Spartans, Vanguards Divide Up the Spoils

At times the Century League individual wrestling finals looked more like a dual meet between El Modena and Villa Park.

El Modena placed 10 wrestlers in finals compared to nine for the league-champion Spartans, as the two schools met in seven title bouts.

When it was over, Villa Park departed its gym with six individual titles, and the Vanguards had four. El Modena had six second-place finishes, Villa Park three.

But El Modena came out on top in another important category, with 14 Vanguard wrestlers qualifying for the Southern Section individual championships Feb. 17 at Murrieta Valley. Villa Park had 10 qualifiers, Foothill seven, Santa Ana Valley five, Canyon four and Orange two.

Not surprisingly, one of the most exciting matches of the evening was provided by wrestlers from the two leading schools.

Villa Park’s Doug Yadon, ranked No. 1 at 125 pounds, pinned El Modena’s Bertin Tinoco in 2 minutes 15 seconds. Yadon trailed by two points, but turned on Tinoco and nearly pinned him before the first period ended. Sensing a possible victory, Yadon bolted onto the mat in the second period and quickly put Tinoco away.

“I felt like I had the advantage,” said Yadon, who beat Tinoco with a technical fall in December. “He took me out early and I had to come from behind. I chose down to start the second period, then I came up and pancaked him on his back.”

Travis Featherstone, a sophomore, also won on a fall for Villa Park, pinning Santa Ana Valley’s Greg Corona in 57 seconds in the 103-pound final.

El Modena’s Daniel Contreras and Hans Gleason both successfully defended league titles with pins.

Contreras, a sophomore, pinned Villa Park’s Anthony Deangelis in 3:26 at 160, and Gleason needed just 26 seconds to pin Santa Ana Valley’s Jesse Ruiz at 171.

El Modena’s Kevin Lukes pinned Santa Ana Valley heavyweight Christian Restrepo in 54 seconds.

Canyon’s Richard Aguilar, ranked second in the county, defeated Santa Ana Valley’s Josue Mejia, 22-14, at 119.