St. John Bosco wrestling phenoms are stealth weapons

Valenica working on a takedown in the semi-finals again Gionn Perralta.

Brothers Anthony and Zahid Valencia don’t look the part of wrestling powerhouses, but that’s one more advantage that has helped them become No. 1 in their weight classes.

Moisture, condensation, fog — whatever you want to call it — has made it impossible to peek through two windows on the door of the St. John Bosco wrestling room to see what’s happening inside.

Then the door opens, and a visitor is blasted with a burst of hot air as if a heater is going full throttle.

It’s sauna-like conditions, and yet there’s no machine producing the heat. It’s coming from more than 20 shirtless, sweating wrestlers circling the room and trying to prove what Coach Omar Delgado means when he says, “Wrestling is a six-minute sprint. You go as hard as you can for six minutes.”

In the middle of the action are two brothers, Anthony and Zahid Valencia. They’re freshman phenoms. Zahid is ranked No. 1 in the state at 106 pounds. Anthony is ranked No. 1 at 126 pounds. Zahid is 20-0 with four tournament championships. Anthony is 29-4 with three tournament championships.

They set their alarm clock in their bedroom for 4 a.m. and end up in the family garage, which has its own padded wrestling room. Soon they head to the gym to complete two hours of training before school begins.

To say the Valencia brothers are passionate about wrestling would be an understatement.

“They want to be four-time state champions, want to wrestle in college and they want to be Olympians,” Delgado said.

They have big dreams and are determined to make sure no one works harder.

“We want to get better than everybody else,” the 5-foot-4 Zahid said. “We can’t give anybody an inch.”

Said the 5-7 Anthony: “I’m working out, getting better, knowing nobody else is doing what we’re doing.”

Their father, Ruben, is an assistant coach at St. John Bosco. The brothers are in the same grade because Anthony repeated the fourth grade. He’s 15. Zahid is 14. They are best friends and keep producing accomplishments that leave Delgado in awe.

“This is probably the most unique situation that I’ve come across in 20 years of coaching high school and college wrestling,” he said. “Two boys that are freshmen that are this good.”

Zahid and Anthony both won their divisions earlier this year at the prestigious Doc B tournament in Clovis, earning them praise and cowboy hats that they put up on the wall in their bedroom.

They’ve been wrestling since they were in kindergarten. Their physical stature hardly identifies them as potential future state champions but it only adds to an advantage they gladly accept if an opponent underestimates them.

“They don’t look like athletes at all, and I always tell them, ‘That’s to your benefit,'” Delgado said. “Everyone looks over and they think they can beat them. They look like 98-pound kids. They look like cross country runners.

“Everybody who looks across that mat and says, ‘That’s the No. 1 guy in the state? Oh, I’ll beat that guy.’ As the match progresses, you’ll see their conditioning kick in. They always wear everybody down and end up pinning most guys or winning by technical fall.”

The brothers are just starting their high school wrestling careers, but there’s little doubt wrestling is going to be part of their lives for years to come.
“I just love it,” Zahid said.

“I get excited, especially if it’s a good opponent,” Anthony said.

Delgado believes the boys are uniquely prepared to excel in the sport.

“The endurance it takes is completely different from any other sport, where you have to go six minutes as hard as you can,” Delgado said. “How many guys can do a six-minute sprint? Not many. These boys can do it.”

