DIVISION III WRESTLING DUAL MEET CHAMPIONSHIPS : Calvary Chapel Routs Luckless Laguna Hills

When going head-to-head with a team of this caliber, you welcome any advantage that comes your way.

Unfortunately for Laguna Hills, the breaks were going in the opposite direction when the Hawks met Calvary Chapel for the Southern Section Division III dual-meet wrestling championship Thursday night at Calvary Chapel.

When twins Jeff and Mike Greco and Orlando Rangel caught the flu earlier in the week, a most difficult task took on impossible proportions for Laguna Hills.

“It hasn’t been a real good week,” Hawk Coach Cliff Jarmie said.

It got tougher. Defending State champion Calvary Chapel did a number on the Hawks with a resounding 42-16 victory. The Eagles, who have qualified eight wrestlers for Saturday’s Masters meet and hope all eight advance to the State meet March 4-5, won 10 of 13 matches.

The Eagles’ forfeited at 103 pounds, giving Laguna Hills a 6-0 lead before Calvary Chapel ran off with the next 10 victories and a 42-6 advantage.

Of those matches, the closest was at 140, where section individual runner-up Danny Robinson took a 5-3 overtime victory over Casey Elliott.

Elliott took a 3-2 lead in the third period before Robinson tied it with a late escape. Elliott tried a single-leg takedown, but ran out of time, and Robinson got the takedown in the extra period.

“It’s nice to take this (victory) into Masters, then hopefully to State,” Robinson said.

Laguna Hills partially redeemed itself in the final two classes, where Jack Fearing (189) pinned Mike Pawasarat at 1 minute 16 seconds, and Masters qualifier Mark Zolikoff (heavyweight) won an 11-0 decision over Paul Bennett.

“Coach said don’t worry about the score, just focus on what you have to do,” Fearing said. “It’s a thrill to win my last match as a senior.”

Jarmie believes Calvary Chapel is destined to win its second consecutive State championship and said the Hawks’ could learn from the Eagles’ pluck.

“Calvary Chapel gets to this point and their season is just beginning,” Jarmie said. “We need to take a lesson from them in finishing, that when you get to this point, you don’t whine about the long season or having to cut weight one more week.”

And the Eagles’ chances at the State meet?

“No doubt (they’ll win) unless there’s some kind of accident,” he said. “They won last year, they have everyone back and they’re that much better.”