Redemption Proves Sweet for Bonebright : Prep wrestling: Thousand Oaks senior avenges loss to Simi Valley’s Holt by holding on for one-point victory.

Tim Bonebright had redemption on his mind at the Marmonte League individual wrestling championships Saturday night.

The Thousand Oaks High senior wrestler lost only two matches all season, both to Simi Valley’s Jesse Holt, including a loss in the final seconds on Thursday. Bonebright got his wish when he faced Holt in the final of the 145-pound weight class at Channel Islands High.

This time, Bonebright held on to defeat Holt, 4-3, but it almost slipped away. Holt was in the midst of an escape from a Bonebright takedown when time expired. Had Holt gotten away, a sudden-death playoff would have taken place.

The Bonebright-Holt matchup was the highlight of the evenly contested finals. Every school but Westlake won an individual title and every school but Agoura placed at least two wrestlers in finals.

Camarillo, the regular season champion, won the most titles with three, but the Scorpions were hardly as dominant as they were in sweeping through the dual-meet season.

“I’m not real surprised at all,” Agoura Coach Steve Smith said. “Everybody has good wrestlers. I think we’ve got one of he best.”

Smith was referring to Chad Payne at 125 pounds. Although Agoura struggled in dual meets, Payne is one of the top wrestlers in the league, posting the best record (32-1). Payne easily defeated Richard Osler of Camarillo, 11-1, in the final. Payne would have had a shutout but let Osler escape late in the match in an effort to get more points. “I’d rather have a pin or technical fall than a shutout anyway,” Payne said. “I wish I could have had more of my team in the finals but they stayed with me to the end.”

Only two final matches were decided by pins. At 140 pounds, Simi Valley’s Nicholas Fitzsimmons (17-2) surprised defending champion Fred Birckhead of Thousand Oaks (23-6) by pinning him at 1:40 of the second period.

At 189 pounds, Newbury Park’s Eric Masaki (23-7) pinned Royal’s Julio Vargas (21-7) 52 seconds into the second period.

But the Bonebright-Holt match contained the most excitement and emotion. Bonebright (25-2), the defending league champion, took a victory lap around the mat after the match.

“I was so embarrassed last Thursday after he came back and beat me,” Bonebright said. “I knew it would be tough but this time I wasn’t about to let him catch me.”

Camarillo showed its strength in the lower divisions with sophomore twins Ronnie and Rick Patterson winning.

Ronnie Patterson (31-7) outpointed Aman Cabanila (32-10) of Channel Islands at 112 pounds, 8-6. Rick Patterson (29-8) immediately followed with a 6-1 victory over Thousand Oaks’ David Greding at 119 pounds.

Parry Wu (27-2) defeated Newbury Park’s Tim Bond (28-10) at 135 pounds.

Other winners included Juan Ramon of Channel Islands (103 pounds), Casey Waldren of Newbury Park (130), Jeremy Sereno of Royal (152), Ryan Proffit of Simi Valley (160), Dallas Henry of Royal (171) and Jason Candiff of Camarillo (heavyweight).

The top three finishers in each weight class advanced to the Southern Section Division I individual championships that will be held next weekend at El Monte High.