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Spartans defeat Ceres grapplers
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The Ceres High wrestling team received some disturbing news from Principal Steve Thiessen before traveling to Modesto to face the Davis Spartans on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Ceres' coaching staff was put on administrative leave the day of the dual meet after claims of abuse at practice surfaced.

The mother of a wrestler who is no longer on the team filed a complaint with school officials on Jan. 16. She also provided evidence--photos of her son's branded back.

"When something like this happens, you can do one of two things," Thiessen said. "You can postpone or forfeit the match completely. I made the decision to accompany the team to this match."

Thiessen and former Ceres High wrestling coach Bruce Scott shared coaching duties for the night.

"I think a lot of the kids heads weren't in it tonight because of the coaching issues," said Scott, who headed the Ceres High wrestling program for six years (1996-2002). "Hopefully, we can get this resolved."

Ceres had been on a roll prior to losing 58-11 to Davis. The usually aggressive Bulldogs weren't focused.

"Everybody wanted to wrestle hard but there was something missing," said Ceres High co-captain David Burris.

"It should have been way closer."

The Spartans snapped the Bulldogs' five-match winning streak and improved to 4-2 in the Central California Conference standings. Ceres fell to 4-4 in the CCC, 6-5 overall.

"I have a very solid team this year," said Davis coach Mike Cantwell.

Ceres won just three of 14 matches.

"We ran into a buzz saw tonight," Scott said.

Ceres' Johnny Bridges won by technical fall, 15-0, in the second round over Davis' Greg Tablit in the 112-pound division. Bridges led 8-0 at the end of the first round.

Ceres' Ryan Rodriguez edged Davis' Jeremy Caudillo 3-0 in the 125-pound division. Neither wrestler earned any points in the first two rounds.

Ceres' Davis Burris defeated Davis' Andy Kennedy 6-5 in the 130-pound division. Burris trailed 2-0 at the end of the first round. The match was tied at 4-all heading into the third and final round.

"Burris and Rodriguez wrestled their butts off," Cantwell said.

Davis won four matches by forfeit, three by pin, one by technical fall, two by major decision and one by decision.

Davis' Chase Edwards pinned Ceres' Ignacio McKenzie in the second round (3:35) in the 140-pound division. McKenzie trailed 11-6 prior to losing by pin.

Davis' Kevin Crowell pinned Ceres' Zach Van Wagoner in the second round (2:45) in the 160-pound division.

Davis' Nick Figueroa pinned Ceres' Kevin Gomes in the second round (2:25) in the 215-pound division. Figueroa led 10-1 at the end of the first round.

Davis' Mike Hurst defeated Ceres' Peter Betschart by technical fall, 24-7, in the second round in the 189-pound division. Hurst led 11-3 at the end of the first round.

Davis' Victor Carazo defeated Ceres' Roger Chiprez 17-7 in the 152-pound division.

Davis' Brandon Valdez defeated Ceres' Chris Coelho 8-0 in the 145-pound division.

Davis' Charlie Raposas defeated Ceres' Dante Ribeiro 1-0 in the 135-pound division.

Davis' Patrick Trudeau (103s), Clayton Johnson (119s), Dallas Haueter (171s) and Steven Furbush (275s) all won via forfeit. - By DALE BUTLER / Staff Reporter of The Ceres (Calif.) Courier