Isaiah Martinez, the Lemoore, junior, put on a show.
He won three matches Friday — all by pin — in a combined 4 minutes, 46 seconds, including a 2:50 pin of Granite Bay’s Adam Wagner in the quarterfinals. Martinez, last season’s 140-pound champ, is 42-1.
“I told myself I would dominate here,” said Martinez, who will take on Sultana-Hesperia’s Corey Griego in the semis. “When you have that confidence, the other wrestler can tell. It makes you a little more intimidating. And when you have your opponent nervous, they can’t perform as well as they possibly could.”
Cisneros will chase the grandest achievement of any California wrestler: becoming a four-time champion. Only Bakersfield’s Darrell Vasquez (1999-2002) has achieved the feat previously, while there have been 16 three-time champs.
The Cornell-bound Cisneros was methodical in reaching the semifinals against Centennial-Corona’s Christian Pagdilao. He opened with a tech fall, followed with an 8-1 win, then a 9-1 major decision over De La Salle-Concord’s Jon Jay Chavez.
“All my hard work is paying off,” said Cisneros, 175-3 in his career. “This has been a goal of mine since junior high, but I had to take it year by year and match by match. Now that it’s here, we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Other section semifinalists include: Clovis’ Julian Gaytan (106), Jonas Gaytan (113), Daniel Gaytan (120), Adrian Salas (160), Zach Nevills (170), Dakota Gordon (195) and Nick Nevills (285), Kingsburg’s Javier Gasca III (132), Buchanan’s Racelis Cardenas (138), and Bakersfield’s Natrelle Demison (138), Coleman Hammond (152), Silas Nacita (170) and Kyle Pope (182).
By Nick Giannandrea
