WESTON RANCH – The Weston Ranch Cougars caught little resistance on their way to the Cougar Duals team dual tournament championship against Golden Valley, but Golden Valley would not follow suit, handling Weston Ranch in the title match Saturday.

The Cougars dismantled Tracy (71-9), Johansen (66-18), Franklin (51-19) and Vacaville “B” (64-12) before succumbing to a talented Golden Valley club 42-19.

“We wrestled well last week and went 5-0, I think that we wrestled well up to Golden Valley,” Weston Ranch head coach Pat King said. “I think Golden Valley was just better than us, I think they were tougher than us and they pushed us around at our place.”

Lathrop put together a solid showing in the 10-team tournament, landing the fifth place spot with a one-sided 40-10 victory over Johansen. The Spartans fifth place finish left them behind only Golden Valley, Weston Ranch, Franklin of Elk Grove and Modesto High.

“I thought the guys wrestled really well,” Lathrop head coach Dimos Birakos said. “We started off with Golden Valley and they are always a tough squad, but before forfeits it was 42-18 after they beat us 72-0 last year.

“We were in a lot of close matches today and we were able to pull them off.”

Lathrop got a perfect 5-0 afternoon from Christian Pena, while Andrew Aquino and Oscar Munoz both were 4-1 on the day. Freshman Alex Garcia was also 4-1 for Lathrop’s lightest weight class.

Both teams will have a short period to fine tune things before the Valley Oak League season opens. Both will compete in tournaments throughout the next four weeks, taking advantage of each opportunity to get quality mat-time.

“I think next weekend up in Healdsburg, wrestling, Healdsburg, Red Bluff and Mission San Jose, that’s going to be a tough test,” King said. “Next week after another five duals, we will really get to see where we’re at.”