Southern Section Wrestling : El Dorado Holds Off Canyon to Win 4-A Championship

Canyon High School’s Zach Cooper and El Dorado’s Brian Tomazic met in the 191-pound final of the Southern Section 4-A championships at Edison High. Six minutes later, each of them walked off the mat part winner, part loser.

By the time Cooper and Tomazic stepped on the mat, El Dorado held a 128-122 lead in the team standings. Only a pin by Cooper, ranked No. 1 in the state at his weight, would give Canyon the necessary six points to tie El Dorado.

Cooper won the match, but he didn’t pin Tomazic. Cooper was the individual champion, but Tomazic clinched the title for his team. The final was El Dorado 128, Canyon 126.

Canyon, two-time defending 4-A champion, came into Saturday’s finals ranked No. 1 in the division; El Dorado was No. 2.

“I’m happy and disappointed at the same time,” Cooper said.

Cooper knew coming in that pinning Tomazic was “a longshot at best.”

Tomazic comes from one of the most distinguished high school wrestling families in Southern Section history. Brother Todd was a two-time state champion, who made his name on being able to wriggle out of any hold. He was so good that he was dubbed Gumby.

“Brian has the same style as Todd,” Cooper said. “They’re looking for you to make mistakes. Every move I tried, he stopped me.”

It was the third Southern Section team championship for El Dorado, who also had Pat Kinney reach the finals at 126 pounds. Kinney lost to M.T. Merickel of Channel Islands, 10-7.

“This one is especially sweet since we beat Canyon,” said Frank Gonzales, El Dorado coach.

In all, six of the top 10 teams were from Orange County, including the top four. After El Dorado and Canyon came Esperanza (99 1/2) and Edison (94). Katella (83) was sixth and San Clemente (80) was seventh.

Edison’s David Niedringhaus defeated San Clemente’s Jason Booth, 6-3, to win the 105-pound title. Niedringhaus had a 4-1 lead going into the third period, but Booth got a reverse to pull within 4-3. But Niedringhaus pulled off a reverse of his own late in the period to pad his score.

Esperanza’s Rob Langenwalter provided the final’s best finish when he performed an escape with a second left to beat San Clemente’s Chris Wilyard, 5-4, in the 117-pound final. It was the second Southern Section championship for Langenwalter.

Another two-time winner was Katella’s Joe Pastorello, who beat Westlake’s Bill Hunter, 8-1, to win the 175-pound championship.

Mission Viejo’s Nathan Kerley had the only pin in the finals when he put down Esperanza’s Dan Shaffer 5:46 into their 138-pound match.

Edison’s Kenny Richards squeaked out a 3-2 victory over Westlake’s Neil Mason in the 145-pound final.