Patterson High’s varsity wrestlers took ninth place and had four top-six individual performances in the James Riddle Classic on Saturday, Dec. 8, at Oakdale High School.

The Tigers competed against 20 teams, including the first-place squad from Oakdale High, second-place Hughson High and third-place Tokay High of Lodi.

“The kids gave good effort and showed some heart. That’s what we want to see, win or lose,” said Patterson coach Lee Scoles. “If nothing else, it was a good way for us to see some of the adjustments that we needed to make in order to be successful.”

Junior Manuel Cruz took second place in the 138-pound weight class. Daniel Cota, a sophomore, earned third at 126 for the Tigers. Freshman Sean DeOcampo (106 pounds) took fifth, while sophomore Eloa Chadwick (170) was sixth in his class.

Modesto 54, Patterson 19

Patterson lost its nonleague dual meet to visiting Modesto High on Dec. 5.

The Modesto Panthers — the state’s No. 8-ranked squad — claimed the match, 54-19, by winning 10 of the 14 individual matches, six of them by pin, two by decision and two by forfeit.

Patterson (1-1) won two matches by pin and two by decision.

Modesto (1-0) began with a win in the 106-pound weight class when Luis Saucedo pinned DeOcampo in the first match of the night.

Modesto won four more individual matches in a row before Cruz, wrestling in the 138-pound weight class, scored for his team with a hard-fought 14-4 decision against Panther Dustin Texiera.

Patterson senior Joey Howard pulled off a victory against Joseph Rocha, defeating the Modesto grappler 8-3 in the 145-pound match, but Modesto took five of the next seven matches.

Daniel Linares (160) and Chadwick (170) earned pins for the Tigers.

JV: Patterson 54, Modesto 18

The JV Tigers notched five pins en route to victory against Modesto.

Patterson’s Keith Gordon pinned Rodrigo Rodriguez at 138 pounds; Joseph Ruelas followed with a pin of Mason Barbeis at 145; Brad Gill pinned Javier Gonzalez at 170; Samuel Gonzalez pinned William Zamora at 182; and 195-pounder Andrew Arroyo pinned Modesto’s Mike Wedge.

Aiden Frederickson (132) and Justin Gonzalez (152) both disposed of their Panther opponents by decision in three periods.

Contact Marc Aceves at 892-6187, ext. 28, or marc@pattersonirrigator.com.