A decent-sized crowd turned out to watch Ceres High’s and Central Valley’s varsity girls wrestling teams battle on Nov. 26.

The Hawks won the Crosstown Throwdown, 52-30, versus the host Bulldogs on Nov. 26 at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

“As a parent of kids who played sports in high school, I know firsthand how much my kids appreciated us being there to support them,” Central Valley first-year head coach Brandy Cordova said. “I know our girls feel the same knowing they had family and friends there supporting them.”

“The popularity of the sport is growing,” said Curtis Hulstine, Ceres High’s new leader. “That’s nice to see.”

The Hawks won eight of the dual’s 13 matches.

Isabella Pelayo pinned A.C. Lugo in the opening-round of their 143-pound match.

Nia Caraway pinned Mahayla Arcenal in the first round at 160 pounds.

Andrea Cortes pinned Mercedez Wood in the first round at 189 pounds.

Kim Hernandez pinned Jazzmin Suarez in the second round at 150 pounds.

Kelsy Naranjo (111s), Aryanna Jimenez (121s), Abigail Garcia (137s) and Angelina Sanchez (235s) all prevailed by forfeit.

Ceres High’s Angelique Huerta won by first-round pin against Central Valley’s Mia Mendoza at 126 pounds.

Karen Vang won by third-round pin against Savannah Gomez at 170 pounds.

Elizabeth Mercado (101s), Andrea Contreras (116s) and Gabriela Soto (131s) all received wins via forfeit.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect as far as how competitive the dual was going to be,” Cordova said. “I just wanted our girls to have a match so they could work on their technique and get better.”

“I didn’t know CV had that big of a team,” Hulstine said. “They had a full lineup. Obviously, I wish we would have won. We wrestled tough. The girls understand what went wrong and know what they need to work on. We got to get the basics down. It’s early in the season. We’re not peaking yet.”