Page 9 - Dinuba Sentinel 1-4-18 E-edition

Sports
B1
“It was the little things... and just running our offense and trusting the process.”
- Benny Prado, DHS Girls Basketball Coach
The Dinuba Sentinel
Dinuba goes 3-1 in Tulare Mid-Winter Classic to close out year with consolation championship, improve to 13-4
After the game coach Prado told his team that they needed to work on the basic fundamentals.
“I told them that we need to do the small things right,” said Prado. “The boxing out, the finishing layups, closing the gaps with bodies instead of hands and reaching in. . . It was just doing the things that got us to 10-3.”
The loss to the Tigers put the Lady Emperors in the consolation bracket and Dinuba made the best of their new position. Their consolation bracket began the same day as their first round loss, and Dinuba
was looking to get back in the win column.
They faced Tulare Western later that afternoon and found themselves in a much better rhythm as they went on to outscore the Mustangs 27-11 in the first half. And though it was a bit closer in the second half, the Lady Emps still managed to outscore Tulare Western 28-25 in the final quarters and coasted to a 55-36 victory to put them in the semi-finals of the consolation bracket.
In the semi-finals, the Lady Emps faced a Corcoran team that truly tested the team’s resolve, pushing Dinuba to draw deep in the fourth quarter to mount a 18-5 rally after Dinuba found themselves down by 10 points after the third quarter.
See Lady Emps, Page B8
Thursday, January 4, 2018
High School Girls Basketball
Lady Emps take
consolation title at
Tulare tournament
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
Dinuba senior point guard Mireya Hernandez drives to the basket during last Thursday’s opening round game against Legacy High of South Gate. Though Dinuba lost the game, they went on to win three straight to take the consolation title of the Tulare Mid-Winter Classic.
Emps wrestling look to continue strong tradition
Dinuba will host Dinuba Invitational beginning tomorrow
2017 Year In Review
JANUARY - Led by Dinuba High senior Isaiah Perez (above) the Emperors wrestling team won big at the Dinuba Invitational, sending eight wrestlers to the finals. Six of the eight wrestlers won their matches and Dinuba won in dominant fashion.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
After suffering their biggest defeat to Legacy High of South Gate 61-33 in the first round of the 6th Annual Tulare Mid-Winter Classic, the Dinuba Lady Emps showed resolve as they won their next three games, including a 37-33 come-from-behind victory over Redwood to win the Consolation Championship on Saturday.
Thursday’s game against the Tigers of South Gate was much closer in the first half,
though the team still seemed to
be facing an uphill battle against
the up-tempo offense of Legacy High. By halftime Dinuba was able to close the gap to five points after senior Sam Mendoza hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to make the score 19-14 at the break.
But the Lady Emperors found
themselves struggling to keep
up with the Tigers in the third
quarter as Legacy rallied off
26 points, meanwhile holding
Dinuba to only five points in the quarter to take a 45-19 lead.
“We didn’t make layups,” said Dinuba High girl’s basketball coach Benny Prado. “We broke their presses and we had our chances... but we missed about ten layups. Really, our defense wasn’t really good.”
“I told them we need to do the small
things right.”
— Benny Prado Dinuba High girls basketball coach
Lorenzo Arreola
Noah Cortez
Daniel Long
When coach Michael Wright took over the Dinuba High School wrestling team ten years ago there were seven wrestlers on the team. Four of them were ineligible.
At the same time, there were no youth wrestling programs in town so many wrestlers had to join leagues in surrounding communities in order to hone their skills.
All that has changed over the years. Dinuba is now known as one of the premier wrestling programs in the valley. Wrestlers like coach Wright’s sons Michael and most recently Jacob, as well as Isaiah Perez, have been instrumental in reviving the program at
Dinuba High.
Last year, in fact,
Dinuba was ranked as the No. 14 team in all of California, better than some 900-plus high schools.
“There is no Division I, Division 2... in wrestling,” said Coach Wright. “We are the only Division 1 sport at our school.”
And according to coach
Wright, last year’s team wasn’t even the school’s best team. The team sent seven wrestlers to state last year, half of the team, more than Selma, who is currently the No. 3 team in the state.
Those wrestler have moved on, with Michael now playing Division 1 football at Sacramento State, Jacob currently redshirting as Fresno State’s first recruit, after bringing back their wrestling program, and Isaiah Perez dominating the Junior College wrestling world at Fresno City. Now it’s on the shoulders of a new batch of Dinuba wrestlers to carry on what has become a strong tradition of Dinuba wrestlers.
Enter three returning state qualifiers in Lorenzo Arreola, Noah Cortez and Daniel Long. At the recent Zinkin Classic at Buchanan High, Dinuba competed in a field of over 60 high school teams from throughout the state. Though the team didn’t do as well as it has done in previous
FEBRUARY - The Orosi High girls soccer team made school history by becoming the first Lady Cardinals to win a league title in the sport. The team would go on to play in the Div. V title game but lose to Fowler. They finished the season 23-5. (CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)
Photos by Keven J. Geaney
By Rick Curiel
years, finishing 25th, Arreola and Long shined bright for the Emperors.
Arreola finished fourth in a very tough field at 113 lbs and Long finished in sixth place after losing an early round match to the No. 1 wrestler in his weight class (170 lbs.) by one point.
Arreola has been wrestling since he was six year’s old and represents the team’s best weapon in the lower-weight divisions.
Long, who just came off the school’s football team as the team’s defensive captain at linebacker, looks to do likewise in the school’s wrestling team, where he will be asked to bring his success on the field to the mat.
“It’s no mistake,” said Wright. “Wrestling and football go hand in hand.” The team’s next tournament is one the Emperors won last year. And it’s one the Emperor’s host, the Dinuba Invitational, which starts tomorrow at
Dinuba High School. Last year the Emperors won the Dinuba Invitational for a third time in a row, led by Perez who pinned all five of his opponents and was named Outstanding Wrestler – Lower
Weights.
Eight Emperors reached the finals last
year and Dinuba went on to dominate the field, beating second place Kofa High of Yuma, Arizona by more than 50 points. And bested third place Bullard High by almost one hundred points.
This year, though the Emperors do not have the same numbers they had last year, the team will look to repeat once more in their own tournament. To do so, the Emperors will rely on the experience of Arreola, Long and, hopefully, Cortez. Recently, Cortez has been on injured reserve and is waiting to be released by his doctor. An MRI result was to be available yesterday. If things look good, Cortez will be able to compete in tomorrow’s competition.
A total of 45 high schools from
See Wrestling, Page B8
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
“Our goal is to beat the best in the
state.”
— Michael Wright Dinuba High wrestling coach