MacDermot, Musso wrestle at freshman county championships

Two Fallbrook High School wrestlers competed at the San Diego Freshman County Championships meet Feb. 9 at Mount Carmel High School.

Mark MacDermot wrestled in the 120-pound division while Gauge Musso was in the 126-pound class. Cristian Vera, who coaches Fallbrook’s freshman and junior varsity teams, planned to take seven Warriors to the meet before injuries and semester grades reduced that number. “We really didn’t have that many freshmen to start with, anyway,” Vera said.

Drew Backe was academically eligible but broke his collarbone during practice, which ended his season prior to the meet.

Both of Fallbrook’s wrestlers lost both their matches in the double-elimination tournament. In MacDermot’s initial match a takedown with 15 seconds remaining gave his opponent a one-point win. “He was pretty close to winning,” Vera said. “He had a great match, but he just lost it at the very end.”

An upset in the first round placed the weight division’s second seed against MacDermot in the consolation match, resulting in a first-period pin which eliminated MacDermot. “He just put a whooping on Mark,” Vera said.

“He had a great tournament,” Vera said of MacDermot. “It was just awesome to watch.”

MacDermot, who did not participate in club wrestling prior to his first high school season, plans to compete in off-season tournaments over the next year. “He’s a really hard-working kid,” Vera said. “He’s just an awesome kid to have around.”

Musso began the meet against the sixth seed in the weight bracket and was pinned in the third round. “He actually wrestled pretty tough,” Vera said.

Musso was defeated on points in his second match. “He had a pretty tough tournament,” Vera said.

Although Vera was disappointed that the Warriors lost all of their matches, he was pleased with the effort of his wrestlers. “They still managed to fight as hard as they did and worked as hard as they did,” he said.