Warriors eighth at Jim Londos Memorial, five grapplers place Sanchez, Bermudez reach second day of Battle for the Belt

Fallbrook High School's wrestling team competed in two tournaments, Jan. 10-11, with two Warrior matmen reaching the second day of the Jan. 10-11 Battle for the Belt tournament at Temecula Valley High School and the remaining Warriors combining for five medals and an eighth-place team finish at the one-day Jim Londos Memorial tournament Jan. 11, at Orange Glen High School in Escondido.

Because Kevin Sanchez and Johnny Bermudez reached the Jan. 11 portion of the 12th annual Battle for the Belt, they did not wrestle at the Jim Londos Memorial. Sanchez competed in the 132-pound class and Bermudez wrestled at 220 pounds.

Sanchez and Bermudez both lost in the match whose winner was guaranteed a medal for placing in the top eight.

"Both of our guys did well," Fallbrook coach Cristian Vera said.

Sanchez had a first-round bye, and his first actual match lasted 27 seconds before he pinned his opponent. A 10-0 major decision loss sent Sanchez to the consolation bracket, but a 10-0 major decision win and an 8-5 decision victory set up a match with Gabriel Talledo of Shadow Ridge High School in Las Vegas.

Talledo, who won a tournament in Las Vegas the previous weekend, pinned Sanchez 1:40 into the match. The tournament included four of the state's eight highest-ranked wrestlers in the 132-pound class.

Bermudez also had a first-round bye, and he followed that by pinning his first opponent 55 seconds into the match. In his next match he was pinned 49 seconds before the end of regulation, but he won his first consolation match by a 6-2 decision and then pinned his opponent 1:27 into the second period. Jacob Medrano of St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, who won a December tournament, pinned Bermudez 55 seconds into their match.

As losers in the placing round Sanchez and Bermudez did not officially place but were unofficially in the top 12.

"Placing at this tournament by itself is a big deal," Vera said. "It's very stiff competition. It speaks to their wrestling ability."

Three of Fallbrook's other wrestlers would have advanced to the second day had they won their final first-day matches: 145-pound grappler Matthew Kendall, 152-pound matman Ethan Aguila, and heavyweight Javier Montoya.

Kendall had a first-round bye, was pinned exactly midway in the second period, won a 14-5 major decision, and lost a 6-1 decision. Aguila followed his first-round bye with a win by fall 13 seconds into the second period, a loss by fall 44 seconds into the match, and a 9-4 decision defeat. Montoya had a bye and won by fall 1:15 into the match before losing 7-5 and 7-3 decisions.

The Warriors had 10 wrestlers at the Jim Londos Memorial and placed eighth despite not filling four of the weight classes.

"I'm very happy with eighth," Vera said. "I'm happy with everybody."

Team points are based on wins including the level of victory – decision, major decision, technical fall, and fall or medical forfeit – and the points are increased for subsequent rounds. Fallbrook led after the earliest rounds.

"They started off really strong," Vera said. "They were hoping to get a team trophy. That just goes to show what their mindset is right now."

The absence of two of Fallbrook's top wrestlers as well as the absence of any Warrior in two other weight classes allowed other schools to catch up. That didn't prevent five of Fallbrook's wrestlers from obtaining awards for individual positions.

"They worked really hard for those medals," Vera said.

The Jim Londos Memorial gave a two-pound weight allowance so Carlos Hernandez wrestled in the 197-pound division. He reached the championship match before settling for second place.

"He was pretty dominant," Vera said.

Hernandez won by fall 36 seconds into the second period, won by fall with 14 seconds left in regulation, and won a 10-5 decision to reach the final.

Guajome Park senior Nick Pira was Hernandez's opponent in the final. The match was the fourth of the season between Hernandez and Pira. Pira defeated Hernandez by a 5-4 decision at the Jimmy Hamada Classic tournament Dec. 6-7, pinned Hernandez in the semifinals of the Dec. 13-14 El Cajon Invitational tournament, and defeated Hernandez by a 10-5 decision in the final of the Jan. 4 Mission Hills Varsity Tournament.

