The Eastlake High School wrestling team found itself in what head coach Troy Vierra termed the proverbial driver’s seat following the Titans’ 48-17 dual meet victory against the Hilltop Lancers in a match-up of Mesa League unbeatens on Jan. 21.
“We haven’t clinched it yet; we still have dual meets against Bonita Vista and Mater Dei Catholic left,” Vierra explained.
But it appears Eastlake is about to drop the hammer on its opponents. If so, the Titans will reign as Mesa League dual meet champions for 2015-16.
It could be just the beginning of something even bigger as the season heads to a close.
Eastlake will compete in this weekend’s annual Holtville Invitational, then shoot for a top team finish at the Metro Conference championship tournament slated Feb. 6 at Mater Dei Catholic High School.
After that, the stakes get higher. The San Diego Section’s Division I Dual Meet championship tournament is scheduled Feb. 13 at Mira Mesa High School. The top eight ranked teams in the division will compete. Teams will wrestle three rounds – quarterfinals, semifinals and championship finals.
A third-place match will be held this year for the semifinal losers.
Vierra feels his team will fit in somewhere among the top five teams. Other top challengers include Helix, Rancho Buena Vista, San Marcos and Mira Mesa.
San Marcos is the defending Division I champion after defeating Rancho Buena Vista, 58-25, last year. Helix rates as the top team this season in the Grossmont Conference. Mira Mesa won the tournament title at the recent Monte Vista Invitational, out-dueling runner-up Helix by 27 points.
The Titans advanced to last year’s semifinals, bowing 60-12 to top-seeded RBV.
“We have a more solid team this year than last year,” Vierra said. “We had standout wrestlers last year, and we also have standout wrestlers this year.”
Heavyweight Jake Suggett entered this week sporting an impressive 12-1 record while lightweight Benny Martinez (120 pounds) was 19-4 and 220-pounder Ricky Renteria was 13-3.
Suggett and Martinez both recorded prestigious runner-up finishes in December’s El Cajon Invitational while Renteria, a fourth-place medalist at the ECI, captured his weight class title and was named outstanding wrestler at the preceding Mira Mesa tournament.
Most recently, Paul Crampton (113 pounds) finished third at the Jim Londos Memorial tournament while Jesus Gavaldon (120 pounds) placed third at the San Ysidro tournament, both in early January.
Following the CIF divisional dual championships, the section’s divisional individual championships are slated Feb. 20. Otay Ranch High School will host the Division I tournament.
The San Diego Section Masters state qualifying tournament is scheduled Feb. 27-28 at Christian High School in El Cajon.
The top three wrestlers in each weight class at the Masters tournament qualify to compete in the state championship meet March 4-5 in Bakersfield.
Mat attack
Eastlake recorded six pins in its dual meet win over Hilltop. Renteria and Suggett gave the Titans a quick 12-0 lead with back-to-back pins at 220 and 285 pounds. Hilltop won the next match by a major decision to trim the score to 12-4, but Eastlake followed with wins by Gavaldon (decision at 113 pounds) and Crampton (pin at 120 pounds) to lead 21-4.
Martinez lost by decision while wrestling up a weight class as the Lancers pulled to within 21-8 on the scoreboard. But the Titans won the next five matches to zip ahead 42-8.
Mike Moyna won by decision in the final seconds at 132 pounds while Ethan Hill won by a pin at 138 pounds, Mike Johnson captured an exciting overtime decision at 145 pounds, Armando Castro won by decision at 152 pounds and Carlos Vazquez won by a pin at 160 pounds.
Hilltop captured back-to-back wins at 170 and 180 pounds but Josh Pultorak closed out the dual meet for the visiting Titans with a pin at 195 pounds.
Montgomery defeated visiting San Ysidro, 37-33, on Jan. 21 to improve to 4-0 in South Bay League dual competition.
Next up
The South Bay Invitational is scheduled this Saturday at Otay Ranch High School.
Other Metro teams joining Eastlake at the Holtville Invitational include Castle Park, Mar Vista, Mater Dei Catholic, Montgomery, Olympian, San Ysidro and Southwest.
Other sites for the section’s individual division championship tournaments are Westview (Division II), Del Norte (Division III) and Madison (Division IV).
