BHS Wrestling: Locke is Aztecs' 'dark horse' heading into CIF tournament
BARSTOW • The Barstow High School wrestling team will have three seeded wrestlers at CIF-Southern Section Individual Northern Division Championships meet today at Pacifica High School in Oxnard.
While Drue Bosco, Sean Silva and Daniel Benavidez have seeds for the Aztecs, Barstow coach Adam Hopkins believes there’s another wrestler to look out for. There’s not much hype surrounding a wrestler who will be competing just his third match of the season today, but Hopkins believes junior 215-pound wrestler Steven Locke can make a run.
“I guess we could just label Steven Locke for CIF the darkhorse,” Hopkins said.
A shoulder injury dating back to football season has kept Locke out of the lineup. Locke, who played tight end and linebacker, injured his right shoulder during the BHS football team’s first playoff game against San Jacinto in November. He sat out the following week against Palm Springs but played in the semifinals against Silverado and in the championship game against Citrus Hill.
“I had a brace, and to be honest, I took care of myself so much that week,” Locke said of getting back in time to play Silverado. “All I did was ice. I layed in epsom salt trying to loosen it up. I just took great care of it.”
He’s still not sure how he did it.
“It’s beyond me. I really don’t know,” Locke said. “I had a good game though.”
Although he made it through the two playoff games, he knew he wasn’t going to be ready for the start of wrestling season if at all. Locke only hoped he could get back in time for the Desert Sky League finals on Feb. 7. He practiced with the wrestling team on and off but was still wary of his shoulder.
“There were points when you could tell it was bothering him, but I think he did the right things taking care of his shoulder,” Hopkins said.
“He rehabbed the way he was supposed to. He never asked for an excuse, he just did his work out.”
In the Aztecs final dual meet against Granite Hills, Locke was a scorekeeper at the scorers table rather than a scorer on the mat.
However, he was able to make his return to the mat two days later at DSL Finals. He made it to the the final match at 215 pounds against Silverado’s Michael Joromat. He took a lead against Joromat, but was depleted by the third period. Locke had to settle for second place.
“I felt prepared,” Locke said. “I didn’t do what I wanted to do, but it was my second match back so I thought I did OK. It was medicore to me.”
Locke is one of seven BHS wrestlers, plus one alternate, headed to CIF-SS Individual Northern Division Championships. Wrestlers finishing in the top five wrestlers in each weight class advance to the CIF-SS Masters on Feb. 27 in Temecula Valley.
Silva grabbed a first seed in the 119-pound division. Benavidez (145 pounds) is a No. 5 seed and Bosco (103 pounds) is a No. 6 seed. Christian Salas, Frank Silva, Odei Abdulla and Sam Telles are also headed to Oxnard for the Aztecs.
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mpeters@desertdispatch.com
