First off, we apologize for the delay in posts. We had big-time technical issues for about an hour and a half there, but we seem to be up and running again.

There was a slew of upsets in the middle weights in the second round (first full round). Perhaps the biggest one (and that of most interest to Kern County) was Centennial's Seth Hicks, who got out to a big lead and then held on for dear life to beat Hesperia-Sultana's Cody Bollinger 11-9 at 140. Bollinger is No. 2  in the state.

But that wasn't all. The No. 1 140-pounder, Clovis' Scott Sakaguchi, fell 9-5 to Mitch Newcomer of Laguna Hills. That weight is wiiiide-open now. I'd say the suriver of the quarter with Jonah Cruz of Bakersfield and Trent Stevenson of Arcata will be a favorite along with Oakdale's Trevor Machado-Ching from the bottom half of the bracket.

Another upset was at 152, where BHS freshman Bryce Hammond beat Southern Section champion Jacob Rodriguez of Canyon Springs. What a strange match that was. Hammond gets out to a 16-2 lead with a flurry of nearfall points, but then seems to lose his edge. Rodriguez got back within 18-10 and nearly turned Hammond a few times with a minute still left in the match. But just when you think Hammond will have to stall out to win, he turns it around again and scores six straight points to win it  24-10. Wild match.

In other matches of interest. Jonah Cruz of BHS won in overtime after he was tied up late at 140, and Brad Carls, another Driller, is also into the round of 16 with a 7-4 decision against Raz Niazi of Franklin. And BHS 160-pounder Jose Ramirez won a small victory by taking down No. 1-ranked (nationally) Jason Welch of Las Lomas to start his match. Sure, Welch came back to win a techinical fall 20-5, but not many can say they took down Welch. It drew the biggest cheer of the day so far.

They're completing the first consolation round right now, with some trying to stay alive and others trying to salvage something out of an already disappointing tournament. BHS 125-pound freshman was the first Kern County wrestler to bow out. He was pinned in each of his first two matches. Stockdale 152-pounder Eric Matthews followed Box out the door, but as far as I know, all other K.C. wrestlers are alive.

They'll start championship round 3 and another consolation round here in a few minutes. Keep coming back for updates.

— Posted by Zach Ewing