SOUTHERN SECTION INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Calvary Chapel Produces Five Title Winners

The crusty veterans were joined by a bevy of fresh faces.

The Division III Southern Section individual wrestling championships Saturday at Downey High brought the usual familiar faces out of the woodwork. But it also uncovered some new ones.

Calvary Chapel’s sent its usual stampede to the victory stand. After qualifying an unfathomable eight wrestlers to the championship round, five emerged victorious.

Eagles’ Shane Valdez (119 pounds), Dane Valdez (125), Mauricio Mora (135), Josh Holiday (145) and Ed Mosley (152) successfully defended their respective weight classes, and teammates Joe Calavitta (103), Danny Robinson (140) and Matt Van Hook (171) finished second.

“I don’t know if any (Calvary) team after this is going to be this strong, but we had a good night,” said Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo.

Tustin’s Shawn Ghotbi (171) and Woodbridge’s Jesse Lui (189), area athletes winning their first section titles, had a splendid night as well.

Two-time Sea View League-champion Ghotbi, who could never get past the second round in previous section meets, scored a 3-1 decision over Van Hook.

“I had a pretty tough year, and this made it all worth it,” Ghotbi said.

Lui, who wrestled as a heavyweight last year, was stunned by his performance, a 5-1 decision over Whittier Christian’s Charles Wallace.

“My coach kept telling me I could win, but I wouldn’t listen to him,” Lui said. “I would have been happy to place. I knew if I could get past the semifinal, I’d have a good chance in the final, because I beat him before.”

Having earned a berth at next week’s Masters meet, Lui still isn’t convinced he has a shot at a berth in the State meet.

“My coach says I have a chance, after this, I guess I believe it a little more,” he said.

Buena Park’s Vince Virgin (130), ranked fifth in the State, was the only wrestler to win by a fall. Virgin pinned Riverside Norte Vista’s Armando Duran at 3:13. Heavyweight teammate Wali Sibrie didn’t fare as well. Sibrie fell behind Morro Bay’s Pat Behr 3-1 and attempted a late takedown but simply ran out of time.

Defending State and three-time defending section champion Calvary Chapel elicited barely a second glance when it ran away with the team title by outscoring second-place Irvine, 221 points to 76 1/2.

“And Calvary Chapel sneaked away with the team title,” the announcer said.

Buena Park was sixth with 72 points, Laguna Hills (65) was eighth and Sunny Hills (61) was ninth.

In Division I: Orange County wrestlers won nine of 13 individual titles, including Santa Ana, El Modena, Mission Viejo and Capistrano Valley, which won two each. Santa Ana and El Modena placed three finalists in the meet at El Monte High.

Teak Sato (130) and Juan Alvarez (135) won for El Modena, Roger Santiago (103) and Miguel Valenica (125) took titles for Santa Ana and Capistrano Valley’s Alec Laidlaw (160) and Terry Tuzzolino (171) were victorious. Mission Viejo’s Andy Tibitts (152) and Scott Rijo (189) also won two titles.

El Modena won the overall title with 153 points.