Figueroa Wraps Up MCAL Wrestling Title for Trojans

won its 12th Marin County Athletic League Championships team title in the past 13 years Saturday, but few have been as tightly contested as this one.

Needing just about every possible point from their six finalists because rival Marin Catholic had eight wrestlers going for titles, the Trojans got a key win from at 217 pounds to hold off the Wildcats for the team title.

"Marin Catholic has a great team," Terra Linda coach assured. "In my opinion, they are a better tournament team. We knew it was going to be close.

"We knew it was going to come down to who was going to come to play. We all came to play today. I'm pretty proud of our guys."

Dardon admitted Figueroa was a "wild card."

"He had just dropped down to 215," Dardon noted. "All he had to do was not get pinned, but then he won the championship and clinched the title. It was great to see it happen."

And exciting, too. Figueroa held on to beat Marin Catholic's Tony Kosinski 3-2 to win the title and start the Trojans' team celebration.

Figueroa will be one of nine Trojans competing in the North Coast Section Championships at Newark Memorial High next week. Saturday's top three finishers earned that trip.

Five Trojans will represent the MCAL as champions. Terra Linda also had one second-place finisher and three thirds.

The Terra Linda champions included at 114 pounds and at 132, both of whom pinned their opponents in the finals. Kai dropped Novato's Paul Nguyen in 1:59, and Conrad was even three seconds quicker in disposing of San Marin's Wes Roberts.

As expected, Trojans standout had no trouble winning the MCAL championship. He pinned Marin Catholic's Michael Nichols at 1:33 of the 191 finals.

was Terra Linda's other champ, also via a first-round pin. He stopped Redwood's Will Simmonds at 1:21 in the 142 finals.

was a sixth Trojan to make the finals, but he had to settle for second place after falling 7-3 to San Marin's Ryan Kates.

(121), Phillip Algren (127) and (154) round out the Terra Linda contingent headed for NCS after third-place finishes.

and Dec Hannah just missed, Jennings losing 7-3 to George Torassa of Justin-Siena in the third-place match at 137 and Hannah falling to Marin Catholic's Jake Barney 6-4 for third at 162.

San Rafael's and also earned the right to wrestle at the NCS meet by finishing third.

Mosque got a default win over Justin-Siena's Matt Troiano in the third-place finals, while Mearse, a 191-pounder, pinned Drake's Tom Gazzoli at 3:54.

The Bulldogs' had to default his third-place match in the 217-pound division to San Marin's Nate Adams.