Turlock High wrestler Garrett Fortado doesn’t have to do anything extraordinary to pull out a win.
“I just wanted to go after him,” the 105-pounder said.
It was a mentality that many local wrestlers carried at Saturday’s sixth annual Rumble in the Jungle at Pitman High, the last big tournament before the postseason. And it was the Bulldogs who racked up the most points out of all the local teams — the others being Pitman, Hilmar High and Denair High — with 129.5 to finish third overall out of more than two dozen squads from California.
Pitman took fifth with 117.5 points, well behind tournament winner Granite Bay High (200.5) and runner-up Golden Valley High (176.5).
The Bulldogs made a statement by having seven of their 12 wrestlers finish with medals: Fortado (first, 105 pounds), Jose Zuniga (second, 114), Fabian Garcia (first, 127), Julian Talamante (eighth, 132), Gerardo Garza (fifth, 137), Omar Montes (first, 142) and Erick Parson (fourth, 147).
Having three champions made quite an impression on Turlock coach Mike Contreras.
“I can’t complain about that,” he said. “I wish our upper-weights could have done a little bit better. Our lower-weights did pretty well.”
The Bulldogs were also missing a couple of wrestlers. Brandon Egleston had a sore shoulder and couldn’t compete, while Dustin Volz failed to make weight. But Contreras was still happy about his team’s performance. Especially with Garcia, who finished fourth at the CIF State Championships last season.
The junior’s gearing up for another run. He’s had a dominating season so far except for his time at Five Counties, where he came home empty-handed — something that has happened only twice in his stellar high school career. He redeemed himself at the Mid Cals Tournament in Gilroy, finishing first.
“He was a little bit down after the Five Counties thing,” Contreras said. “I think he bounced back well at Mid Cals. What did he have? Three, four pins and a major decision in the finals. Today, he had three (technical falls).
“So I think he’s feeling pretty good about himself.”

Verver’s win highlights Pitman’s run
It almost seemed like the Rumble stopped when Pitman senior Gustavo Verver was overwhelming Sierra High’s Alex Nuanez in the 191-pound championship match. Other wrestlers and coaches surrounded the circle and watched in awe.
Verver convinced everyone he’s a state-caliber wrestler by winning 7-0.
It highlighted his team’s fifth-place showing, one in which the Pride saw a half-dozen medalists.
After coming close a number of times this season, Tyler Klinkhammer (121) captured a tournament title. Other top finishers were Derrick Avila (second, 132 pounds), Felipe Solorrio (fourth, 132), John England (fifth, 147) and Pablo Guerrero (third, heavyweight).
But it was Verver who attracted the most attention during a one-day tournament that lasted about 12 hours. He topped Nuanez for the second time this season.

Denair, Hilmar notch top finishes
Even the small schools made an impact at the Rumble. A number of Denair and Hilmar wrestlers garnered top eight finishes, which were enough to go home with a medal around their necks.
Hilmar took home eight medals, though the Yellowjackets’ run was tainted after one of their wrestlers — whose name coach Dave Exline asked not to be printed — was disqualified for committing an illegal move. Still, Antonio Aguilar (sixth, 114), Carlos Diaz (fourth, 121), Joshua Moon (eighth, 121), Dominic Rios (fifth, 132), Paul Tavares (fourth, 137), Nick Casey (eighth, 142), Arthur Delgadillo (eighth, 191) and Darren Egli (fourth, heavyweight) finished in the top eight.
Nick LaFrancis (sixth, 127) and Craig Miller (seventh, 217) had Denair’s best showings.
Hilmar could have finished higher than seventh in the team standings with 82.5 points, but the Yellowjackets had to forfeit all of the disqualified wrestler’s points.
To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.