Camarillo Pins 45-21 Defeat on Thousand Oaks

Camarillo High wrestling Coach Ron Wilson might not like to hear this assumption, but his team has unofficially been handed the Marmonte League title.

The powerfully efficient Scorpions routed defending league co-champion Thousand Oaks, 45-21, Thursday night. Last week, Camarillo thrashed Royal, the other defending champion, by a similar score.

“They’ll win it now,” Thousand Oaks Coach Larry Mortensen said. “I don’t see anybody standing in their way.”

Apparently not. But Wilson was not ready to agree.

“It would be real easy to get complacent after we’ve beaten the two league champs, but I really try to keep the kids focused,” he said. “I really beat them down (in practice) the next day after meets and let them know it’s not over.”

Still, Wilson was as impressed as anyone with the Scorpions’ dominating performance.

“It’s been a phenomenal turnaround for our kids,” he said.

Crucial for Camarillo (9-1, 2-0 in league meets) was its control of the lower weight classes. In the opening match at 103 pounds, Scott Weisse set the tone with a hard-fought pin with 42 seconds left in the first overtime against Thousand Oaks’ Thanh Tran.

After the first four matches, Scorpion wrestlers had registered two pins (Weisse and 125-pounder Rich Osler), two lopsided decisions (Ron and Rick Peterson at 112 and 119 pounds) and enjoyed a 19-0 lead.

“Usually we look at the lower weight classes to get some wins for us,” Lancer assistant Emanuel Valdez said.

Thousand Oaks had some success in the middle weights. The Lancers (1-2 in league meets) got pins by Kirk Olivas (130 pounds) and Parry Wu (135 pounds) in the next two matches to pull to within 19-12, but that was as close as they could get.

Camarillo 140-pounder Jesse Munoz defeated flu-stricken Fred Birckhead, 11-4, to stretch the lead to 22-12. Birckhead was severely dehydrated after the match. He appeared woozy and had trouble walking for several minutes.

For the most part, the remaining Lancers were similarly staggered. Camarillo won four of the final five weight classes on three pins and a 15-point decision.

“They’ve got good guys all the way through,” Mortensen said.

Steve Renteria (152 pounds) pinned Lancer Jared Pace in 1 minute 13 seconds. Pace’s brother Josh exacted a measure of retribution by pinning Scorpion Adam Rudd in the next match (160 pounds).

But after that, it was all Camarillo, in stunningly easy fashion.

Head-shaven, thickly-muscled Darren Hatch defeated Brandon Savage, 19-4, at 171 pounds. At 189 pounds, Travis Zurkle pinned Alex Pappas in the third period and in the heavyweight category, Jason Cundiffer pinned Mike Martin in only 39 seconds.

Afterward, Wilson voiced surprise at the lopsided score.

“Thousand Oaks is a top team,” he said. “But we’ve been pretty impressive.”

That much, at least, he would admit to.