Warriors defeat Jaguars to close wrestling dual meets

Fallbrook High School’s wrestling team concluded Valley League and dual meet competition Jan. 24 at Valley Center High School with a 41-39 win over Valley Center.

“We finished with a win,” Fallbrook coach Cristian Vera said.

A high school wrestling meet consists of matches in 14 different weight classes. During each match a wrestler is awarded one point for an escape, two points for a takedown, a reversal or a near fall lasting at least two seconds, and three points for a near fall lasting at least five seconds. Penalty points may also be awarded if the opponent commits an infraction.

A match decided by decision is worth three team points to the winner, a major decision which means a win by at least eight points gives the team four points, a technical fall which is awarded if one wrestler achieves a 15-point advantage provides five team points, and a fall, also known as a pin, or forfeit win adds six points to the team’s total.

A forfeit win usually occurs when a team does not provide a wrestler for a weight class rather than when a wrestler commits disqualifying activity, and a forfeit is also awarded if one wrestler is injured during the match and is unable to continue.

Fallbrook’s Valley League season began Jan. 10 with a tri-dual in Escondido in which the Warriors wrestled a full slate of matches, minus forfeited weight classes, against both Escondido and Ramona high school. Escondido defeated Fallbrook by a 48-30 score, and Ramona was victorious over the Warriors by a 43-30 margin.

Because Mission Vista High School does not have wrestling, Orange Glen High School is a Valley League member for wrestling. Fallbrook’s first home league meet of 2019 took place Jan. 15 against Orange Glen. The Patriots obtained a 39-31 victory.

Fallbrook does not have a 170-pound wrestler. A wrestler may compete in the weight class immediately higher than what he scales but not in a lower weight bracket, and the Warriors only have one 160-pound grappler so Fallbrook forfeited either the 160-pound or the 170-pound class in all of the Warriors’ meets. One of Fallbrook’s other wrestlers was overweight for his match against Orange Glen; he and his Patriots counterpart were allowed to compete but the match was automatically a forfeit in favor of Orange Glen. The Patriots forfeited one weight division. Orange Glen’s twelve forfeit points exceeded the Patriots’ margin of victory.

“It was still right there for us, but we couldn’t make up that difference,” Vera said.

The Jan. 17 meet in which the Warriors hosted San Pasqual was a 48-34 Golden Eagles win. Fallbrook once again forfeited a second weight class due to an overweight grappler while San Pasqual High School forfeited one weight division.

“We couldn’t close up the gap,” Vera said.

Valley Center fielded wrestlers in all 14 weight classes. Fallbrook had an overweight grappler who was allowed to wrestle with the Jaguars automatically receiving six points, and the Warriors also forfeited the 160-pound bracket.

Six Warriors pinned their Valley Center opponent: freshman Ethan Ellefsen in the 106-pound class, freshman Chris Beltran in the 113-pound division, junior Kevin Sanchez in the 126-pound bracket, freshman Ethan Aguila in the 145-pound match, sophomore Johnny Bermudez in the 220-pound bout and junior Javier Montoya in the 285-pound competition. Although junior Carlos Hernandez was unable to pin his 195-pound opponent, with Hernandez holding a 14-0 lead his opponent was able to free one shoulder to avoid a pin but not both shoulders. Hernandez was awarded three points for a near fall lasting five seconds, and the 17-0 advantage ended the match as a technical fall.

“When we got a chance to put them away we needed to put them away,” Vera said. “The guys pulled through, and they did everything I needed from them to get the win.”

The Jaguars won four matches by pin. Although sophomore Uriel Juarez was unable to take down his 132-pound opponent, the decision score was 7-0 so the Jaguars only received three points.

“We’ve always been really close with them,” Vera said. “This year we finally beat then.”

Fallbrook had not defeated Valley Center High School since the Warriors joined the Valley League for the 2014-2015 season.

Escondido and Ramona shared the Valley League championship with 4-1 records; Escondido was responsible for Ramona’s only loss and Valley Center was the only team to defeat Escondido. A Jaguars win against Fallbrook would have created a tri-championship, as Ramona was previously the only Valley League team to have defeated Valley Center, so the Fallbrook win deprived Valley Center of a share of first place in the final standings.

Vera said that the victory over the Jaguars showed that the Warriors were better than what their 1-4 league record would indicate.

“I think there was some kind of vindication with the win against Valley Center,” he said.

Fallbrook won all four dual meets before league competition, so the win against Valley Center gave the Warriors an overall dual meet record of 5-4.

“It’s always nice to end on a high note, and with that win we finish another season with a winning record,” Vera said.

Editor’s note: Look for CIF coverage in next week’s issue, Feb. 21.