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Cerritos College first-year wrestling
head coach
Don Garriott
helped snap a five-year streak by leading the Falcons to
their first outright South Coast Conference
championships since the 2001 season after his team
defeated Santa Ana, 21-19 on Friday in a match that took
place at Cal State Fullerton. With the win, Cerritos,
ranked #5 in the state, finish the regular season with a
5-0 conference mark, while they are 8-2-1 on the year.
Cerritos did share the conference title with the Dons
back in 2004 when the two teams were unbeaten and tied
each other in their match. The team will now compete in
the Southern California Championships, which will be
held at Cerritos College on Saturday, December 2.
It looked as though the Falcons were
not going to be able to wrap up their 21st conference
title in school history when they fell behind 16-3 after
the first five matches. But the team rebounded by
winning four of the final five matches by a majority
decision to record the win. Freshman 165-pound
Jack Porter
(Desert
Vista, AZ HS)
started the comeback with a 17-1 win over Gary Ayan in
his match, before a 12-6 loss by freshman
Gene Choi
(North
Torrance HS)
left the team behind 19-6.
In the final three matches, Cerritos
was virtually unstoppable, with sophomore
Louie Audelo
(California
HS)
recording a 19-7 win at 184 pounds over Patrick Francis.
After a frantic first period that saw Audelo leading
11-3, he continued to methodically break his opponent
down and the only points he allowed were escape points.
At 197 pounds, freshman
Al Kinslow
(Santa
Monica HS)
held a close 4-1 lead over Hugo Guzman at the end of the
first period. But after a takedown and two near-fall
calls, he was in complete control and carried that over
into the third period before settling on a 17-1 win.
That left it all to the heavyweight
match, which featured sophomore
Brandon Doran
(Yucca
Valley HS),
who is ranked fourth in the state, against Tyler Porras,
who is ranked third in the state. With Santa Ana
leading, 19-17 in the match, Doran knew any kind of
victory would give his team the win. With a 6-4 lead
after the second period, Doran was able to make the
first move, and collected two points for a reversal,
followed by a two-point near fall. From that point on,
Doran continued to control his opponent and walked away
with a 13-4 win and a 21-19 team victory and
championship.
One of the biggest upsets of the
night was at 133 pounds, as Falcon sophomore
Carlos
Alaniz
(La
Mirada HS),
who came into the match undefeated at that weight and
ranked #1 in the state, was defeated, 17-1 by #2-ranked
Gabe Aguilar. Sophomore 141-pound
Andrew
Holmes
(San
Jacinto HS)
was the other Falcon to post a win, as he recorded an
8-3 win. |
