Warriors begin wrestling season with 75-0 win

Fallbrook High School's wrestling team began the 2019-20 season with a Nov. 14 home meet against Del Norte which ended as a 75-0 Fallbrook victory.

"I couldn't ask for a better start of the season, and I couldn't have asked for a better result," said Fallbrook varsity coach Cristian Vera.

Wrestling meets have two systems for points: one for match scoring and one for team scoring for the meet. For each match a wrestler is awarded one point for an escape, two points for a takedown, two points for a reversal, two points for a near fall lasting two to five seconds, and three points for a near fall lasting at least five seconds. (An infraction awards the opponent one point for the first and second offenses and two points for the third offense.)

The team whose wrestler wins a match by a decision obtains three points, although a major decision which means a margin of at least eight points provides four team points and if the margin reaches 15 points a technical fall worth five team points is declared. A pin, or fall, is worth six team points as is a forfeit which is usually due to a school not filling a weight class rather than for a disqualification, and if an injured wrestler is unable to continue the other team also receives six points. A high school match consists of 14 weight classes.

Fallbrook was unable to field a 170-pound wrestler Nov. 14, but Del Norte also did not have a grappler in that weight division so a double forfeit in that class resulted in zero points for both schools. Del Norte forfeited five additional weight classes while the Warriors filled 13 weight brackets.

As of Nov. 14, Fallbrook had 28 team members certified to wrestle with four others awaiting certification. "We should have about 32 guys," Vera said. "We have a pretty decent amount of depth."

The Warriors' roster currently includes one girl. Girls may compete in dual meets either against other girls or against boys, depending on who the opposing school has in that weight class, and there are also girls tournaments.

Fallbrook's varsity wrestlers Nov. 14 consisted of four seniors, four juniors and five sophomores. "We had a lot of young kids," Vera said.

One of those sophomores, Angel Leon, is a first-year wrestler. The Nov. 14 meet was Leon's first match ever and he competed for the varsity in the 106-pound division. Leon began his wrestling career by pinning his opponent 1:00 into the match.

"That's pretty impressive," Vera said.

Two other Warriors pinned their counterparts in the first minute: senior Marco Alejandre ended the 126-pound match 14 seconds after it began and junior Johnny Bermudez won by fall 32 seconds into the 220-pound match.

A total of five Warriors won by first-round pin. The 113-pound match concluded 1:23 into the period when sophomore Ethan Ellefsen pinned his opponent while junior Matthew Kendall won the 160-pound bout with a pin 1:36 into the match.

Two other Fallbrook wrestlers obtained pins during the second period: the 182-pound opponent of junior Frank Greenwood lasted 15 seconds into the second round before being pinned while the 132-pound match ended when Chris Beltran won by fall 1:15 into the second period.

A regulation match lasts three two-minute periods (a tie score at the end of regulation results in overtime) and the only match between Fallbrook and Del Norte which went into the third period lasted until the end of regulation. The 145-pound Del Norte matman was able to stave off a pin by junior Uriel Juarez. "The kid was tough; he did not want to get pinned," Vera said.

Juarez won a 7-2 decision, giving Fallbrook three points. He had two takedowns and a near fall lasting more than five seconds. Two escapes gave the Del Norte grappler his points.

"Everybody else was a six-point fall," Vera said.

Del Norte forfeited the 120-pound weight class to sophomore Marco Arias Jr., the 138-pound bracket to senior Kevin Sanchez, the 152-pound division to sophomore Ethan Aguila, the 195-pound bout to senior Carlos Hernandez and the heavyweight contest to senior Javier Montoya.

Two junior varsity matches were wrestled and Fallbrook won both: one by pin and one by disqualification for a fourth offense infraction.

"I couldn't be happier with the start," Vera said. "My hat's off to them. They did everything that I asked them to do and technique wise it was almost perfect."

Fallbrook will have tournaments during December but no dual meets. The Warriors' next dual meet will take place Jan. 2 at home against Guajome Park, which is coached by former Fallbrook High School coach Greg Wagaman. Wagaman coached the Warriors from 2008 to 2014 and Vera is a 2011 Fallbrook High School graduate, so Wagaman was Vera's coach for Vera's sophomore, junior and senior years.

The Warriors will also have five Valley League dual meets during the season.

"I think this is going to be a great year for all of our guys," Vera said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].