2006-07 San Diego Section
Dual of the Week


Grossmont South League

Grossmont South League thriller goes to Norsemen

EL CAJON, Feb. 8, 2007 -- Whether you were a member of the Norsemen Nation or Monarch Nation, you had to appreciate the long-standing wrestling rivalry between the two schools as personified in Thursday's Grossmont South League championship dual meet. Host Valhalla prevailed, 38-25, in front of a screaming-room only crowd after Monte Vista had racked up an early 12-3 advantage and had led 16-11 midway through the 14 bouts.

Photo: Landon Holmes recorded a 15-0 technical fall at 119 pounds for the host Norsemen.

Chris Wright gave the Norsemen a 3-0 with a 7-3 victory against Norberto Cardenas at 215 pounds and Chris Thomas closed out what proveed to be Valhalla's championship season with a 1:39 pin against Craig Davis at 189 pounds. In between, the teams each won six matches. The difference, as Norsemen head coach Mark Gerardi assessed, came in the number of pins recorded by each team. Valhalla finished with four falls; Monte Vista had just two.

"Before I got here, it was an amazing rivalry. While I was here, it was a huge rivalry," said Gerardi, a former three-time state champion in the 1980s for the Norsemen."It's a tremendous rivalry. It hasn't lost anything yet."

Nor has the annual matchup of traditional section powers lost anything in the strategy department. The visiting Monarchs wrestled three of their star grapplers up a weight class, with two winning but only one by pin. Meanwhile, Valhalla had to adjust its lineup around a knee injury suffered by Wade Templeton, who surprised everyone by competing -- and scoring a win by fall.

"For us, we had to go with our strength and be strong there," Gerardi said. "We lost a couple places and had to fill them. Wade won by pin and sophomore Renzo Salazar beat Hunter Beamon, who is one of the better wrestlers in the section (a returning state qualifier). He (Renzo) dropped down to 130 to take on Hunter. There were a couple of toss-up matches in there as well. Franco Salazar versus Lonnie Alexander was a big match for us even though we didn't win it. Franco dug himself a big hole and almost dug himself out of it. We talked about wrestling for six minutes. He did that and almost got a pin twice."

Alexander prevailed in that matchup of 152 pounders by a 13-10 score, pulling the Monarchs to within seven points on the scoreboard at 26-19 with three bouts left. A pin or tech by Alexander could have narrowed the score further, postponing the outcome.

Instead, Valhalla mathematcially wrapped up this year's Grossmont South League title with two matches remaining after Shane Mallory pinned freshman Kenneth Tribble with 11 seconds left in their 160-pound match. The 12 points in the Norsemen's two extra pins greatly contributed to their victory.

Waseem Sako also scored a late pin for Valhalla, putting Anthony Martinez on his back for a fall at 5:32 after the two 145-pounders had battled to a 6-6 standoff through the opening two periods.

"We had to win the matches between 130 and 145 pounds," Gerardi said. "We had to get pins as well. It came down to us pinning and trying to stay off our backs in a couple matches. It was a great team effort."

After Wright's opening win, Monte Vista piled up 12 unanswered points on consecutive victories by Tim Puglsey (285), Levi Annon (103) and Masud Hassan (112). Pugsley, normally a 215-pounder (and one of the section's best), moved up 70 pounds in weight to take on incumbent Norsemen heavyweight Jose Cortes. Pugsley led 3-2 after the opening period but seemed to be looking for leverage while being cautious at the same time before making his move and pinning his opponent in 2:53. Annon used two comebacks to rack up a sizable 9-2 lead on Charles Strampfer as the weights rolled over to the little guys and looked ready to expand on that lead before being caught by his Valhalla foe and nearly pinned. Annon held on for a 9-7 win and the Monarchs had a 9-3 lead. Hassan did a great job of denying any space to move around for Tony Espinoza, literally holding him in check for a 7-2 decision.

Photo: Monte Vista's Hunter Beamon attempts a switch against Valhalla's Renzo Salazar.

