Orange County All-Star Wrestling : North Uses Streaks at Start and Finish to Beat the South

The North team overcame a seven-point deficit by winning the last four matches to score a 28-20 victory Friday in the 19th Orange County all-star wrestling meet at El Modena High School.

The North led, 13-9, after the first five matches, before the South won three consecutive matches, including one pin and one technical fall, to take a 20-13 lead.

After the North’s Jonathan Williams of Esperanza scored a 4-0 decision over Garden Grove’s Glenn Frazier in the 175-pound division, El Dorado’s John Orten gave the North a 22-20 lead by pinning Joe Deschenes of El Modena 3:06 into his 185-pound division match.

Brian Tomizic of El Dorado scored a 2-0 decision over Capistrano Valley’s Matt Luker at 201 and Crispin Bonilla of Western decisioned Saddleback’s Juan Tirado, 3-1, in the 255-pound match to cap the victory.

The North, which lost to the South the past two years, now trails in the series, 10-9.

Two-time state champion Heath Sims of Woodbridge and Ryan Owings of Laguna Hills helped key the South’s comeback. Sims scored a 19-4 technical fall over Esperanza’s Dan Shaffer in the 155-pound division match, and Owings pinned Buena Park’s Matt Acevado with 5:21 gone in his 164-pound match.

In another match featuring a state finalist, Canyon’s Ravi Ramsamooj of the North, who finished third in the state in the 112-pound division, won a 2-0 decision over Touradj Durangi of Woodbridge in the 122-pound division.

In other matches, the South’s Chris Bryant of Garden Grove scored two points on an early third period reversal to score a 7-6 decision over Tan Nguyen of Esperanza in the 108-pound division; Southern Section 2-A champion Greg Andres of Sunny Hills and the North earned a 13-2 decision over Garden Grove’s Thomas Muro in the 115-pound classification; and 2-A champion Brian Bertrand of Buena Park and the North emerged victorious on a 4-2 decision over San Clemente’s Chris Wilyard.

Also, Nathan Kerley of Mission Viejo scored a 6-4 decision over Buena Park’s Brent Holmes in the 148-pound classification.