COMMUNITY COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : Rancho Santiago Gets Team Effort in Wrestling

Rancho Santiago College’s wrestling team pulled off an impressive accomplishment last Friday in the South Regional tournament, qualifying all 10 members for this week’s state championship tournament at Cypress.

Cypress qualified seven wrestlers and Golden West six at the South-Central Regional Friday at Bakersfield.

The championship tournament begins Friday at noon and action continues the rest of the day. Saturday, wrestling starts at noon with the finals starting at 7 p.m.

Rancho Santiago was led by Jason Booth who won the 118-pound class in the regional at Palomar. The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualified for the championship meet.

Also qualifying from Rancho Santiago: Pat Kinney (fourth at 126), Bo Leyva (second at 134), John Hueter (third at 142), David Piquette (fourth at 150), Ryan Owings (second at 158), John Serrato (fourth at 167), Matt Luker (fourth at 177), Tom Proforsky (third at 190) and John Sprague (third at heavyweight).

Cypress’ Sam Lopez won at 118 and Ken Stagall won at 190 in their regionals.

Moorpark and Lassen are the co-favorites to battle for the team title.

When Golden West was in a tight spot at the state volleyball tournament Sunday, Coach Al Gasparian turned to a technique he employed in the 1988 title match.

Golden West beat previously-undefeated DeAnza earlier Sunday to reach the final match. While the Rustlers sat for nearly eight hours, Grossmont played two matches to gain the final match and would have had to beat Golden West twice to win the title.

In the first game of the championship match, Grossmont blew past Golden West, 15-2.

But instead of going on a tirade in an effort to fire up his players, Gasparian sat back, smiled and relaxed.

“I didn’t do a thing, nothing,” he said. “It was probably the best move I made all year. I figured that Grossmont has all the adrenaline going from playing the other matches, and we would recover. It was just like in 1988.”

Two years ago, Golden West won on the final morning and waited out a long break before the championship match. The Rustlers faced De Anza in the final and lost the first game, 15-8, but Gasparian didn’t make any speeches.

He figured it would be better for his team to just play through it, and the Rustlers rallied for a 15-6, 15-13, 15-13 victory.

This time around, Golden West rallied for a 2-15, 15-12, 15-11, 15-9 victory.

This was the second state title this fall for Golden West and the fourth in the calendar year.

The Rustlers won the women’s basketball and the men’s swimming titles last spring, and they took the water polo team title last month.

There will be a mini-preview of the upcoming Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball season this week during the Golden West tournament. Cypress, Riverside and Golden West, all members of the conference, are among the eight entries.

In Wednesday’s first round, Riverside takes on Antelope Valley at 6 p.m and San Diego Mesa plays Cypress at 8 p.m.

Antelope Valley defeated Cypress last year in the championship game.

In Thursday’s first round, Citrus plays Cerritos at 6 p.m. and Golden West plays Glendale at 8 p.m.

The tournament continues with the semifinals Friday and the championship game Saturday at 8 p.m.

Teams continue in tournaments and nonconference games until conference play begins Jan. 3.

Three Orange County football players were selected to the first-team J.C. Grid-Wire All-American team, which was announced Thursday.

Lawrence Hatch, a defensive back from Orange Coast; Kevin Ashworth, a linebacker from Golden West, and Rancho Santiago’s Ertrus Crayton were first-team selections. Crayton made it as an all-purpose back.

Rob Coons (tight end) and Kevin Leon (punter) of Fullerton made the second team.

The honorable mention selections: wide receiver Mike Cook (Saddleback), offensive linemen Greg Thurston (Orange Coast) and Chuck Underwood (Fullerton), defensive linemen Ray Smith (Golden West) and Dave Spoolstra (Rancho Santiago) and defensive back Michael Coe (Saddleback).