Canoga Park Pins Down a City Title

Jose Barahona and Hadi Jubrail have a lot in common.

Both are senior wrestlers for Canoga Park High, defending City Section champions and like to take care of business quickly.

Barahona and Jubrail recorded pins Thursday night to improve their identical records to 33-1 as Canoga Park won the inaugural City dual meet championship with a 40-20 victory over Bell at San Fernando High.

Barahona (137) pounds, a two-time City champion at 119 and 130, and Jubrail (191), defending champion at 160, were among five wrestlers to record pins for Canoga Park (15-4), which posted its first City title of any kind in Coach Rudy Lugo’s 23-year tenure.

“I feel good for these kids,” Lugo said. “Hadi is a pretty intense kid, one of the most intense I’ve ever coached. So is Jose.”

Barahona flattened Guillermo Melendez in 59 seconds to pull the Hunters even, 13-13. Barahona recorded a takedown seconds into the match and built a 5-0 advantage before registering his 27th pin of the season.

The brevity of the bout even left Barahona surprised.

“I never thought I’d pin him that fast,” Barahona said. “I didn’t even realize it was a pin. He was worried about his leg and I grabbed his arm.”

Jubrail fiercely pursued Aldo Ybarra from the opening whistle, building a 4-0 lead before recording the pin in 3 minutes 6 seconds.

“I wanted it for the team,” said Jubrail, who notched his 26th pin. “We needed the points. This is really important to us to win this match.”

Bell (17-6), which will try for its third consecutive City individual title Feb. 25 at Granada Hills, advanced to the final with a 31-27 victory over El Camino Real.

Canoga Park’s Mario Alvarenga (147), Adrian Abarca (154) and Emiliano Gallegos (162) also recorded pins as the Hunters won eight of 13 bouts.