Metro Conference Dual Meet Scoreboard
Thursday, Jan. 28
Mesa League
Eastlake 68, Bonita Vista 6
Olympian 34, Hilltop 31
JIM LONDOS MEMORIAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT
Jan. 9 at Orange Glen High School
Top Individuals
106: 1. Joseph Meier (Brawley),?2. Marcus Tucker (Helix), 3. Raymond Felix (Escondido),?4. Tai Tran-Howe (Westview),?5. Joseph Cabanilla (Mt. Carmel),?6. Ruben Ramos (Mission Hills)
113: 1. Ryan Ritchey (Westview),?2. Charles Hanson (Rancho Bernardo),?3. Paul Crampton (Eastlake),?4. Bren Pinedo (Brawley), 5. Jared Stoneking (Orange Glen), 6. Ethan Hernandez (Holtville)
120: 1. Jordan Massie (Poway),?2. Benjamin Martinez (Eastlake),?4. Jonathan Honda (Helix),?4. Spencer Pham (Helix),?5, Noah Martinez (Del Norte), 6. Luis Bravo (Brawley)
126: 1. Jonathan Dain (Poway),?2. Alexander Sanchez (Carlsbad),?3. Michael Garcia (Valley Center),?4. Sergio Juarez (Orange Glen),?5. James Kegler (University City), 6. Brennan Cloes (Mt. Carmel)
132: 1. Adrian Charbono (Rancho Bernardo),?2. Calvin Naraghi (Poway),?3. Robert Guevara (Del Norte), 4. Shehadeh Mitwalli (Carlsbad),?6. Climaco Morales (Valley Center), 6. Oscar Sanchez (Helix)
138: 1. Victor Gonzalez (Brawley), 2. Owen Weisel (Carlsbad), 3. Leon Liu (Rancho Bernardo), 4. Justin Massie (Poway), 6. Guillermo Juarez (Fallbrook), 6. Manuel Maturino (Helix)
145: 1. Charles Franchina of (Rancho Bernardo), 2. Brenden Shaffer (Poway), 3. Doug Watkins (Escondido), 4. Salvador Carrillo (Helix), 5. Dakota Freaner (Guajome Park), 6. Charlie Valdivia (Brawley)
152: 1. Gilbert Carrillo (Brawley), 2. Anthony Leonard (Westview), 3. Cameron Gritz (El Capitan), 4. Robert Boyer (Poway), 6. Austin Abad (Escondido), 6. Michael Johnson (Eastlake)
160: 1. Brock Moffit (Valley Center), 2. Benjamin Gonzalez (Helix), 4. David Scrivnor (Poway), 4. John Sanchez (Carlsbad), 6. Seth Mona (West Hills), 6. Carlos Vazquez (Eastlake)
170: 1. Alejandro Rizo (Mission Hills), 2. Hampton Boyd (Poway), 3. Sebastian Smith (Westview), 4. Godfrey Lozada (Rancho Bernardo), 5. Luis Chavez (Brawley), 6. Will Marino (Poway)
182: 1. Tanner Murphy (Madison), 2. Omar Fox (Mt. Carmel), 3. Nathan Tausch (Poway), 4. Quentin Graciano (Orange Glen), 5. Cole Striler (Valley Center), 6. Max Win (University City)
195: 1. Daniel Jauregui (Brawley), 2. Blake Yates (Rancho Bernardo), 3. Justin Pursley (Poway), 4. Nicholas Stuckey (Westview), 5. Marcus Jeffery (Madison), 6. True Stewart (Rancho Bernardo)
220: 1. Hamed Samee (Rancho Bernardo), 2. Nicholas Klekas (Poway), 3. Dane Martinez (Brawley), 4. Kevin Ah Key (West Hills), 5. Joshua Jezycki (Madison), 6. Oscar Ramirez (Guajome Park)
285: 1. Jake Suggett (Eastlake), 2. Jimmy Zarate (Holtville), 4. Luis Mendoza (Orange Glen), 4. Zachary Weaver (West Hills), 5. Luis Torres (Carlsbad), 6. Andrew Poumele (Helix)
Team Points
1. Poway 239
2. Brawley 202
3. Rancho Bernardo 195.5
4. Westview 121.5
5. Eastlake 119
6. Helix 111
7. Valley Center 102
8. (tie) Carlsbad 98
8. (tie) Orange Glen 98
10. Escondido 77
11. West Hills 74
12. Mt. Carmel 61.5
13. Madison 59
14. Mission Hills 50
15. Holtville 42
16. Del Norte 40.5
17. Guajome Park 40
18. El Capitan 28
19. University City 26
20. Christian 22
21. Fallbrook 21
22. Mountain Empire 18
23. San Pasqual 16
24. Castle Park 1
25. Kearny 0
