Four-Peat: Redwood Boys Wrestling Claims EYL Title For Fourth Straight Year

On Saturday, January 31st, Ranger wrestling walked into Monache looking to claim their fourth straight title, and they walked out with 300 points and the EYL crown.

By: Fabian Anguiano and Jake Villarreal

Luke Villarreal, ‘26, walked into the championships for one last time, and walked out claiming second place.

Villarreal prepared himself physically for the EYL championships by prioritizing “recovery with our athletic trainer Alex, because physical recovery is really important.”

Villarreal prepared himself mentally by “blocking out all the background noises that people were saying [and] trying to get me to tell me about this being my last senior. I just went in like any other tournament.”

Though he said he could have improved in certain areas, Villarreal could have walked out with the win, as he lost in the finals.

Though he got second, winning first place overall as a team felt “good because the whole team was down there supporting us. We all went down right next to the mat and would support us through every little thing, no matter if we were down, up, or up a lot, or if it was very close. The team was always supporting no matter what.”

Luke’s goal for the rest of the season is to prepare for their next upcoming tournament, and to be ready to wrestle, given he has the opportunity.

Enrique Segura, ‘26, won first place in the heavyweight division in his last EYL tournament.

Segura prepared himself physically and mentally by reminding himself that it’s just another tournament.

Performing in his last EYL was “really fun. I mean, I knew I was gonna win it, and that’s just the fun part about it, when you know you’re gonna win. I just went out there having fun with all my boys and everybody seeing me, I guess, just a really fun moment,” says Segura.

The match that stood out the most to Segura was his finals match

Head Coach David Watts prepared the team for EYL by saying, “doing the same things we’ve been doing year-round. Working hard on skills, conditioning, and just being in the weight room. Also, doing the things necessary for a championship team.”

Coach Watts says that before EYL, he and the other coaches prepare by “all [talking] together as coaches and decide what’s best for the team and what’s best for our lineup and how we’re going to go about placing different people in the tournament,” said Watts. “So we put the best team that we had at that time out there.”

Though the team put up an extraordinary 300 points, Watts believes the team’s overall wrestling was mediocre.

“I think we were kind of just complacent. The competition wasn’t that tough, and so we didn’t really have to rise above; it was just easy for some of them,” said Coach Watts. “So I don’t think we wrestled our best, but we did score a lot of points.”

Coach Watts’ team goal for the rest of the season is to get as many guys to State, get some State placers, and continue working hard and improving every day.

Watt’s goal as a coach for the rest of the season is the same as his wrestlers’: to continue working hard.

Maceson Vasquez, ’27, says preparing himself consisted of taking care of his body and being on par with his diet.

His goal for the rest of the season is to hopefully qualify for the CIF State Tournament. “I stay true to myself and keep carrying myself as I have throughout the season, which is being on weight and taking care of my body. It’s just that I have to go out there and do it.”

John Benitez, ’27, prepared himself mentally and physically by, “listening to music, training hard and the work I put in. I just go out there trying to perform and do my best.”

On how he feels he performed, Benitez says, “I feel like I could have done better. Even though I did pretty good, I feel like I could have dominated more in the first period. I probably should have gotten more pins instead of an injury default.”

The match that stood out to Benitez the most was his first match “because it’s the first match that is tough. I’ll slip up and something bad would happen, I was able to recover from that because it happened this weekend, but it’s always the first matches.”

Winning first place as a team felt great for Benitez, everyone was happy for each other, and the whole team was cheering for each other, they were spreading positive energy.

Benitez’s goal for the rest of the season is to keep working hard.

Tags: EYL Tournament, fabian anguiano, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, redwood sports, rhs, sports, visalia ca, watts, wrestling