PREP WRESTLING ROUNDUP : Tiny Calvary Chapel States Its Case

It was one thing when tiny Calvary Chapel High was Orange County’s top-ranked wrestling team coming into the season, but what the Eagles accomplished Saturday pushed that aside.

Preseason rankings are about what might be. Calvary Chapel (enrollment 500) came through with an eye-opening, third-place performance at the Five Counties Invitational Saturday at Fountain Valley.

The Eagles had four finalists and all four won, making the the night a remarkable one.

Calvary Chapel couldn’t catch Clovis, three-time defending State champion, which won the team title with 171 points. Nor could it catch Shingle Springs Ponderosa, which was second with 152 1/2. But the Eagles (third with 144 1/2 points) saw this as further proof that a State championship is not far-fetched.

“We let them know we’re going to give them all a run at State,” said Shane Valdez, who defeated Sean Kim of Montebello Schurr, 7-2, to win the 113-pound championship.

Shane’s twin brother, Dane, overwhelmed Chris Wright of Spring Valley Monte Vista, 12-6, at 120 pounds.

By that was mere warm-up for the night’s most emotionally-charged match.

Joey Coughran of Calvary Chapel faced Tracy Brown of Santa Clara at 131 pounds, and most of the crowd of 2,000 had Coughran as a big underdog. Brown was fourth at the 1992 State meet and unbeaten this season.

With the fans chanting, “Let’s go Joe,” Coughran wouldn’t yield, winning, 8-6, in overtime.

“How about Coughran?” Dane Valdez said when it was over. “That was awesome.”

Next up for the Eagles was Mauricio Mora, who faced Zac Tapia of San Clemente at 136 pounds.

Drawing energy from the others’ victories, Mora said he wasn’t about to go home a loser. He didn’t, defeating Tapia, 12-6.

“You can’t ask for anything better,” Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo said. “I thought we could do it. I mean, you’re always optimistic. I think we’ll build on this. This is definitely a great performance, but the end is what’s important.”

He was speaking of the State meet, which is March 5-6 in Stockton.

Three other county wrestlers were finalists Saturday. Chong Yi of Santa Clara defeated Teak Sato of Savanna, 5-4, at 126 pounds, David Wells of El Modena lost to Christian Fox of Ponderosa, 7-1, at 141 pounds and Joe Lipps of El Dorado lost to Larry Silva of Grace Davis, 6-3, at 171.

In the San Diego Morse dual meet tournament:

Mission Viejo 30, Mira Mesa 24--After getting a first-round bye, Mission Viejo won three dual matches to capture the tournament title in San Diego. Mission Viejo defeated San Diego Crawford in the second round, 55-12, and Lakeside El Capitan, 36-22, in the semifinals before defeating Mira Mesa for the title. Scott Rojo led Mission Viejo in the final, recording a 38-second pin at 189 pounds.