Calvary Chapel Third After First Day, Could Make Run at Title

After the first day of the state Wrestling Championships Friday at Spanos Center at the University of the Pacific, defending champion San Jose Independence leads with 60 points, followed by Union City James Logan with 54.5 points.

Calvary Chapel is in third with 44.5 and Poway fourth with 43.5.

Three Independence wrestlers advanced to the semifinal round, and all seven Calvary Chapel wrestlers are in contention, including two in the semifinals.

For Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo, although he would like to have had more in the semifinal round, he was happy with the first day of competition.

“We had some luck with Independence losing some matches,” he said. “Anything could happen tomorrow [Saturday]. We have seven that are still alive and that’s important.”

Azevedo said if his wrestlers can continue to advance and some Independence wrestlers lose, the Eagles have a chance for a title.

“I’ve been doing this too long to say it can’t happen,” Azevedo said. “We have to keep wrestling hard, and pray a little.”

For the Eagles, Joe Calavitta (135) breezed through his matches and will meet Mat Ehn of Clovis in the semifinals. Ty Wilcox also had little trouble at 152 pounds, winning his quarterfinal match against Matt Evans of Chico Pleasant Valley, 21-6.

Independence, which had nine competing at the start of the tournament, has four still wrestling. But three are in the semifinals, including defending state champion Tony Gomez (125), Dana Garcia (152) and Oscar Gonzales (171). Garcia is ranked No. 1 in the state.

The five Calvary Chapel wrestlers who have a chance at placing include Matt Azevedo (119), Burt Pierson (125), Louie Hernandez (140), Phil Wozniak (145) and Chris Meineke (171).

Santa Ana, which has all three of its wrestlers in contention, placed two in the quarterfinals but 112-pounder Ignacio Bahena and Sadie Morales (125 pounds) failed to advance to the semifinals.

Bahena was pinned in 1 minute 45 seconds by Mario Solorio of San Jose Oak Grove. Morales, who took sixth last year in state as a 119-pounder, lost by a fall in the closing seconds of the match.

Leading, 11-9, late in the third period, Morales was unable to keep Nate Vasquez of Bakersfield from getting the takedown. But in addition to giving Vasquez two points which tied the score, Vasquez pinned Morales.

Though Morales and Bahena lost in the quarterfinals, they still have a chance to place in the tournament if they advance through consolation rounds.

Fernando Serratos, at 119 pounds, is the other Santa Ana wrestler who has a chance to place.

Of the 32 county wrestlers who started the competition, 15 are still in contention.

Other county wrestlers in the running are: Joe Reilly (135) of Buena Park; Richard Meza (152) of Loara; Aaron Santana (171) of El Modena; Rueben Droughns (189) of Anaheim; John Colvin (215) of Rancho Alamitos; Andrew Murphy (215) of Brea Olinda and Jason Deere (275) of Newport Harbor.

Competition concludes today with the finals scheduled for 7 p.m.