This Week's Sports Schedule

10.31.07 - Jason Carrillo wrestled his way to a 10-8 victory in overtime despite a 6-3 deficit in the third period. Cerritos went on to win, 18-13. Photo Gallery

    Sophomore 125-pound wrestler Jason Carrillo (Torrance HS) is very familiar with pressure situations. As a freshman, he came on strong late in the season and advanced all the way to the finals of the state championship. On Wednesday in a crucial South Coast Conference match against Palomar College, the Cerritos College wrestler pulled off another late surge. Carrillo fought back from a 6-3 deficit heading into the third period and went on to win, 10-8 over fourth-ranked Mark Ibarra to help spark the Falcons to an 18-13 victory.

    With the win, the fourth-ranked Falcons (6-1 overall, 3-0 SCC) handed the top-rated Comets (6-1, 1-1) their first loss of the season and it gave Cerritos an inside track to their second straight conference title and 21^st in school history. The team will now enter the Cuesta Tournament this weekend.

    In addition to the win by Carrillo, the Falcons received a huge victory at 133 pounds by unranked freshman Ernie Garcia (Santa Fe HS), who defeated eighth-ranked Luis Mercado, 8-3 in an exciting match. With Garcia owning riding time, but down, 3-2 and less than a minute remaining, Garcia was able to fight off an offensive move by Mercado and recorded a reversal. He turned that into a three-point near-fall and held on to pick up the win. The victory secured the match for Cerritos. The reason the 125-pound Garcia was dropped to 133 pounds was because freshman Paul Lyon (Shepherd (MI) HS), the state’s top-rated wrestler at 133 pounds, didn’t make weight.

    As for Carrillo, who was unranked coming into the match, he scored an escape point with 1:20 left in the third period to get to within 6-4, and then shocked Ibarra with a takedown with 27 seconds remaining. Knowing he needed to release Mercado and try and take him down again because he was giving up a riding time point, he was successful in that attempt with just nine seconds left. Carrillo then held off Mercado the rest of the way and finished him off with a takedown just seven seconds into overtime.

    The Falcons opened the match with a couple of big wins, as sophomores Tony Ruiz (Loara HS) and David Razo (La Quinta HS) beat opponents who were ranked higher than them. At 149 pounds, Ruiz jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first period, but saw fourth-ranked Jose Barajas get to within 7-5 by the end of the second period. Ruiz picked up a quick escape point and fought off all advances the rest of the way to pick up the win. It was another quick start at 157 pounds for Razo, who took a 4-0 first period lead over top-rated Louie Desantis. An escape and takedown by Desantis made it a 4-4 tie until an escape by Razo gave him a 5-4 lead by the end of the period. After getting out quickly from underneath to start the third period, Razo saw Desantis tie the match with 1:03 left. But, the tie didn’t last very long because Razo got out right away and held off a takedown attempt as time expired.

    In a strange twist, Palomar decided to go with 197-pound Greg Villalobos at heavyweight against Falcon freshman Juan Enriquez (John Glenn HS). The gamble didn’t work, as Enriquez posted a 3-1 win, while sophomore 197-pound Al Kinslow (Santa Monica HS) recorded a 5-1 win over unranked Derek Flesher.

 Weight-by-Weight Results (Match started at 149 Pounds)

 149 Pounds – Tony Ruiz (Cerritos) def. Jose Barajas (Palomar) – 9-5

157 Pounds – David Razo (Cerritos) def. Louie Desantis (Palomar) – 7-6

165 Pounds – Lewis Gonzales (Palomar) def. Gene Choi (Cerritos) – 13-2

174 Pounds – Caleb Smith (Palomar) def. Adam Hase (Cerritos) – 8-5

184 Pounds – Kellen Desmond (Palomar) def. Mike Mehegan (Cerritos) – 10-7

197 Pounds – Al Kinslow (Cerritos) def. Derek Flesher (Palomar) – 5-1

285 Pounds – Juan Enriquez (Cerritos) def. Greg Villalobos (Palomar) – 3-1

125 Pounds – Jason Carrillo (Cerritos) def. Mark Ibarra (Palomar) – 10-8 (ot)

133 Pounds – Ernie Garcia (Cerritos) def. Luis Mercado (Palomar) – 8-3

141 Pounds – Ethan Hall (Palomar) def. Mike Koehnlein (Cerritos) – 7-5

03.03.08 - Jeff Smith inducted into Wrestling Hall of Fame
12.08.07 - Freshman comes up short in championship
12.08.07 - Cerritos looks to hold onto second place
12.07.07 - Falcons in second place after first day
12.01.07 - Four winners earns team SoCal Championship
11.14.07 - Falcons finish off Victor Valley, 43-9
11.11.07 - Cerritos comes in fourth at SF State Tournament
11.07.07 - Fourth-rated Falcons post conference win
11.03.07 - Falcons take third place at Cuesta Tournament
11.02.07 - Cerritos wrestling gives back to fire victim
10.31.07 - Comeback by Falcons highlights win over Palomar
10.24.07 - Cerritos comes back to beat East Los Angeles
10.22.07 - Falcons defeated in finals of team duals
10.17.07 - Cerritos uses three pins to beat Santa Ana, 26-16
10.13.07 - Paul Lyon wins championship at 133 pounds
10.06.07 - Falcons reach finals of Santa Ana Tournament
09.29.07 - Falcons place second in own tournament
09.24.07 - Wrestling team finishes second in tournament

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Email: John Van Gaston, Ext. 2896
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