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The Amador Valley High School wrestling team kept its strong run going, as the Dons took five individual titles on the way to winning the team title at the East Bay Athletic League championships last weekend at Foothill.
The Dons finished with 217 points, edging out Livermore who came in at 213. Granada finished with 210 points to take third, and De La Salle came in fourth at 187.5.
Nathan Marek started things off for the Dons, winning the 134-pound title with a 13-7 win over Weston Coward of De La Salle.
TJ Chandler (167 pounds) started a streak of four straight wins for the Dons, beating Joseph Labarthe of San Ramon Valley 5-4.
Luca Moore (177) made it two straight for the Dons with a pin of Noah Blake of Granada at the 1:16 mark of the match. Noah Awad also got a pin, sticking Max Munzinger of De La Salle at 2:44.
Jayden Wood (217) got the last title for the Dons, pinning Adrian Rodriguez of Livermore in 2:45.
Up next for the Dons is the North Coast Section Tournament at Liberty in Brentwood this weekend. This is the spot where qualifications for the CIF State Meet are earned.
Amador girls’ soccer
The Dons brought home the EBAL tournament title with a thrilling, 1-0 overtime win against Carondelet.
The Cougars took the EBAL regular season title with a 9-0 mark — but this time the Dons were equal to task, matching Carondelet throughout the game.
I was able to watch the game via stream and it was all that a title game should be about. Great defensive efforts from both teams, along with select offensive runs.
The game was fairly even with both teams making long runs into the other half of the field, with neither team able to find the back of the net.
Until overtime.
The Dons had a free kick in the second overtime, about 20 yards out of the goal, pretty close to the middle of the field. Sophomore Mira Garuda, stood over the ball for what seemed a little longer than normal.
Garuda finally made her run to take the kick and drilled it home into the upper corner of the goal, sending the Dons players into celebration mode and the Carondelet players into a stunned state.
Next up for the Dons is the NCS playoffs, where they were seeded No. 4 in the Division I playoffs.
To me it was a curious seeding for the Dons as they were seeded behind Carondelet (No. 1) and San Ramon Valley (No. 2), a pair of teams they beat the previous week to claim the EBAL title.
If the Dons win in the first round, they would play the winner of Tamalpais and Northgate on Saturday.
Amador boys’ basketball
The Dons went 1-1 in the EBAL playoffs and advanced to the NCS playoffs.
In their first game, the Dons beat Livermore 81-64 behind 22 points from Cade Krueger. Jaylen Smith added 19 points, with Dante Ventura adding seven points.
In the second round, the Dons dropped a close one, falling 49-45 to Monte Vista. Cade Krueger had 12 points, the only Amador player in double figures.
Smith and Kasen Krueger had nine points for Amador.
With a 19-9 record in the talent-laden EBAL, the Dons were selected as the No. 6 seed in the NCS D-I playoffs.
They were set to open play by hosting No. 11 seed Bishop O’Dowd this week. If the Dons win, they would move on to play the winner of Campolindo (3) and Northgate (14). If it’s Campo, the game would be on the road, while if Northgate pulls off the upset, the game would be at Amador, provided of course they beat O’Dowd.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
