Sophomore Alecxis Lara at 197 lbs is ranked 2nd in the state of California which he earned at the West Valley Tournament in which all 24 wrestling programs attended on Oct. 15.

“I’m hungry, I want a state title,” said Lara. “I’m ranked 2nd in state, I’ve worked hard all my life for it, and there’s only one more month away from the title.”

The short-handed Trojans don’t have many men, allotting only a total of 11 wrestlers, which hurts the team in dual meets because they must forfeit those matches where they don’t have a wrestler in a weight class.

“We not real great because we have holes in light weight at 125, 133, 141 lbs, which hurts us at dual meets, said James Haddon, wrestling coach. “But we’re a good tournament team.”

Although the Trojans have only wrestled one home match, at Terra Nova, the men could care less where they wrestle.

“Whether we wrestle here or whether we wrestle there it doesn’t matter, said Lara. “It just us and them, as long as there is another guy on the wrestling mat that’s all that matters.”

On Oct. 28, the Trojans traveled to Santa Rosa that saw them lose 38-14 in team points.

Individual matches won by Skyline: Charles Morales, (149 lbs) defeated Will Matulich by technical fall 18-3; Nahie Akoi, (174 lbs), pinned Brandon Dunbar in the 2nd period; and freshman, Blaiz Davis, (197 lbs) defeated Buck Shanklin by decision 9-5.

Davis, who is currently dropping down to 184lbs, knows what it takes to compete on the mat:

“It’s all about knowing that every moment you train is for this moment, said Davis. You have to be intense…you have to understand that anything he does, you can counter and anything you can, he can counter…but at one point someone is going to break.”