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Hoover wrestling sends two to second day

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WRESTLING

Hoover in CIF Southern Section Eastern Division Individual Championships: Both Arthur Ghukasyan and Gio Martinez advanced to the second day of the elite tournament Friday at Oak Hills High.

“They both wrestled really well. ... It’s a first step,” Hoover Coach Mark Bitetti said. “They’ve got to win two tomorrow to be in medal contention, so they can’t really lose their first match tomorrow.”

Ghukasyan, a 145-pounder, came out strong in his first two matches. He started with a pin of Palmdale’s Jose Molina 1:15 into the match and followed it up with an impressive 6-1 decision victory over Silverado’s Joseph Romero.

The junior put up a good fight, but was pinned by the class’ top seed, Steele Escobedo of Fountain Valley, 21 seconds into the third period. He’ll next wrestle Rialto’s Javier DeLaCruz Saturday morning.

“He is very capable,” Bitetti said of Ghukasyan. “He’s definitely our most talented kid. He has had a ton of judo background, so it’s not like wrestling is a new thing. He’s used to going out there and competing.”

Martinez (220) had a bit of a rough start Friday, getting pinned by Serrano’s J Mendoza 1:10 into the bout. Faced with a win-or-go-home scenario, the senior won his next two matches with pins of Don Lugo’s Randy Chavez and Quartz Hill’s Palmer Dakota.

The Rio Hondo League champion will next wrestle Antelope Valley’s Daniel Newman Saturday morning.

Sebastian Ghauliance (160) just lost his first match to Granite Hill’s Justin Incremona, 2-1, and was eliminated after having to withdraw from his next match and the competition with an injury.

BOYS’ SOCCER

El Rancho 6, Glendale 0: The visiting Nitros (7-11-1) held top-seeded El Rancho scoreless in the first half of their CIF Southern Section Division III first-round match Friday before El Rancho broke it open with a huge second half.

“We hung in there with them for the first half, but they just have a lot of good players,” Glendale first-year Coach Artur Aghasyan said. “We got here to the playoffs and won a playoff game with everybody working hard, and now we want to get ready for next year.”

Lynwood 6, Flintridge Prep 0: Flintridge Prep (8-9-4) fell Friday in a CIF Southern Section Division VI first-round road match. Lynwood built a 4-0 halftime advantage.

Flintridge Prep nearly tied it at 1, but Cole Rademacher’s shot hit the post before Lynwood scored a couple of minutes later.

“That’s a very, very good team that we played,” Flintridge Prep Coach AJ Yates said. “They are a lot like South Pasadena when we played them early in the season.

“We are encouraged with our season. We have a lot of guys who will be back next year.”

Palos Verdes 6, St. Francis 0: Visiting St. Francis (6-11-5) suffered a CIF Southern Section Division I first-round loss Friday against fourth-seeded Palos Verdes.

St. Francis trailed, 4-0, at halftime.

“Our best chance coming in was to play strong defense, but they got an early goal,” St. Francis Coach Glen Appels said. “They have an extremely athletic team.

“We put in a good effort. We made a few mistakes and we paid for it. We were a little inconsistent this year and had some injuries, but we are excited about our future.”

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Dana Hills 77, Glendale 37: The Nitros’ season came to a disappointing Friday on the road against the No. 6 seed. Things didn’t start well for Glendale, which saw its starting point guard Arada Zakarian leave the game with an injury in the second quarter.

“We were just frozen, we couldn’t hit a thing,” Glendale Coach Steve Snodgress said. “We kind of saved the worst for last, we didn’t play well.”

Snodgress did commend the play of Stephan Arakelyan, who scored a team-high 19 points. Vahe Aristakessian finished with eight for Glendale, which finished the season at 9-18.

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Canoga Park Armenian General Benevolent Union 53, Holy Family 43: The 15th-seeded Gaels (7-12) fell Friday to the second seed in a CIF Southern Section Division V-A first-round road game.

“It was an honor to make the playoffs,” said Holy Family Coach Ernest Siy, who got 13 points from Tabitha Ruiz. “We got a tough draw.

“It’s nice to have a chance to compete in a playoff game and we can take a lot from this.”

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Glendale Community College 7, Irvine Valley College 2: The visiting Vaqueros (5-2) cruised to a nonconference victory Friday. They got singles wins from Sofie Tavitian (6-3, 6-0), Allie Amour (6-3, 4-6, 10-8), Ashley Sumudio (6-3, 7-6(6-1), Sydney Farzadkish (6-2, 6-1), Fnu Nerrissa (6-1, 6-4) and Stephanie Isidro (7-6(6-11), 2-6, 10-7). In doubles, Glendale received an 8-2 win from Tavitian and Amour and an 8-5 victory from Farzadkish and Seda Hakopian.

On Thursday, the host Vaqueros picked up a 9-0 nonconference victory against Victor Valley. Glendale got singles victories from Amour (6-0, 6-0), Sumudio (6-0, 6-1), Farzadkish (6-0, 6-0) and Nerrissa (6-0, 6-0). Picking up doubles wins for the Vaqueros were Amour and Nerrissa (8-1) and Isidro and Hakopian (8-3). Victor Valley defaulted in two singles sets and one doubles set because it couldn’t field enough players.

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