Santa Ana Beats Chino to Win Title

Santa Ana Coach Scott Glabb had to chuckle as his Saints made it look easy as they pounded Chino, 46-27, to win the Southern Section Division III dual-meet championships Saturday at Santa Ana High.

Saturday’s victory not only gave the Saints their first division dual-meet title, but it also more than made up for last year’s disappointing showing, when Chino Hills Ayala eliminated the Saints in the semifinals.

“I’m really surprised how well we did against Chino,” Glabb said. “Chino is a good team, but we were really pumped up for this. Now I can go home and get some sleep.”

Unlike last year, when Santa Ana struggled through each round, the Saints scored 40 points by the ninth match Saturday.

Emotions were so high that when Santa Ana’s Rudy Rosell clinched the victory by beating Andrew Saucedo, 4-2, at 154 pounds, teammates and spectators swarmed the senior.

The Saints began their rout when Chino had to forfeit at 105 pounds. Santa Ana won the next six of seven matches.

Jose Najera (114), Steve Avalos (142), Mauricio Joaquin (147) and Hector Urista (173) had pins for Santa Ana.

Chino’s only bright spot was Philip Alejandrino, the Southern Section’s top-ranked wrestler at 217 pounds. He toyed with Ed Barrios, pinning him at 4 minutes 37 seconds.

Santa Ana (12-2) breezed through its first three matches, beating first-round opponent Troy, 57-12, Long Beach Millikan, 51-21, in the quarterfinals and Chino Hills Ayala, 45-23, in the semifinals.

Laguna Hills, seeded second, also had little trouble in the first two rounds, but lost to Chino in the semifinals. In that match, the Hawks were ahead, 27-24, going into the 217-pound match. However, Pat Fields lost to Chino’s Anthony Fierro, 4-3, which tied the match score, 27-27.

Laguna Hills then handed the Cowboys the victory after Hawk Coach Cliff Jarmie elected to forfeit the heavyweight match. Chino won, 30-27.

Laguna Hills’ Robert Fields had won his previous two heavyweight matches. But Jarmie thought the match between his freshman and Alejandrino would have been futile.

“The match was not going to be won or lost based on that last match,” Jarmie said. “I just don’t think it was necessary to put a kid at risk for an injury or situation like that.”

For Glabb, who could relate to Jarmie’s disappointment, he was happy his team did not have to face the Hawks in the finals.

“I think they are a lot better than they’re ranked [sixth in the county]. They’re tough, and I honestly don’t know which way that match would have gone.”