SPARTAN SPORTS
New team in town The Modesto Bearcats are a ABA team in their first season in the league.
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Davis wrestlers claim second straight MMC title
Individual League Champions
By JAKE DUFFY
T
Corinthian Staff
he two teams, one wearing green the other black, stared each other down leading up to the announcing of the pair ups. Davis’s wrestling team, 4-0 in the league at the time, faced off against Enochs, 3-1, at Davis’s gym to determine the MMC League Champions. Before going in Davis had already won a share of the league title. The season had been great for the team, and had a good sense they would have a shot at the MMC League title even before Christmas time. This is because the team’s biggest challenge of the past, Downey High School, was defeated by the spartans at the start of the year with a score of 44-25. The rest of the season was characterized by pure domination. Davis defeated Johansen 58-9, Modesto 53-15, and Beyer 46-24. “We were the favorites to win,” said head coach Mike Cantwell the day of the match against Enochs. Going into the match, Davis’s big six were Jacob Hill(189), Sam Price(160), Ricky Postelle(140), Gabriel Gonzalez(145), and Josh Delgado(130). All of which had been on the team last year. The order was chosen, and Ricky Postelle took the mat first against Jessie Kneer. The match up lasted for a close three rounds. In the first and second round, Postelle had been pushed out of bounds several times. With frustration mounting, he pinned his opponent in the third round. After this first victory by the Davis team, the wins kept coming. Sam Price and Ryan Brown pinned their opponents Irving Cerda and James Sullivan in the first round, followed by a points win
Eric McCray
171 pound weight class
Josh Delgado
119 pound weight class
Jacob Hill
Alexandra FalkTHE CORINTHIAN
FINISHING HIM OFF Sophomore Tommy Le takes down his opponent during the Enochs match, he won via pin in 3:25. The team beat Enochs 73-3 finishing off an undefeated league season and a second straight MMC championship. by Jacob Hill after the third round with a close 3-2 defeat. Tommy Le then went on the mat, pinning Rutger DeVito in the second round. Enochs continued to lose, with Davis’s Fabian Rodriguez fighting of his opponent through the first round and coming away with a clean pin on Jaleel Gerdner in the second round. One of the longest and closest of the matches came next, as Josh Delgado stepped up. “I was thinking about how I was going to wrestle him,” said Delgado, “I didn’t want to be the first one to lose.” Delgado squared up against his opponent, Enochs’s AJ Luna, in the center of the mat. The round started and the two went at it, each keeping their guards up and making takedowns difficult.
After the closing of the second round Davis led in points for the match up, and Delgado aimed to keep it that way. “I felt relieved and proud, I ended the regular season well,” said Delgado of the match up. The match came to a close with Gabriel Gonzalez pinning his opponent, Daniel Huff, in the first round. The night closed with a staggering result: Davis had defeated Enochs with a final score of 73-3. A major help with pulling away with such a large score margin was that four of Enochs’ wrestlers forfieghted, giving granted wins for Davis’s Gabe Flores, Ralph McCuller, Micheal Crowell and Alex Becker. As far as major threats from Enochs is concerned, the team’s best wrestler is Scott Fletcher, who went on to win the 140 pound league title a week later.
Spartan fighter dominates the mat By ALEXANDRA FALK
J
Corinthian Staff
unior Joslynn Espinoza is proof that looks can be deceiving. Her sweet smile and shy manner disguise what she really is: a fighter. In 2008, Espinoza was ranked number three in the world and number one in the nation for girl’s karate ages 15-17. “When I first started, I was shy and didn’t like it at all, but after about half a year I started enjoying it,” she said. It was her old neighbor, Richard Mendez, who first suggested karate to her. Mendez is about two years older than Espinoza and is now a karate instructor. Both fighters look to each other for advice and support. Espinoza has approximately 130 trophies, plaques and medals, as well as 11 championship belts. Despite her amazing feats, she is very humble about her status as a fighter. “I consider myself one of the top girls for the area,” said Espinoza. Her parents are very supportive of her fighting despite having apprehensions about the physical contact. “My mother didn’t like the physical contact of it at first,” said Espinoza, “but now I think my dad gets a lot more nervous.”
189 pound weight class
Max Espinoza, Joslynn’s dad, says that he still gets just as nervous now as he did when she first started fighting. According to Max, karate was a “last resort” because she just wasn’t as interested in anything else. “I get so stressed out, sometimes she tells me that I need to just calm down,” he said. H e r friend and instructor, P a u l M en d o za, is also very supportive of her. They all want her to work hard and do her best to succeed and reach her full potential. Mendoza says he has been instructing Josylnn for close to 9 years. “She does above and beyond what’s required,” said Mendoza, “the extra time she spends here with me helps her
continue doing so well.” Discipline, respect, endurance and hard work are aspects that she uses in both karate and every day life. She tries to be a role model to her two younger sisters and believes that her achievements as well as goals she sets for herself can serve as inspiration for them. H e r youngest sister is following in her footsteps as she has b e g u n training in karate. She has a desire to win and a mental toughness that she hopes her sisters will take notice of and apply to their own lives. “I’m the happiest father in the world,” said Max, “it doesn’t get much better than seeing her do such great things.” Espinoza has made many See Fighter Page 14
He was planned to wrestle in that same 140 pound range, and would have gone against either Gabriel Gonzalez or Michael Crowell depending on the official weigh win. When the time came though, he wasn’t there and Michael Crowell was given the win. “My kids wrestled extremely well,” said Cantwell the following day. Leading up to the MMC Championship, Davis had won nine out of twelve total matches, and participated in six different tournaments. Of these tournaments, Jacob Hill has placed in five and Josh Delgado had taken first at Pittman High School. One characteristic of Davis’s team that doesn’t apply to the other high schools is the length of practice. See Wrestling Page 15
Basketball Homecoming win for Davis over Beyer By COREY KIRK
A
Corinthian Staff
s Homecoming was about to come to a close, we ended with a bang in a game against Beyer in the Spartan Dome. The Spartans were going up against a team who was looking to take revenge after a loss in their own house. Going into this game the Spartans had one thing on their mind. “We needed to focus,” said junior guard Xevion Vega, “We needed to play good like we did in practice.” They also had to worry about perimeter shooter Daniel Lightfoot and big man Bryan Garbez. Lightfoot was known to take a three point shot if he had to and Garbez was averaging about twenty two points a game. After the starters were announced both senior Bryan Garbez and junior Lance Castenada headed to center court to begin the game with the tip off. “I have won the tip off before against See Homecoming Page 15