El Modena Dominates Villa Park

The El Modena and Villa Park wrestling teams were like peas in a pod Friday night. Both had five wrestlers ranked in the county poll, both were undefeated in the Century League and both wanted to pulverize the other.

But what looked like a close match turned into a rout as visiting El Modena took it to the Spartans, 41-18.

“We got here at 4 this afternoon,” El Modena 215-pounder Ian Souza said, “and all we did was get pumped up for this. It was so intense, we were crying before the match started. That’s how bad we wanted to win this.”

Souza, ranked second in the county, defeated third-ranked Nick Wynn, 7-1.

Friday’s victory gave El Modena (15-3, 5-0) its seventh Century League title. And with 10 seniors in the lineup, it was especially sweet to beat the Spartans, who had six seniors in their lineup.

“There was no way I was going to graduate and lose the Century League to Villa Park,” Souza said. “We know they have been talking big, but we proved who the real champions are. This was important to us, but especially for the seniors.”

Villa Park (13-2, 4-1) started the meet with fourth-ranked Tommy Peralta’s 11-10 victory over Ricardo Sepulveda at 105 pounds, but El Modena Coach Alan Clinton said that loss was still a plus for his team.

“I was so proud of Ricardo,” Clinton said. “He kept it close. [Villa Park] was expecting a pin, but instead only got three points.”

But it was the 114-pound match of El Modena’s Tony Rubalcaba that set the tone. Rubalcaba, a senior, pinned Doug Yadon in 3 minutes 56 seconds.

“That pin was crucial,” Clinton said. “It changed everything. You could feel the mood change after that match.”

After Rubalcaba’s pin, teammate Jerin Williams won his 121-pound match with a technical fall and gave the Vanguards a 11-3 lead. El Modena went on to win the next five matches.