Calvary Chapel Easily Wins the Dual Meet Championship

The cast of characters might have been different, but the outcome was the same as Calvary Chapel won its third consecutive Southern Section Division I Dual Meet wrestling championship Saturday at Cerritos College.

The Eagles, who also have won dual meet crowns in divisions II and III, rolled to a 44-22 victory in the final over Ventura.

Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo said this competition is fun but it can be tiring because the Southern Section individual championships are next weekend.

“It [dual championships] gets a little tedious,” Azevedo said.

“The guys are really looking forward to next week, so you have to keep them focused on this.”

But even with a less than focused team, the Eagles still breezed through the day’s matches against Colton, Brea Olinda and Anaheim.

Calvary Chapel wrestlers won 46 matches and lost 10 the entire day.

“What can you say, they [the Eagles] are a great team,” Ventura Coach Paul Clemente said.

“We knew what we were coming up against, but I’m still pleased that our team won the [runner-up] trophy.”

The Eagles have qualified their entire team for the section individual meet and are expected to dominate there.

A surprise was Brethren Christian, which demonstrated why this team could well be second best in the county.

The Warriors upset San Clemente, 38-27, to get revenge for a previous match that the Tritons, who are ranked second in the county, narrowly won.

“In that first match with San Clemente, I made a tactical error, this time I corrected it and we won,” Brethren Christian Coach Steve Glassey said.

Glassey made the correction in this meet by dropping Michael Delaney from 119 to 112 and putting Stephen Garcia at at 119. Glassey expected Delaney to win, which he did, but he was a little surprised at Garcia’s performance.

Garcia, a freshman, pinned San Clemente’s Kevin Means in 1 minute 57 seconds. Means is ranked second in the county.

“Stephen has been coming on really strong for us these past weeks, and I expect him to do well at Southern Section,” Glassey said.

Brethren Christian also beat fifth-ranked El Modena, 38-33, but lost to Ventura in the semifinals, 49-18.

“I really don’t want to say anything about the rankings,” Glassey said. “But I will say that this team is one of the best in the county and I’m really proud of what they’ve done so far this year.”

Anaheim, ranked fourth in the county, had a good showing Saturday, but fell to Calvary Chapel in the semifinals, 58-9. Anaheim beat Oxnard Hueneme, 63-12, and El Monte Arroyo, 47-19.

El Modena, which lost to Brethren Christian, defeated Rosemead, 71-9, in the first round.

Brea Olinda, which beat Riverside Ramona, 59-9, was eliminated by Calvary Chapel in the second round.

Trabuco Hills lost to Ventura in the first round, 65-0.