Top Athletes Are Selected to Times’ All-County Team : Wrestling Twins Are Double Threat : Kenney Brothers Help Fountain Valley to 4-A Championship

From Fountain Valley High School we have seen an unusual number of brothers-as-athletes who have been notable not just because they are siblings, but because they have stood out on the athletic field as well.

They would include the Margerums, Kevin and Ken; the Harrys, Emile and Carl; the Emerys, Rod and Eric; the Stevens, Matt and Brett; and most recently the Zenos, Lance and Eric.

Add to the list the Kenneys, Trent and Troy, twin brothers who recently led the Barons to the Southern Section 4-A wrestling championship--the fourth straight 4-A title won by an Orange County school.

Fountain Valley won that meet largely because of the Kenneys, who won their respective matches in the finals to help the Barons edge Loara, 120 1/2 to 116 1/2. Troy’s win at 135 pounds tied the team score, and Trent’s victory at 141 pounds gave the Barons the title.

Fountain Valley had won the 4-A title in 1977, but current Baron Coach John Rosales was an assistant then, so this one meant a little more to him.

“If the Kenneys didn’t win, we didn’t win,” Rosales said. “I really think those two wrestle better under that kind of condition. They’re all business when they’re on a wrestling mat.”

Did the fact the championships were being held in the Baron gym add to the pressure?

“You bet,” Trent said, “but I won, and that cinched it.”

Of those two final matches, Troy had the easier one, handily defeating Tom Peterson of Covina, 8-0. Trent was losing his match to Tony George of Kennedy, 4-0, before coming back to score 10 points to take a 10-4 decision and give the team championship to the Barons.

“He was better at takedowns,” Trent said of his opponent, “but I managed to tilt him there at the end. I think I had more energy by that time.”

The brothers advanced the Southern Section Masters Meet at Westminster High, with the top five qualifying for the state tournament at Stockton.

Trent finished fourth in the Masters, but Troy suffered a cracked bone in his arm in the first match. Troy continued to wrestle because he didn’t know how bad his injury was at first, but eventually was taken to a hospital to get a splint.

Troy was finished for the season, but Trent took fourth place at the state meet, and recorded the fastest pin (19 seconds) in the tournament. Troy was 36-8-1 with 8 pins and Trent, a Times’ first-team, all-county selection, ended with a 41-10-1 record with 14 pins.

Looking back, both wrestlers point to the 4-A championship meet in their gym as the season’s highlight.

“We both had to pull out wins,” Troy said. “It was the first CIF title for Rosales, and that’s what we both wanted. My brother was coaching me beforehand, telling me what to do.”

That figures because Trent is the older of the two--by all of five minutes. The brothers are close on the wrestling mats, but they try to go their separate ways otherwise.

Trent wears his hair longer than Troy so that they look like brothers, not clones.