Winning Beat Goes On for West Torrance Wrestler Mike Ramirez

As part of his pre-bout ritual, West Torrance High wrestler Mike Ramirez slips a Metallica tape into his Walkman. He says the hard-driving beat of the popular metal band gives him inspiration.

And it’s a ritual that works like a charm for the 165-pounder.

Saturday night at West High, Ramirez captured his second consecutive CIF 3-A title with a hard-fought 7-5 victory over San Marcos’ Rob Baptista.

Ramirez held a 4-3 lead going into the final period, but improved the margin with a reversal that gave him a 6-3 edge. Seconds later, Baptista scored on a reversal, but Ramirez hung on for the victory.

The West High wrestler takes a 43-2 record into next week’s Master’s Meet at Fountain Valley, while Baptista falls to 44-3.

“I didn’t feel like I wrestled that well,” Ramirez said. “And it was a little harder to win CIF this year because I was expected to win.”

North Torrance’s Mike Masumoto also earned the CIF championship with a 6-4 vicotry over Oxnard’s Noel Juarez in the 105-pound division.

Masumoto, who missed half of last year due to injuries, improved to 31-3 this season.

“I felt I could have had a chance to win CIF last year before I got hurt,” he said. “I wasn’t sure I’d win, but I knew I had a chance to make it to Master’s.”

The top five finishers in the CIF finals earn a trip to Fountain Valley, so West’s Kelly Yokoe, at 126 pounds, will be going despite losing to Savanna’s Tony Okada, 2-0, in overtime.

Yokoe injured his rib cage Friday night and was in obvious pain throughout Saturday’s bout. Before the start of the third period, he removed the wrap used for protection and continued without it.

“I had to stay in,” he said. “I made the choice to wrestle on Friday night and I knew I would have to wrestle with pain. There were a lot of points tonight where I didn’t feel 100% ,but I sure wasn’t going to give it up.”

Morningside’s 175-pounder, Ronnell Lone, defeated Rami Kiriakos of San Bernardino.