BHS Wrestling: Hopkins, Aztecs ready for Hawks

The Barstow High School wrestling team is at full strength.

But then again, so is Silverado.

Barstow will face the Hawks tonight at 7 p.m. in the Don Bilsborough Gymnasium for their first Desert Sky League home meet of the season.

The Aztecs are coming off a win in their DSL opener against Burroughs on Jan. 8 and will face Silverado for the second time this season.

Barstow beat the Hawks at the Barstow Aztec Tournament to open the season in December. However, both teams were missing a number of wrestlers due to football playoffs.

“We beat them, but they didn’t have this lineup,” Barstow coach Adam Hopkins said. “We won handily, but you can never count (Silverado coach) Mike LaBrosse out.”

Hopkins expects Silverado to be the team to beat in the DSL this season. The Aztecs lost their regular season meeting to Silverado last season.

With end of football season, the Aztecs added junior All-American Sean Silva and several other wrestlers to its roster. Hopkins said the transition process has been a good one.

“Coming back from football, what’s positive is though they didn’t win the last game, they came in with a positive attitude,” Hopkins said. “They came in and helped build a better atmosphere.

“It’s helped because I’ve got guys that came off one hell of a football season and they came in with the attitude that, ‘I’m not going to quit no matter what happens.’ ”

Barstow will send Silva, Drew Bosco and Daniel Benavidez to the prestigious Five Counties tournament on Saturday at Fontana High School.

Silva, who finished 8th at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December, is nearing the 112 pound weight class he intends to wrestle at on Saturday. He’s ranked No. 24 in the nation according to Wrestling USA Magazine and No. 5 in the CIF-Southern Section at 112 pounds.

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