Turning on the AC: La Cañada wrestling sets its own path
Ever since my youth, I’ve been fascinated with people and characters that have gone against the grain.
Whether it’s Gary Cooper in “High Noon” or Tom Cruise in “The Firm” or “Jerry Maguire,” the stories of regular folks going above and beyond what’s normal has caught my eye.
Sometimes those situations take place in high school sports.
I was pleased Tuesday afternoon checking out the Rio Hondo League regular season wrestling finale between Hoover High and host La Cañada as Spartans head coach Justin Luthey put together a great product.
La Cañada defeated Hoover, 66-12, to capture a second straight Rio Hondo League title.
While that’s impressive, what was most inspirational was everything else surrounding the match.
La Cañada does not compete in the school’s north gym, where varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball and volleyball compete, but rather in the south gym where those sports’ junior varsity and frosh squads play.
While such a placement can be seen as a slight, Luthey has turned the Spartans’ home into a cozy locale.
On Tuesday, the south gym was packed with fans, while the cheer squad was present and the band played in between bouts. There was even a snack bar.
I’ve been covering wrestling for over a decade and some places have better snack bars, sure. A few boasted better introductions of wrestlers, too. However, none had the whole package like La Cañada.
“I want to make this a special experience for the guys,” Luthey said on Tuesday. “Wrestling is difficult and if they’re going to go all out for me, why wouldn’t I do the same for them?”
Before the varsity match commenced, Hoover and La Cañada’s junior varsity teams were set to compete.
There’s one problem, however: Hoover’s junior varsity squad consisted of one wrestler.
So, the junior varsity “match” last all of four minutes.
To be fair to the Tornadoes, their numbers aren’t far off others in league. League stalwart San Marino only had three junior varsity wrestlers present when it took on La Cañada on Jan. 4.
Covering wrestling locally means, at times, having to deal with different and sometimes disappointing realities.
Hoover’s “wrestling room” is a small rectangular space at the end of the school’s gym separated by a long, black theatrical curtain.
San Marino, which won league titles from 2012 to 2016, forfeited five weight classes in its match against La Cañada that ended up determining the league championship.
On Tuesday, Hoover forfeited six classes in defeat.
Even at La Cañada, everything was not rosy.
The school’s outstanding athletics social media crew was AWOL at the championship bout. Bet that won’t be the case for boys’ or girls’ basketball.
When the CIF Southern Section office released its dual meet championship tournament pairings Thursday afternoon, only league champion La Cañada nabbed a berth.
For a second consecutive season, no other team in league applied for a postseason at-large spot that would have almost certainly been granted to at least the runner-up.
“We want to go to the dual meet every year and that’s a goal for us even though some teams in our league don’t value the tournament,” Luthey said.
On the flip side in 2016, when La Cañada suffered its worst season in years and finished third in league, Luthey and Co. still applied for an at-large berth and received one.
With respect to La Cañada, the program is far from being a powerhouse. The Spartans are looking to win their first playoff dual meet in seven seasons on Saturday.
And, in all honesty, there’s no real incentive for Luthey to try as hard as he has.
He could just coast, work about half as hard as he does now and still run a decent program.
Heck, we have at least one area coach who’s skipped multiple playoff games because he doesn’t want to miss the last Metro home.
So, why be different?
“I can’t really judge what I do versus what other people do,” Luthey said. “I’m proud of this program, these guys, the parents, the school and everyone who has contributed. If we have to be different than everyone else, we will.”
