Calvary Chapel Moves a Bit Closer to Its Fourth Title

Calvary Chapel took a big step toward defending its title as the Eagles racked up 72 points to take a comfortable lead in the state wrestling championships here Friday at the Spanos Center. San Jose Independence, which lost to Calvary Chapel by a half-point last year, was in second place with 39 points. Poway was in third with 38.5 points.

Calvary Chapel, ranked first in the state and 10th in the nation, grabbed a firm hold on the lead early when eight of its nine wrestlers reached the second round.

Four Eagles advanced to the semifinals, with four staying alive in the consolation bracket.

Calvary Chapel is attempting to win its fourth state title in five years. The Eagles would be second behind Clovis (six) for the most championships.

Defending state champions Joe Calavitta (140 pounds) and Ty Wilcox (160) led the Eagles. Calavitta won his quarterfinal match against Tyler Dominguez of Santa Cruz Harbor, 12-4. Wilcox advanced by pinning Kevin Sanger of La Costa Canyon, in 5 minutes 54 seconds.

Burt Pierson (130), who beat Anthony Reta of Union City Logan, 14-3, and Jay McGuffin, who edged Waylon Miller of San Jose Mission in overtime, 6-4, were the other to Eagle wrestlers to advance.

Louie Hernandez (145) and Tino Archuleta (125) lost their quarterfinal matches, but remain alive in the medal hunt, as are teammates Arsen Aleksanyan (152) and Josh Saul (215).

In other quarterfinal matches, Dennis Garcia of Garden Grove, who was third last week at the Masters meet, continued to turn heads as the 215-pound senior advanced to the semifinals.

Last year, Garcia failed to qualify for the state meet; he was fourth at the Southern Section Division IV finals.

Tony Perez of Santa Ana advanced by beating Angel Portillo of Tulare Union, 15-9, at 103 pounds. In an earlier match, he overcame a six-point deficit to beat Tommy Schurkamp of Esalon High, 16-14 in overtime.

“Tony has been performing incredibly well,” Santa Ana Coach Scott Glabb said. “All I can do is give him encouragement now. The rest is up to him.”

Santa Ana’s Fernando Serratos (112) and Jose Morales (130) are in the consolation bracket.

Other county wrestlers in the consolation bracket are Brethren Christian’s Michael Delaney (112) and Pat Cadwallader (135), Irvine’s Andrew Pena (125), Anaheim’s Richard Feistman (135) and Jose Rodriguez (171), Brea Olinda’s Jonathan Walker (140) and Cameron St. Clair (152), and Huntington Beach’s Austin Cathey (171).