CHULA VISTA CHULA VISTA — Ever since they moved to the San Diego Section from the Southern Section, the Brawley Wildcats have been the dominant small-school wrestling program in the section.
A new coach doesn’t change anything.
The Wildcats, under new coach Sawyer Smith, made it a quarter-century of dominance by winning their 25th straight title at Saturday’s San Diego Section Division 3 boys wrestling championship at Montgomery High School.
“Different coach, same program, same standards,” said Brawley’s 126-pound Diego Arias, one of the Wildcats six champions on the day. “There wasn’t a lot of pressure on us. We believe in our coach and ourselves.”
Brawley is still a very young team. Of their champions, three were juniors, two were sophomores and one was a freshman. In all, the Wildcats sent 12 wrestlers to next week’s Masters. They amassed 304 points to run away with the team title, well ahead of second place La Costa Canyon (245).
Claiming titles for Brawley were freshman Bejamin Limentang (106), sophomores Xamian Munoz (113) and Ricardo Ortiz (120) and juniors Diego Arias (126), Even Valez (132) and Matthew Guttierriez (190).
“We’re a young team, but we did what we were supposed to do,” said Smith, who took over for retired Tony Leon, who still drove one of the vans to the event. “We could have had a better day but we had some kids better than their seeds.”
One of Saturday’s champions had a little extra motivation. University City High School’s 144-pound Michael Cantor ed three people who made things possible — his late father Todd, his mother and stepfather.
“I lost a lot last year, but pushed through and so glad to make CIF happen like this,” said the junior. “I couldn’t help but think about my biological father, who died from an accidental overdoes of pain pills. He and my mom and stepfather have always been my biggest ers.”
Two champions with special ers were senior Jose Aspericueta (157) and junior Estebon Sanchez (215). What was so special for them was doing it in their home gym.
“It means a lot for me to win tonight,” said Sanchez, currently ranked 15th in the state at 215 pounds. “A lot of people look up to me and it’s great to rep my school.”
Other champions on the night were Sam Weinberg (138) and Brae Supulveda (165) of La Costa Canyon Liam Gonzalez of Ramona (150), Sean Magtoto of Cathedral Catholic and Enrique Hernandez of El Cajon Valley (285).
Magtoto, won the 175-pound crown with a pin of La Costa Canyon’s Lawson Fry. While his future will not be on the mat in college, he greatly appreciate what it has done for him.”
“I’m going to the Ohio State University to play lacrosse,” said Magtoto, “but wrestling has meant so much for my mentality. It helps me to be my best.”
Ranked No. 13 in the state, Sepulveda captured the 165-pound title with a pin of St. Augustine Yvan Sevilla in 57 seconds.
“I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot,” said Sepulveda. “I’m in a spot in my career where I can show who I am. I look forward to the next couple of weeks.”
Boys wrestling
CIF San Diego Section Division 3 championships
At Montgomery High School
Team: Brawley 304, La Costa Canyon 245, St. Augustine 200, University City 128, West Hills 125, El Capitan 121, Ramona 113.5, Escondido 112, Montgomery 111, Southwest (El Centro) 109.5.
Individuals:
Finals
106 – Limentang (B) dec. Ito (LCC) 5-4; 113 – Munoz (B) def Vargas (Ram) med forfeit; 120 – Ortiz (B) maj dec Bernardo (Hill) 15-4; 126 – Arias (B) tech fall Jones (EC) 21-6; 132 – Velez (B) tech fall Minsky (WH) 16-0; 138 – Weinberg (LCC) dec Cunningham (StA) 10-4; 144 -Cantor (UC) dec Martinez (B) 4-3; 150– Gonzalez (Ram) pin Lin (UC) 4:30; 157 Aspericueta (Mont) dec Torres (B) 9-2; 165 – Supulveda (LCC) pin Sevilla (StA) :57; 175 – Magtoto (CC) pin Fry (LCC) 1:39; 190 – Guitterrez (B) pin Maya (Mont) :57; 215 – Sanchez (Mont) maj dec Blazevich (LCC) 20-7; 285 – .Hernandez (ECaj) dec Pollard (Esc) 9-8.
Third place
106 – N. Steele (StA) pin Zamora (UC) 2:14; 113 – Stoops (LCC) dec Aguilar (Esc) 7-6 ; 120 – Legler (UC) dec. Robinson (MV) 10-4; 126 – Menzimer (LCC) pin Baker (Esc) 4:28 ; 132 – B. Steele (StA) pin Henzie (ECap) 3:32; 138 – Ayala (SWEC) dec. Smith (CC) 6-5 ; 144 – Miranda (LCC) dec. Blackwood (WH) 5-2 ; 150 – Leon (B) maj. dec. Doyle (LCC) 9-0; 157 – Druckerman (WH) pin Rubin (UC) 1:50; 165 – O’Neal (Ram) dec Sanchez (B) 5-1; 175 – Ameer Hussain (ECaj) pin Clark (Sant) 2:28; 190 – Perez (StA) dec Moreno (SWEC) 7-4; 215 – Grohman (StA) dec. Pollard (Esc) 9-1; 285 -Nguyen (StA) pin Reyes (Mont) 2:06.
