Au-Yeung won his early matches with two major decisions and one technical fall. Stalie never really threatened the Jaguars’ 138-pounder.

“I wanted to shoot (his legs) more,” the Windsor star said. “I was happy with how things went when I was on top.”

Ukiah’s Iversen got little competition from Spanish Springs’ Tyler Barats at 285 pounds. The pin came with 42 seconds left in the first round. Iversen won all three of his matches by pin en route to the championship.

Windsor is in the rare position of retooling with younger wrestlers, led by veterans like DuCharme, Au-Yeung and Colombini. Injuries and illness have further accounted for a slower start than those turned in by recent Jaguars teams.

“We didn’t do very well in this tournament,” Au-Yeung said. “There are no excuses. We will get better and be fine in the future. I know my goal is to improved every time I wrestle. Everybody on our team has set their goals really high.”

Empire team finishers back in the pack were, in order: Analy, Lower Lake, Petaluma, Upper Lake, Willits, Sonoma Valley and Healdsburg.

Each finished in the top 20, with Kelseyville winding up No. 21.