For the second consecutive week Pira won the championship by defeating Hernandez in the final.

"It's tough to lose to the same guy," Vera said.

Pira pinned Hernandez 1:55 into the first period.

"It was a well-fought match," Vera said.

All four of Pira's victories in the Jim Londos Memorial were by first-period pin. He pinned his opponents 32 seconds, 36 seconds, 1:40 and 1:55 into his matches, so Hernandez lasted the longest against any of Pira's opponents. Pira was chosen as the Outstanding Wrestler Upper Weight for the tournament.

Uriel Juarez took fourth place among 140-pound grapplers.

"He's fallen short of the podium a few times now," Vera said.

In the case of the Jim Londos Memorial tournament, Juarez was deprived of a potential third-place finish not by two losses in the double-elimination tournament but by the CIF rule limiting wrestlers to five matches in one day. He began the tournament by pinning his opponent 47 seconds into the second period. Juarez then lost a 6-3 decision, which relegated him to the consolation bracket.

The wrestlers who are undefeated entering the finals battle for first and second while third place is the highest position in the consolation bracket.

"He wrestled back all the way through," Vera said.

Juarez's first match in the consolation bracket was against Cole Kirby of Sage Creek, who last year placed second in the 128-pound bracket of the CIF San Diego Section's Division IV tournament. Juarez defeated Kirby by a 9-5 decision. Juarez then won 6-0 and 5-4 decisions. Had he not reached his limit of five matches he would have competed in the third-place match.

"I'm very pleased with how he was able to wrestle back," Vera said.

Juarez achieved his fourth-place position despite a strained shoulder ligament.

"He wrestled through a troubled shoulder," Vera said. "Even with that, he battled through it."

Since four of his five matches were settled by decision Juarez was on the mat for 26 minutes and 47 seconds.

"I'm real proud of that kid. He's a hard-working guy," Vera said. "I expect good things from him."

Montoya received sixth place for the heavyweight class. He followed a first-round bye with a victory by fall which occurred 1:02 into that match. That placed Montoya into the semifinal against Cameron Fuller of Valley Center.

Fuller pinned Montoya, but not until the match had gone into overtime and 1:35 had elapsed in the tie breaking period.

"The semifinals match was a very hard-fought match," Vera said.

Montoya then lost a 4-1 decision.

"His elbow was pretty banged up," Vera said. "He really wasn't pushing with his left arm as much as he would have liked."

The double-elimination format does not eliminate the consolation semifinals losers, who compete for fifth and sixth place if the match limit or a medical forfeit does not cause fifth place to be obtained by default. The strained tricep resulted in a medical forfeit rather than Montoya contesting the fifth-place match.

"It was bothering him coming into the tournament," Vera said. "It definitely got worse in the semifinals match."

Montoya reached the final of last year's Jim Londos Memorial.

"His expectations at this tournament were pretty large," Vera said.

The injury forced a finish below those expectations.

"He still managed to place," Vera said.

Aguila was the fifth-place wrestler for the 154-pound division. His won by fall 1:19 into the third period, won by fall 1:05 into the match, lost by fall in the semifinal match with 33 seconds left in regulation, lost by fall 1:00 into the second period, and won by fall 1:58 into the fifth-place contest.

"He was still able to come back in that fifth-place match," Vera said.

Kendall obtained the sixth-place medal for the 147-pound class. He opened by pinning his opponent 49 seconds into the match but was pinned 1:44 into his second bout.

"He was able to battle back," Vera said.

Kendall began the consolation portion of the tournament with a win by fall 1:41 into the match and a victory by fall 1:44 after the contest began.

He lost a 1-0 decision in the consolation semifinal. The five-match limit prevented him from competing for fifth place.

"All in all, he still had a great tournament," Vera said.

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