Increase in athletes has the Sabercats hopeful for a better future

When Larry Willingham took over the Sabino High School wrestling program, he had 23 wrestlers as the Sabercats struggled to fill the weight classes.

A year later, Willingham has 23 freshmen alone.

“We were forfeiting weight classes (last year),” Willingham said. “If you’re missing a guy, that’s six points against you before you start, and last year we were missing four spots.

“We were down 24 points before we even hit the mat.”

Part of the problem stemmed from Willingham not being hired until a week before the season started.

After Willingham got settled, intense practices started. The Sabercats improved quickly, going from finishing in the bottom third of tournaments to the top third.

“We have a very intense workout schedule,” Willingham said. “A lot of these kids had never been in athletics before so they don’t understand that you have to put in the time to be successful.

“We had to get them through that and we were getting beat so badly at the beginning of the season that they didn’t see the point. But when we came out of the Christmas break, we started winning.”

Sabino has 47 wrestlers this year and is becoming a power in the Class 4A Kino Region, although it lost to Rio Rico 46-27 on Wednesday night.

The Sabercats are next in action Friday and Saturday, when they host the 37th annual William Bell Wrestling Tournament.

The event starts at 11 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday at Sabino. Admission is $4 per person per day.

It will be a good test for Sabino, as it will wrestle against Catalina, Cholla, Palo Verde, Pueblo, Rincon/University, Santa Rita and Tucson High.

“We are building and there is no question we are building,” Willingham said. “We are going to win matches because we have a full lineup and we have some good solid wrestlers.”

One big disadvantage Sabino has compared to other area schools such as Amphi, Cienega and Sunnyside is that Sabino has no middle school program from which to draw.

“Schools like Cienega and Amphi, they have middle school programs where they have three years to teach them the basics,” said Sabino 125-pound wrestler Matt Bonilla.

“At Sabino, we have two weeks to (learn) the basics.”

Sabino may still struggle at times, but it is changing the reputation of the wrestling program on campus.

“I have wrestlers that are seniors this year and they said for the first three years, everyone would tease them about being in wrestling and that wrestling wasn’t a real sport,” Willingham said. “They are now jealous of the juniors because the juniors are going to have such prestige on campus next year.”

Sabino senior Cody David, who finished fourth at state last year with a 27-10 record and is wrestling this year as a heavyweight, said: “It is kind of just unfortunate that we are just starting to get it together, with this being my last year.”

For more on high school sports, check out the Grammer School sports blog.

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37th William Bell Wrestling Tournament

When: Friday, 11 a.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. Where: Sabino High School Who: Catalina, Cholla, Palo Verde, Pueblo, Rincon/University, Sabino, Sahuaro, Santa Rita and Tucson High Cost: $4 per person, per day Other: One varsity dual competition in the tournament will take place between Cholla and Pueblo at 5 p.m. Thursday at Pueblo. The junior varsity William Bell tournament starts at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Pueblo.

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