When it comes to Fresno City College wrestling, the postseason is the only thing that matters. The Rams will begin their quest to capture yet another state championship when the postseason begins on Nov. 22 at the State Meet Championships in South Host.

The Rams will head into the playoffs ranked number one in the state and on a roll, winning every meet they have participated in with nearly every match being a blowout, and if they win the next two meets at Simpson College and Chabot College at the Quad Duals and Coast Conference tournament respectively.

FCC as of Nov. 13 are 9-0 overall and 4-0 in the Coast Conference, leaving everyone else in their dust. In fact, the next closest squad in the Coast Conference is Modesto with a total record of 6-8.

Despite the overwhelming success of the season, Keysaw, who is pursuing his eighth state championship title, believes his team has been through the battles and have been challenged.

“We got tested just this past weekend at our tournament here, the Bill Music Memorial, and we’re going to get tested this weekend,” he said. “We’re going to wrestle some national junior colleges and some NAIA schools, so we’re going to get tested.”

“We have dominated some of the duals but it’s not what you do during the season, it’s about what you do at the end of the season. Everything that we do during the season is just trying to prep our guys to wrestle at the end of the season,” he added.

Sophomore Isiah Alva agrees with his coach’s sentiments, citing why his team has the confidence they have. “We’ve gone to a lot of big tournaments with a lot of different competition. Just this past weekend we had redshirts, freshman, sophomores from other universities in higher up divisions in wrestling and we went against them very well.”

The Rams finished second in the last two state championships and Alva feels that his team is even more motivated than normal to right the wrong of last season’s loss in the state championship finals.

“We’re extremely, extremely motivated to be state champs and get our name and picture on the wall. We fell eight points short last year because two, three, four matches could have gone either way.”

One of the key factors to why Fresno has been so great this year is their competitive spirit and their camaraderie. “Whenever I am in a close match with somebody or if it’s someone who I know is going to be tough, I know that I am going to have my brothers behind me, supporting me. The work we put in is able to get us to beat anyone,” said redshirt sophomore Seth Hood.

“With my high school team we had a really close group of people too but it’s nothing like what we have here at City and I feel that regardless of wherever I end up, I’ll never forget the brotherhood that we had here,” he added.

Keysaw reflected on how it would feel to win the state championship with his group of wrestlers, while also deflecting the credit for success to his team.

“I would be honored to be their coach for this group of young men to experience and share that feeling and enjoy the moment and be able to taste that taste with them and share in that delight,” he said. “It’s not about me winning state titles; it’s about these kids and letting them enjoy the experience. I just happen to be driving the car that everyone is in.”