In just his first year at the helm, Aptos boys’ wrestling head coach Johnny Velez was already experiencing what some would consider a Hollywood scripted season.
The Mariners were sitting in a three-way tie with Santa Cruz and Soquel for the Santa Cruz Coast League crown after each team finished with a 4-1 overall record in the regular season.
So, it all came down to the end-of-the-season tournament at San Lorenzo Valley High School to determine a league champion once and for all.
And in dramatic fashion, Aptos won the showdown with a score of 153.5 to beat out Soquel (134) in second and Santa Cruz (129) in third. Harbor (87) placed fourth, followed by SLV (85) in fifth and Scotts Valley (79.5) in sixth.
“Feel like I’m in a storybook, like this is a movie,” Velez said. “We couldn’t have written it better.”
It’s the first SCCAL championship for Aptos since winning back-to-back titles in 2020-22, and 13th overall as a program behind Watsonville with 14 when it was a member in the league.
And if last week’s league tournament was written up by Tinseltown producers, Lucas Zuniga would probably be considered one of the leading roles in Velez’s eyes.
The burly Aptos senior and former football offensive lineman battled his way to a 1-0 decision victory over San Lorenzo Valley High junior Ollin Bates in the 215-pound weight division championship match.
“If I had to say one guy that really stood out based on not just his wrestling performance, but how he acted and presented himself as a team leader, is Lucas Zuniga,” Velez said. “He’s wrestled [Bates] so many times, they know each other. So, just to stay composed with that match and keeping it close, but still not getting frustrated and staying wrestling was important.”
The final score may have shown just one point on the scoreboard, yet a lot of activity was happening during the match such as potential reversals and close takedowns.
“It was fun to watch,” Velez said.
Going into the match, Zuniga said he was aware of Bate’s mean ankle pick and a great inside trip.
“I tried to stay away from it,” Zuniga said. “I felt like I should have definitely been more aggressive coming towards wrestling from space. It wasn’t my prettiest match, I give it that, but at least we got the [team championship].”
Zuniga was comfortable with just a one-point lead and he would’ve felt the same way if the match would’ve gone into an overtime period. Instead, he held on for his second consecutive league individual championship.
“I do push myself a lot and I like to see myself succeed,” he said. “I tend to not be happy with a lot of matches, even the best of the best matches. I always want to see what I can continue to get better at.”
The Cabot brothers—Alfred and Dominic—each won their matches in the 113 and 106-pound weight divisions, respectively, for Aptos. Teammate sophomore Cruz Contreras pinned Soquel junior Levi Larsen to capture the 126-pound division title, and sophomore Cole Moules (150 pounds) won his second straight league championship.
“It was basically whoever produced the most league champions was going to win league,” Moules said. “That’s what we came and did. The five of us who won really had to work for it. It didn’t come easy.”
The top two finishers in each division advanced to the Central Coast Section South Regionals tournament at Watsonville High on Saturday at 9am.
The top eight boys and top 10 girls finishers will advance to the championship masters meet at Independence High School in San Jose on Feb. 22.
In 2024, Moules advanced into the CCS Masters Meet after placing in the top-8 in the south regionals. He has a chance to do it again this week in Watsonville.
“Some tough matches,” Moules said. “The kids don’t come to mess around, they did good in their league and we did good in ours. You gotta be ready.”
Aptos senior Dominic Maciel also punched his ticket to the section regionals following a second place finish in the 120-pound weight division.
Teammates senior Xavier Maciel (132 pounds), sophomore John Stoner (138), sophomore Preston Carvalho (144) and senior Angel Garcia (285) each took third in their respective divisions. Teammate junior Ben Martin took fourth in the 190-pound division.
Earlier in the season, the Mariners lost to Soquel in a league dual meet. Zuniga and his teammates were devastated but he said they deserved it because the fact was they were ill-prepared.
“That whole week of practice we were practicing head and arms but we were goofing off the whole time,” Zuniga said. “A lot of the team was goofing off and not paying attention. Honestly, if you want to win you have to train like a champion and that’s the reality of it.”
With time running out in his prep wrestling career, Zuniga took it upon himself to rally the troops before heading into the league tournament. He can now officially say the monkey is off his back.
“I’ve been talking to Johnny about it all season,” Zuniga said about bringing back home the SCCAL championship banner, which he and his teammates held proudly after the awards presentation.
“One of my biggest goals is to win league this year. Not for me, but obviously for my team, as well. And lucky we did it. For me, it’s just a sigh of relief; it feels good.”
On the girls side, Aptos junior Isabella Cruz pinned Santa Cruz senior Karen Chavez-Vasquez to capture the 100-pound division title.
Santa Cruz won the team title with a score of 140, followed by Harbor (76), Aptos (47), SLV (42), Soquel (38) and Scotts Valley (21).
Aptos senior Lilly Bane defeated Scotts Valley junior Lila Moseley in the 105-pound division second place match, while teammate senior Amelie Mintun lost to Santa Cruz senior Cala Bretholtz in the 190-pound division championship. Aptos senior Ava Alaniz took third in the 130-pound division.
“I’m just steering the ship,” Velez said. “Everybody had a part to play in this. So, it’s not just for me and I think that’s my favorite part. It wasn’t just me. I didn’t do this, we did this together.”
