Unexpected Victory Makes Calvary Chapel Higher Power

It was almost like an old-time revival. There was plenty of prayer. Lots of “Praise the Lord!” And of course good hard wrestling from Calvary Chapel, which to the surprise of many won its fifth state wrestling championship Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 7,000 at the University of Pacific.

The Eagles, who won with 110 points despite not winning an individual championship, have established themselves as the wrestling team of the ‘90s and are now second to Clovis in state titles won. Clovis won six between 1974 and 1992.

Clovis Buchanan took second with 102, and Bakersfield Foothill was third with 93.

Although the Eagles trailed by 13 Friday, things started to look up for Calvary Chapel during Saturday’s semifinal and consolation rounds and it soon became clear that the Eagles could pull it out.

At that point, emotions started to run high. So much so, that in a rare show of glee, Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo screamed, “Church Boyz!” to a group of spectators in the stands after Arsen Aleksanyan won his 160-pound consolation match against Terrance Carter of Galileo. That victory advanced Aleksanyan to the third-place match, where he finished fourth.

Senior Josh Saul was the only Eagle to advance to a final. Saul faced a familiar opponent: Chino’s Phil Alejandrino, who beat Saul last week in the Masters meet and at the Canyon Springs tournament in January. Saturday, Alejandrino got an escape in the third period and won, 4-3.

Calvary Chapel’s Adam Bones (112), Ben Nakamura (140) and Mike Bigrigg (189) won third-place medals. Bones beat Joey Taylor of Fairfield, 8-6, Nakamura beat Hoopa’s Joshua Colegrove, 9-4, and Bigrigg (189) beat Bakersfield Centennial’s Josh Naus, 5-1.

Other finalists from Orange County were Santa Ana’s Jose Najera at 112 pounds and 145-pounder Pat Cadwallader of Brethren Christian.

Najera beat Mando Mendez of Clovis Buchanan in the semifinals and almost pulled off an upset over Charlie Davis of Ceres in the final, but with seconds remaining in the third period, Davis scored on an escape to win 4-3.

Cadwallader’s runner-up finish to Ralph Lopez of Fresno Clovis West, losing 6-4 in the final, helped the Warriors to a ninth-place finish with 63 points, the best showing in the school’s history.

Sophomore Mike Simpson took fourth for the Warriors. Although he was seeded first, he had a tough semifinal match against Valhalla’s David Lopez, who beat him 3-2 in overtime. He was beaten by Tommy Schurkamp of Escalon, 3-1, in the third-place match.

Steve Garcia (119) and Larry Rodriguez (125) were the other medalists for Brethren Christian. Garcia beat Rigo Pino of Newport Harbor, 9-6, to take fifth place. Rodriguez pinned Benny Ashley of Bakersfield in 1 minute 43 seconds to take seventh.

Santa Ana’s Jose Leon also won a medal, winning his seventh-place match at 119 pounds, 6-4, over Kevin Jones of Fresno Clovis West.

Troy’s Jessie Carrasco, who advanced to the semifinals Friday, finished sixth at 145 pounds.

Other state champions were: San Jose Independence’s Jacob Palomino (103), Imperial’s James Guizar (119), Tulare Union’s Ben Martinez (125), Bakersfield’s Max Odom (130), Independence’s Ricky Palomino (135), Temecula Valley’s Ryan Kane (145), Bakersfield Foothill’s Kirk Moore (152), Buchanan’s Telly Sanders (160), Valhalla’s Joe Hurtado (171), Ventura’s Christobal Gonzalez (189), Rosemead’s Hector Torres (heavyweight).