San Fernando Wrests Title From El Camino Real : Prep wrestling: Conquistadores and their retiring coach denied 4th consecutive City title.

There was no denying the fact that El Camino Real High Coach Milt Goffman was the sentimental favorite at the City Section wrestling championships at El Camino Real on Saturday.

After 17 seasons and four City titles--including the last three in a row, Goffman was calling it quits.

One more City title would have been the perfect way to end an illustrious career, but as happened all season, San Fernando was simply too much for the Conquistadores to handle.

The Tigers, who defeated El Camino Real in a dual meet and in the Valley Conference finals this season, won four individual titles to total 182 1/2 points for their seventh City title and first since 1987, the last time El Camino Real had failed to win.

The Conquistadores finished second with 146 1/2 points, followed by Fremont (107), Canoga Park (98) and Chatsworth (91).

“I’m glad we won, but I’m disappointed in the way we wrestled overall in the finals tonight,” second-year San Fernando Coach Mike Casillas said. “We did great getting into the finals, but some of our kids seemed to lock up in the finals.”

San Fernando got victories from Oswaldo Ramirez (112 pounds), Jorge Hernandez (135), Ignacio Emerik (152) and Juan Perez (171), but the Tiger wrestlers lost five other finals.

At one point, San Fernando suffered three consecutive defeats at the 119, 125 and 130-pound levels before Hernandez turned the tide with a pin of Chatsworth’s Todd Rosen 1 minute and seven seconds into the second period of the 135-pound championship.

“That was a big win for us,” Casillas said. “These guys are all inter-connected. They feed off each other, and I think they were starting to get down as we kept losing.”

David Duran (103) and Chris Uchida (125) won titles for El Camino Real, but the Conquistadores simply didn’t have the depth to stay with the Tigers.

“They were a better team than us,” Goffman said. “They just outperformed us. They got nine kids into the finals and that’s saying something.”

Other winners from the Valley included Chatsworth’s Dave Nessen (130) and Luis Cortez (189); Canoga Park’s Dave Lakatta (160) and Keith Jardin (heavyweight); and Granada Hills’ Peter Kim (145).

Pasqual Moreno of Wilson, who defeated Ted Glider of El Camino Real for the 140-pound championship, was named the meet’s outstanding performer.

“It would have been nice to end it with a win, but I can’t complain,” Goffman said. “I’ve had a great time here.”