RANK		SCHOOL	SECTION	POINTS	# RANKED
1		St. John Bosco	ss	226.5	13
2		Buchanan	cs	216.5	11
3		Gilroy	cc	198.5	11
4		Poway	sd	174	14
5		Clovis	cs	122	9
6		Fountain Valley	ss	101	9
7		Bakersfield	cs	85.5	6
8		Clovis North	cs	85	7
9		Pitman	sj	71	5
10		Los Gatos	sj	54	3
11		Birmingham	la	53.5	3
12		Esperanza	ss	52.5	4
13		Walnut	ss	42	2
14		Granite Hills	sd	34	4
15		Oakdale	sj	33.5	3
16		Los Banos	sj	30	1
17		Clovis West	cs	30	2
18		Monache	cs	28	2
19		Central Catholic	sj	26.5	2
20		Central	cs	26	3
21		Palma	cc	25	2
22		Merced	sj	24	1
23		JW North	ss	24	1
24		Granite Bay	sj	24	1
25		Temecula Valley	ss	23.5	2
26		Hesperia	ss	23.5	2
27		Del Oro	sj	23.5	2
28		Tulare Union	cs	21	1
29		Liberty	nc	21	1
30		Exeter	cs	21	1
31		El Diamante	cs	21	1
32		Camarillo	ss	20.5	2
33		Folsom	sj	19.5	3
34		Vacaville	sj	18.5	2
35		Kingsburg	cs	18.5	2
36		Newport Harbor	ss	18	3
37		Everett Alvarez	cc	18	1
38		Frontier	cs	15.5	2
39		Brawley	sd	15.5	2
40		Chino	ss	15	1
41		Calvary Chapel	ss	14	2
42		Royal	ss	12.5	2
43		Paloma Valley	ss	12.5	2
44		Vista Murrieta	ss	12	1
45		Maria Carillo	nc	12	1
46		Laguna Creek	sj	12	1
47		Golden West	cs	12	1
48		Etiwanda	ss	12	1
49		Clovis East	cs	12	1
50		Bonita	ss	12	1
		Dec. 19, 2024

