Moreno, Moore Only Southland Champions

If the Five Counties Invitational is supposed to give wrestlers and coaches an indicator of where they stand as the stretch run to the state championships begins, then Saturday’s action showed that the Southern Section still has some work to do.

Brian Moreno of Santa Ana Foothill, a two-time defending state champion, won the 112-pound class at Fountain Valley High and Gabe Moore of Apple Valley Granite Hills won the heavyweight division. They were the only Southern Section wrestlers to win titles.

Temecula Valley, the top-ranked team in Division I, finished seventh -- the best of any Southern Section team. Poway had three champions and easily won the team title with 230.5 points, 57.5 ahead of runner-up Bakersfield. Las Vegas Cimarron was third with 159.5.

Temecula Valley had 100 points. Santa Ana Calvary Chapel finished ninth with 85 points and was the only other Southern Section school in the top 10. It was only the fourth time since 1966 that a Southern Section team failed to finish in the top six but the second year in a row.

“This tournament shows you how good you are and how bad you are in one fell swoop,” said Temecula Valley Coach Arnold Alpert, who purposely kept a light schedule early in the season and has loaded up on tournaments in the next month.

“We know we still have some work to do, but we’re just starting our season now. Other teams are finishing.”

Temecula Valley had two wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the state entering the tournament, but 140-pound Kipp Bowman lost in the third round and did not place and 152-pound Corey Beeson lost his quarterfinal match and finished sixth. Golden Bear heavyweight Jordan Blanchard advanced to the final but lost to Moore, 3-2.

Santa Monica’s Alex Darkhovsky advanced to the 152-pound final but sprained his ankle during his semifinal and had to default the title match.

The good news for Southern Section teams is that they have more than a month to turn things around before the state tournament. The bad news is that even though nearly half of the 80 teams entered were from the Southern Section, only six finished in the top 20.

Two champions equaled last year’s mark for the fewest since 1999, and the 28 top-eight finishers were the fewest during that span. Only last year’s five finalists were fewer than the eight this year.

Moreno defended the title he won a year ago. He survived a second-period scare when Filip Novachkov almost put Moreno on his back but came back for a relatively easy 8-3 victory.

“It’s hard to be on top,” said Moreno, who is ranked No. 1 in the state and improved to 31-0 this season. “Everybody is gunning for you, but I like the pressure. Sometimes it [stinks], but I like it.”

Jake Varner of Bakersfield had the most impressive tournament. He pinned all five of his 189-pound opponents. Only finalist Arman Kucukkoseoglu of Chino Hills Ayala lasted more than 45 seconds.