The next three bouts boast the teams' respective superstar grapplers. Valhalla's Landon Holmes, who entered the 2007 calendar year ranked fifth in the state, recorded a 15-0 technical fall at 119 pounds against Persio Morel to trim the hosts' deficit on the scoreboard to 12-8.

Many had anticipated a Holmes-Robert Grey matchup but while Grey was announced at 112 pounds, he actually took the mat in the next match at 125 pounds, working hard to get an escape at the buzzer to complete a 13-5 major decision against Zack Maguire to add four more team points to the visitors' score: 16-8. Grey improved to 27-8 with the win.

A pivotal turning point occurred at 130 pounds when Renzo Salazar recorded a dominating 9-2 win against Beamon, who had qualified for last year's state finals at 103 pounds but had bumped up to 125 pounds this season after a growth spurt. Salazar, meanwhile, had generally competed in the lineup at 135 pounds this season.

A victory by Hunter could have added momentum to the Monarchs' cause -- as well as creating a sizable lead. Instead, Monte Vista's advantage shrank three points further to 16-11.

The Monarch lead disappeared entirely in the next match (135 pounds) as Templeton pinned Heresh Hassan in 1:40.

The Norsemen added to that lead with two more wins, including a minor decision by Max Verduzco (over Tiko Martinez) at 140 pounds and Sako's third-period fall at 145.

Of the four matches between 130 and 145, the hosts won all four, including two by pin.

26-16 Valhalla.

When Alexander didn't get a pin at 152, the scenario didn't favor a Monte Vista victory.

Chris Eade (27-7) did score some pride points for the Monarchs, however, with a 1:24 fall at 171 pounds with the outcome already decided at 32-25.

Of course, there's always next year.

For the record books, Valhalla finishes Grossmont South League dual competition 5-0 while Monte Vista finishes 4-1.

The teams will compete at Saturday's Grossmont Conference finals, starting at 10 a.m. at West Hills High School.

Sultans rock West Hills
In the final Grossmont North League dual meet of the season for both teams, the Santana Sultans defeated crosstown rival West Hills, 48-33. Freshman Brent Wilson started the evening by scoring a pin in 1:37 against Nick Koon in a matchup of 103 pounders, followed by Alex Augustine's 4:38 pin against Matt Bibbey at 119 pounds. Also for Santana, Tim Sherlock (130) scored a 30-second pin against Brandon Baker while Codi Leslie (140) recorded a 5:00 fall against Keith Schuh and Clinton Harris won by a pin in 3:04 against Luke Goffeney at 171 pounds. Cody Cook scored a 6-2 decision against Endhyr Meza to hand the Sultans another victory, and to top off the evening, Mike Jenkins won by a pin in 1:35 against Brandon Goldberg. The JV dual started the evening off with a bang for Santana, as the Sultans defeated West Hills 30-29.

Smith, Osuna make season debuts as Brawley claims IVL title
Brawley cemented its 13th consecutive league wrestling title by defeating host Palo Verde, 64-9, on Feb. 7. The eventful match also marked the season debuts of James Smith and Alonso Osuna, both of whom were declared eligible to compete. Smith, a high profile transfer from Central Union, recorded a 2:22 pin at 152 pounds while Osuna won by a 24-7 technical fall at 112 pounds. Other Wildcats to score against the Yellow Jackets were Robert Castaneda (130, 2:27 pin), Joseph Muller (189, 0:31 pin), Marco Noriega (125, technical fall), Carlos Tanori (162, 7-2 minor decision) and John Maya (119, 15-5 major decision). The following Brawley wrestlers received forfeit victories: Anthony Marez (135), Jorge Martinez (140), Alex Trinidad (145), Stephen Dominguez (215) and Josh Wise (heavyweight). The Wildcats, who will next compete at the San Diego Section Division III finals Feb. 17 at Ramona High School, concluded IVL competition with a 6-0 league record. It still remains unclear if both Smith and Osuna will be allowed to compete by the section in post-season competition and, if so, to score team points.