Bell Wins Another Team Title

Bell won its second consecutive City Section dual meet wrestling championship with a nail-biting 41-37 victory over San Fernando on Thursday night at Los Angeles University High.

Javier Pompa clinched the title for Bell when he pinned San Fernando’s Eric Motta in the 215-pound weight class, giving San Fernando a 41-31 lead with one match left. The real key, however, might have been the 140-pound bout.

Bell’s Andy Garcia trailed, 6-4, with less than 15 seconds left in his match against Michael Solis but managed to put Solis on his back and scored a pin that gave San Fernando a 29-10 lead.

“That was huge,” Bell Coach Eric Klein said. “It looked like he was going to lose, then all of a sudden he gets a pin. We didn’t expect that, but it turned out we needed it.”

San Fernando won the next four weight classes and took a 31-29 lead when 171-pounder Saul Martinez pinned Carlos Vasquez, but that lead was short-lived because San Fernando does not have a 189-pound wrestler and had to forfeit the match, giving Bell a 35-31 lead with only the 215-pound and heavyweight matches left.

“We knew this was going to be a tough match,” said Klein, whose team finished 18-3 and defeated Woodland Hills El Camino Real, 39-20, Thursday in the semifinals.

“We didn’t know if we were going to get them. We didn’t know until the very end.”