	COLLEGE	WRESTLER	HIGH SCHOOL	WEIGHT	COMMITMENT
	Augustana	Chase Peterson	Foothill (SJS)	141/149	Signed
	CS Bakersfield	Noe Garcia	Gilroy (CCS)	197	Signed
	CS Bakersfield	Dominic DuCharme	Windsor (NCS)	165	Signed
	CS Bakersfield	Zak Levatino	Buchanan (CS)	285	Signed
	CS Bakersfield	Kalani Tonge	Elk Grove (SJS)	133	Signed
	CS Bakersfield	Jacob Sieder	South Torrance (SS)	184	Signed
	Cal Baptist	Greg Gaxiola	Buchanan (CS)	149	Signed
	Cal Baptist	Donovin Guerrero	De La Salle (NCS)	125	Signed
	Cal Poly	Curtis Booth	Folsom (SJS)	141	Signed
	Cal Poly	Jason Bergquist	Folsom (SJS)	165	Signed
	Cal Poly	Jesse Madrigal	Oak Hills (SS)	197	Verbal
	Cal Poly	Nicolas Iversen	Ukiah (NS)	285	Signed
	Cal Poly	Jett Moy	San Marcos (SS)	149	Signed
	Campbellsville	Aaron Rugnao	Bear Creek (SJS)	133	Signed
	Campbellsville	Adrian Camposano	Central (CS) via Fresno City CC	125	Signed
	Chadron State	Richard Black	Cesar Chavez via Neosho CC	285	Verbal
	Chadron State	Anthony Orozco	Turlock (SJS)	157	Signed
	Clackamas CC	David Campbell	Mission Oak (CS)	125	Signed
	Clackamas CC	Ralphy Tovar	Poway (SDS) via Grand Canyon	149	Signed
	Clackamas CC	Chris Bailey	Poway (SDS)	197	Signed
	Clackamas CC	Nick Maximov	Chico (NS)	174	Signed
	Colorado State Pueblo	Gavin Melendez	Gilroy (CCS)	133	Signed
	Colorado Mesa College	Kyle Jennings	Ponderosa (SJS)	285	Signed
	Columbia	Michael Bulkin	Del Norte (SDS)	285	Verbal
	Concordia	Anthony Zepeda	California (SS) via Rio Hondo JC	157	Signed
	Concordia	Giovanni Castillo	Centennial (SS) via Mt. Sac CC	125	Signed
	Cornell	Trence Gillem	Helix Charter (SDS)	133	Verbal
	Dickinson State	Jason Zecchini	Mt. Whitney (SS) via Sac City CC	184/197	Signed
	Drexel	Julian Flores	San Marino (SS)	141	Signed
	Drexel	Kai Kramer	La Costa Canyon (SD)	125	Verbal
	Duke	Roman Romero	McNair (SJS)	184	Verbal
	Emmanuel College	Jesse Gomez	Buena Park (SS) via Cerritos College	285	Signed
	Fresno State	Josh Hokit	Clovis (CS)	184	Signed
	Fresno State	Isaiah Hokit	Clovis (CS) via Drexel	141	Signed
	Fresno State	Beau Colombini	Windsor (NC)	174	Verbal
	Fresno State	Kristian Olivas	Clovis (CS) via Utah Valley	149	Signed
	Hastings	Mike McCauley	Vacaville (SJ)	285	Signed
	Hastings	Gunnar Gardner	Clovis North (CS)	285	Signed
	Hastings	Jeremiah Gerl	Calvary Chapel-Downey (SS) via Cerritos	197	Signed
	Hastings	Jake Wood	Newbury Park (SS)	197	Signed
	Hastings	Nick Rohrer	Oak Ridge (SJS) via Sac City CC	184	Signed
	Hastings	Chris Vaughan	McClatchy (SJS) via Sac City CC	149	Signed
	Indiana	Liam Cronin	Servite (SS)	125	Signed
	Indiana Tech	Oscar Martinez	Centennial (SS)	197	Signed
	Wheeling Jesuit	Daniel Romero	Montclair (SS) via Rio Hondo JC	141	Signed
	Lindenwood	Max Irvin	Chaparral (SS)	125	Verbal
	McKendree	Ruben Garcia	Selma (CS)	157	Verbal
	Menlo	Javier Gonzalez	Upland (SS) via Rio Hondo JC	285	Signed
	Michigan	Tyler Meisinger	San Clemente (SS)	157	Verbal
	Michigan State	Christian Rebottaro	Monta Vista Chrisitan (CCS)	285	Verbal
	Midland	Elias Mercado	California (NCS) via Rio Hondo CC	141	Signed
	Minot State	Dean Arevalo	Riverside Poly (SS)	125	Signed
	Minot State	Andrew Helfrich	El Modena (SS)	184	Signed
	Nebraska Kearney	Alex Cisneros	Selma (CS) via Cornell	157	Signed
	Nebraska Kearney	Jonas Gaytan	Clovis (CS) via Fresno City CC	125	Signed
	New York U	Riley Paterson	Servite (SS)	174	Verbal
	North Carolina	Daniel Chaid	Bellarmine Prep (CCS) via Grand Canyon	197	Signed
	Northern Illinois	Zack Velasquez	Ponderosa (SJS) via Grand Canyon	149/157	Signed
	Northern Illinois	Kenneth Moore	Hoover (SDS) via Grand Canyon	165/174	Signed
	Northern State	Kenny Jones	Lassen (NS)	133/141	Signed
	Northern State	Richie Casillas	Northview (SS)	125	Signed
	Northern State	Steven Abbott	Orland (NS)	174	Signed
	Northwestern College (IA)	D'rell Gist	Helix Charter (SDS)	174	Verbal
	Northwestern College (IA)	Dante Preciado	Castle Park (SS)	141	Verbal
	Oklahoma	Justin Thomas	Calvary Chapel (SS)	165	Signed
	Oklahoma	Jeremy Thomas	Calvary Chapel (SS)	157	Signed
	Oklahoma City	Isaiah Smith	Orland (NS) via Sac City CC	165/174	Signed
	Oregon State	Devan Turner	Dixon (SJS)	125	Signed
	Old Dominion	Abner Romero	Buchanan (CS)	165	Signed
	Old Dominion	Israel Saavedra	Granite Bay (SJS)	133	Verbal
	Penn State	AJ Nevills	Clovis (CS)	197	Verbal
	San Francisco State	Mason Boutain	Benicia (SJS)	149	Signed
	San Francisco State	Justin Pichedwatana	Mayfair (SS)	165	Signed
	San Francisco State	Morris Wilner	Calvary Chapel (SS)	184	Signed
	San Francisco State	Kurtis Clem	Chico (NS)	149	Signed
	South Dakota State	Phillip Zamora	Laguna Hills (SS)	149	Signed
	Southern Oregon	Eric Schwark	Casa Robles (SJS)	184	Signed
	Stanford	Brandon Kier	Poway (SDS)	133	Signed
	Tennessee Chattanooga	Dylan Forzani	Salinas (NCS) via Sac City CC	165	Verbal
	Utah Valley	Durbin Lloren	Buchanan (CS)	133	Verbal
	West Virginia	Zachary Schrader	Army and Navy Academy	197	Signed
	Western State	Garrett Strang	Chaparral (SS)	170	Verbal
	Wisconsin	Evan Wick	San Marino (SS)	157	Verbal
	Wisconsin	Zander Wick	San Marino (SS)	149	Verbal