March 10, 2010 > State wrestling finals State wrestling finals First Loss for Newark's Pereira By Gary van den Heuvel Newark Memorial High School's super-sophomore Victor Pereira suffered his first defeat of the season in the semifinals of the California Interscholastic Federal (CIF) State High School Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield, ending a 46-0 run which was the only undefeated season by any wrestler from the North Coast Section. Pereira's loss wasn't considered an upset, though. It took the number-one-ranked wrestler in the state, Tyler Johnson from Vacaville, to put the first blemish on Pereira's season in the 145-pound semifinal match. Perhaps jarred by his loss, Pereira lost his consolation round match, 11-1, but recovered to win his fifth place match over Matt Hickman from Camarillo, 2-0. Other local representatives at the state championships were Mission San Jose's Corbin Lee (103-pound division), and three grapplers from Mission Valley Athletic League champion James Logan: Artemio Flores (103 pounds), Danny Mai (an NCS champion at 130 pounds), Allen Chan (152 pounds) and Toni Pole (an NCS runner-up in the 285-pound division). The overall team champion was Bakersfield High School with 126 points; Selma finished second; and Clovis High School finished third.