BHS Wrestling: It's Bakersfield or bust for Bosco, Aztecs

BARSTOW • Drue Bosco made history in a matter of 10 seconds on Saturday.

He’ll look to do it again — this time with a slightly larger time frame — starting today at the CIF-Southern Section Masters meet at Temecula Valley High School.

Bosco enters the meet as the No. 1 seed in the 103-pound division after winning at the CIF-SS Northern Division Wrestling Championships. He’ll travel with teammates Sean Silva (112 pounds) and Daniel Benavidez (145 pounds) to try to earn berths to state finals in Bakersfield. The top nine wrestlers in each weight class at Masters qualify for the state meet.

Bosco is believed to be the only freshman in Barstow High School history to win an individual CIF championship in any sport.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Bosco said. “It’s always cool to set a record for a school. I have a lot
higher goals.”

Bosco, who wants to be a state placer and an All-American, grabbed the win in impressive fashion. His last three matches were determined by a total of seven points and his last match came down to the last 10 seconds.

Bosco was trailing Oxnard junior Jacob Anaya 4-3 in the final 10 seconds of the match when he scored a nearfall to win 7-4.

“With 10 seconds left, I got off a nice shot, lifted him up and took him to his back,” Bosco said. “I just kept trying everything to keep moving, never give up.”

Barstow coach Adam Hopkins saw his young wrestler come of age in the match. Just a match earlier, Bosco held a lead and nearly lost it in the final seconds. Hopkins warned him about making the same mistake again.

“Drue made the correction in the next match,” Hopkins said. “With 10 seconds left, instead of shutting down he just changed gears and got after the kid. That’s what you need to have.

“That was intense. I saw a young man turn the corner competitively, emotionally. I saw a young kid meet his goal.”

While the final 10 seconds of the match secured his place as the 103-pound winner at the  Northern Division Championships, the road to get to that finale has been much longer. Bosco has been on Hopkins’ radar for two years.

Hopkins has helped train Bosco since he was in middle school and took him to a number of freestyle wrestling tournaments last summer. Bosco expressed a commitment to wrestling and Hopkins committed to helping him.

It’s not a path followed by most.

“You don’t really see anybody doing it, but the option is open,” Bosco said. “You just got to come in and show that you want it. Coach will give you attention.”

Benavidez, a senior, said he wasn’t surprised to see Bosco finish first because of the all time he’s put in as far back as junior high.

“He’s a hard worker,” Benavidez said. “He’s always making the right decisions outside of wrestling so he can stay focused on the sport.”

While Silva and Bosco have byes in the first round at Masters, Benavidez will follow a slightly tougher road.

Benavidez, who finished third in Oxnard, faces Sonora senior Octavio Muniz in the first round and hopes to see Sultana senior Cody Bollinger, who took first a Oxnard, later in the tournament.

“Hopefully I can do better because I wrestled all right against him the first time,” said Benavidez of his 8-6 loss at the Northern Division meet.

Silva, who is currently ranked No. 6 in state, will be looking to make his second straight state tournament.

Hopkins said he is hoping to advance all three.

“As far as qualifiers, we’ve only had one at a time,” Hopkins said. “We get that one guy to get to the show and with Aztec wrestling usually that guy places or gets himself in position to play. To get more than one guy to the state tournament would definitely be a big stepping stone for us as a program.”