Del Oro has not dropped a single Sierra Foothill League wrestling meet in the past three years. As the No. 2-ranked team in the Sac-Joaquin Section, the program boasts five wrestlers in its lineup who are ranked among the top 10 in their respective weight classes.

And on Tuesday night the Golden Eagle grapplers flexed some serious muscle in downing host Nevada Union by a 54-16 score.

But ask Dave Sanchez what has set his squad above the rest and the Del Oro coach makes it crystal clear that there’s no magic formula.

“It’s everything,” Sanchez said. “I can’t tell you where to begin. It can’t be just one thing. It’s everything, from the kids wrestling to the intermediate wrestling to the offseason wrestling, lifting weights, doing the right things in season ... you’ve just got to look at everything.

“But it’s taken years and years of working at it.”

The Golden Eagles opened Tuesday’s match with five straight wins, including six points from an NU forfeit at 189 pounds, to take a 29-0 lead on the scoreboard. The Miners bounced back with three straight wins in the lower weight classes, bringing the team scoring to 29-16.

Tyler Szura posted the first points for NU at 103 pounds, scoring a pin in 1 minute, 11 seconds. Jake Purdy followed with a pin in 50 seconds at 112 pounds, while his younger brother Julian scored a 13-2 major decision at 119.

But those were the final points of the night for Nevada Union, as Del Oro followed with six straight wins to close out the match.

As Sanchez said, Del Oro’s program didn’t become a powerhouse overnight, something that first-year Nevada Union coach Nick Saldivar said he knows fully well. But that fact still didn’t go a long way in taking the sting out of such a lopsided score.

“I thought there were some matches that could have gone either way, but (the Golden Eagles) did what they needed to do,” Saldivar said. “We have a relatively young team, but there’s no excuses. We’ve got to make the corrections to those errors to close the gap.

“You know, you take it on the chin, but you’ve got to learn from it. It’s good fuel for the fire. So you got beat. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

With just two seniors on the squad, and some strong up-and-coming talent, the Miners might be able to contend for a league crown in the near future. At least, one of the team’s members shared such a thought following the disappointing defeat.

Jake Purdy, a junior who is ranked fourth in the section at 112 pounds, believes his own program isn’t that far off the mark.

“Del Oro is very good,” said Purdy, fresh off a second-place finish at the Tim Brown Memorial Tournament last weekend. “They’re the top team right now, but next year I think we can get them. And we’ve got a lot of new guys coming up, so I’m pretty excited about that.”

To contact Sports Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail bhamilton@theunion.com or call 477-4240.