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When scoring a
state championship tournament, it's always
considered icing on the cake when you win an
individual championship. But every coach knows that
it's volume of wrestlers that's more important when
it comes to compiling a team score. A perfect
example is in the semi-final rounds, where a win not
only gets you into the championships, it's also
worth from seven to nine points. By contrast,
winning the championship match earns a team four to
six points. The Cerritos College wrestling team is
fining out first-hand how important it is to win
their semi-final match, as they compete on the
second day of the California Community College
Athletic Association (CCCAA) Wrestling State
Championships at Victor Valley College. The
championship matches will start at 6:30 p.m. on
Saturday.
With six Cerritos
wrestlers in the semi-finals, the Falcons had a
legitimate chance of contending for the state title.
However, after three close losses out of the six in
the semi-finals, the team is mired in fourth place
with a gap too wide to make up for a better finish.
Cerritos did get three into the championships, while
the other three came back after their losses with
two finishing in third place and one coming in
fourth.
"We have a chance
to win three state titles and still come in fourth
place as a team," said head coach
Donny
Garriott, who led his team to a second
place finish last year. "It's a little frustrating,
but I'm really proud of the efforts they have given
us."
Advancing to the
championship matches are sophomores
Mike
Koehnlein (Marina HS) at 141
pounds and 285-pound
Juan
Enriquez (John Glenn HS).
Joining them will be freshman 184-pound freshman
Caleb Gerl (Calvary Chapel
HS).
Koehnlein, the
#2-seed from the South, went up against the #1-seed
from the North, Mike Vassar of Sierra College in his
semi-final match. Trailing 4-2 after the first
period. Koehnlein recorded a reversal early in the
second period and gained riding time heading into
the third. Taking the down position, Koehnlein took
a 5-4 lead with an escape point and held off all
advances from Vassar and posted a 6-4 win after
collecting another riding time point. Koehnlein will
now square off against Bobby Scofield of Santa Ana,
who defeated him in the Southern California Regional
Championships the week before.
The top-seed from
the South, Gerl found himself down 7-2 in the first
period against Edward Melitosya of West Valley
College. Close to getting pinned in the first
period, Gerl found new life after getting out of the
situation and turned up the heat and got to within
7-5 after two periods. By the third, Melitosya was
struggling to keep up with the aggressive Gerl, and
he was penalized for stalling in the third. Gerl
followed that with a two-point reversal and
eventually pinned Melitosya with 23 seconds left in
the third period. He will now square off against
top-seeded Steven Urquizo of Fresno City for the
title.
Facing Fresno
City's Austin Garza, Enriquez knew he would have to
get through a pair of North wrestlers in order to
win the state title. He was able to get position on
Garza and recorded a second period takedown, which
led him to a 7-3 win. Enriquez, who's 32-4 on the
year, now faces top-seeded Matt Gibson of Sierra
College, who has handed Enriquez three of his
losses.
Coming up short in
the semi-finals were freshman 25-pound
Joe
Cabanas (Canyon Springs HS),
who lost a close 3-2 decision to defending state
champion Angel Olea. Trailing 2-0 in the first
period, Cabanas tied the score at 2 with 1:42
remaining in the second period. However, Olea
recorded an escape point with 1:10 remaining in the
third and Cabanas just missed out on scoring a
reversal as time expired. Cabanas didn't let the
loss stay with him for very long, as he held on for
an 11-8 win over Charles Chatman of Santa Rosa and
then defeated Brandon Benvenu of Sierra, 8-2 for
third place.
Freshman
Ryan
Giovenco (North Torrance HS)
went up 5-2 on top-seeded Todd Wilcox of Sierra
College and seemed to have the match under control.
But in the third period, Wilcox recorded a reversal
and turned it into a three-point near-fall with 34
seconds left and finished with an 8-6 win. Just like
Cabanas, Giovenco continued to wrestle well and
posted a convincing 12-2 win over Marty Rubalcava of
Fresno City to advance to the third place match.
Giovenco concluded an impressive weekend by
defeating Derek Ellis of Shasta, 11-8. Down early in
the match, Giovenco fought back with a reversal and
three-point near fall to come away with the victory
late in the third period.
Freshman
Eric Sauvageau (Loara HS) was
faced with another upset-minded wrestler at 157
pounds, Sacramento City College's Robert Carother.
Sauvageau saw a 2-2 match turn into a 5-2 loss
against the much taller opponent. Sauvageau advanced
to the third place match with an impressive fall
against Rafael Munoz of Lassen in 1:53. In the third
place match, Sauvageau was faced with Matt Thomas of
Shasta, who he beat 5-4 in the second round to
advance to the semi-finals. But it wasn't a repeat
of their first meeting, as Thomas registered a 15-5
win over Sauvageau, who finished in fourth place.
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