Hughson’s Landon Mason pinned four opponents to win his weight class at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 5 Small Schools wrestling meet last weekend at Calaveras High School.

Joining Mason in qualifying for this week’s Masters meet in Stockton were Caden Bowerman and Xavier Hernandez, who both finished second. The top four wrestlers in each weight division moved on.

Mason, a junior competing at 138 pounds, dominated his opponents over the two-day tournament to raise his season record to 26-5 with 18 pins. He pinned Ace Dougherty of Ripon in the finals – the same opponent he defeated the previous week at the Trans-Valley League meet.

“He’s a cradle monster,” said Hughson coach Joey La Rosa, referring to Mason’s preferred pin move. “Landon is super long and lanky and he puts a lot of guys in human pretzels. He’s definitely peaking at the right time.”

The Masters meet brings together the top 32 wrestlers – regardless of school size – in each weight class. The top five move on to the State meet next week in Bakersfield.

Hughson has had at least one State meet qualifier in La Rosa’s three previous seasons as coach and he believes Mason has a chance to continue that streak.

“He’s definitely in a position to win a couple of matches Friday and wake up Saturday with that opportunity,” La Rosa said.

Bowerman (26-13) is just a freshman, but he’s already flashed the promise that he could be another in a long line of impressive Hughson wrestlers. He pinned his first three opponents before falling behind 9-1 in the finals against Manuel Bettencourt of Bret Harte. Bowerman ended up losing 16-7, but not before showing his toughness.

“He came back to make it a three- or four-point match, but kind of ran out time,” La Rosa said. “It was a good learning experience. He’s had a great year. Now he’s qualified for Masters as a freshman. There’s nothing to lose at this point. Just go out and wrestle your best and see what happens.”

Hermandez (24-10), a senior, lost via technical fall (trailing by 15 points) in his finals match after defeating his other four opponents – two of them by pins, one by technical fall and the other by points.

“His matches were a bit dramatic because we were almost pinned and then reversed the guy and pinned him,” La Rosa said.

Two other Hughson wrestlers – senior Daniel Zapien (22-11) at 175 pounds and sophomore Carlos Zapien (22-10) at 190 pounds – just missed qualifying for Masters by finishing fifth. They will be alternates this weekend if anyone in their division doesn’t make weight, gets sick or is injured.

“You don’t want to wish ill on anybody, but that’s the position they’re in,” La Rosa said. “Every year, there are six or seven kids who don’t make weight or get sick. They’ll go Friday and weigh in, and we’ll see what happens.”

Two more Huskies – junior Logan Dekleva (12-12) at 132 pounds and freshman Dominic Lopez (24-16) at 120 pounds – finished sixth at the Sub-Section meet. They earned medals, but their seasons are over.

As a team, Hughson earned 151 points to finish second to TVL rival Escalon’s 177 in the Division 5 standings.

“We just needed a couple more matches to go our way,” La Rosa said. “Overall, for being a young team and not returning a lot of guys, we’re proud of them. We had some injuries and injuries, but they battled. … We’re just super excited for this weekend. All the boys have great opportunities to get to the second day of the tournament and earn a spot to Bakersfield.”