Together Again, as Usual : Orozcos Leading Cypress Wrestlers Into State Meet

Jose and Art Orozco usually don’t have to go too far to find a wrestling match. The living room floor will do just fine.

“Sometimes I just want to show him a move and it turns into a match,” Jose said. “Most of the time our mom gets pretty mad and tells us to take it outside or to school.”

These days, the Orozco brothers are confining themselves to Cypress College. They will lead the Cypress wrestling team in this weekend’s state championship tournament at Santa Rosa Junior College. The tournament will start Friday at 7 p.m. with finals on Saturday.

Jose, a sophomore who competes at 167 pounds, is 27-3 this season. Art, a freshman who wrestles at 150 pounds, is 24-9.

Jose is the favorite in his weight class, but Art has to compete against defending state champion Paul Herrera of Golden West, who is 32-0 this season.

Art has been following Jose through wrestling since they were both at Garden Grove High School. Jose started as a freshman, and when he was a junior, Art made varsity as a freshman.

They wrestled together for two seasons in high school. Jose was the Garden Grove League’s most valuable wrestler as a senior, and two seasons later, Art won the same award.

Jose was the 1985 Southern Section 1-A champion at 168 pounds. Art couldn’t quite match that accomplishment, though.

He finished second at 150 pounds in the 1-A Southern Section championships last spring.

“I guess I’ve just been sort of following him through wrestling,” Art said. “Except for the CIF championship, but I was close.”

Jose wrestled at Cypress in 1985 and reached the state tournament but didn’t place in the top six. He then decided to sit last season out.

“I was just burnt out from four years of wrestling, track and football in high school,” Jose said. “I came here (Cypress) and wasn’t really ready to wrestle, I guess. So I took a year off and it helped me. I needed some rest and it also helped me mentally get ready for this season.

“Plus, I knew Art would be coming over here and we could be teammates again. I was really looking forward to that.”

During the year off, Jose stayed involved in wrestling.

He returned to Garden Grove and worked as an assistant coach while Art wrestled. This season, Jose is head coach at Garden Grove.

“He (Jose) came back with a real determination to be the best,” said Ray Haas, Cypress wrestling coach. “He certainly has the ability to win the state title. Now all he has to do is perform well and stay free of injuries.

“Art will have a much tougher time of it because there are some excellent wrestlers in his division. But a lot of things can happen.”

Community College Wrestling Notes

Cypress has qualified the most wrestlers for the state tournament, eight. Defending champion Lassen, Rio Hondo and Palomar qualified seven each. Rancho Santiago had six and Golden West five. . . . “It should come down to Lassen, Rio Hondo or us,” said Ray Haas, Cypress coach. “We should all get about the same numbers of state champions, so the title will be decided by the guys that place third and fourth. This is why everyone has to do well, not just our top guys. That is why everyone on the team is important.” . . . There will be 120 wrestlers at the state tournament, 12 in each weight division. Wrestlers qualified for the state tournament by taking one of the top three places at one of the four regional tournament last Friday. . . . Frank Trujillo (126), Bill Montgomery (134), Dwayne DeNolf (142), Art Orozco (150), Ralph Rucker (158), Jose Orozco (167), Joey Gillis (190) and Randy Gonzalez (heavyweight) qualified for Cypress, which was second in the Western State Conference behind Rio Hondo. Cypress came back to defeat Rio Hondo at the regional Friday at Mt. San Antonio . . . Joey Del La Vega (118), BoBo Leyva (126), Mike Geyer (150), Denny Furnish (158), Matt Fletcher (167) and David Grisafe (190) qualified for Rancho Santiago, which won the South Coast Conference for the first time. . . . Tosh Yukawa (126), Eddie Ruiz (134), Jason Dallas (142), Paul Herrera (150) and Rich Brenton (190) qualified for Golden West, which was third in the South Coast Conference. Brenton was the state champion in 1985 at 190 pounds.