Lack of wrestlers or preparation responsible for Warriors loss

Two positive COVID-19 tests wiped out four weeks of practice for the Fallbrook High School wrestling team, and the second quarantine ended the day the Warriors had a meet at San Marcos. The April 29 meet was the first of the season for Fallbrook although not the first scheduled meet, and San Marcos won the Palomar League meet by a 69-9 score.

"I finally got a meet in. It didn't go well, but at least we got a chance to compete," said Fallbrook coach Cristian Vera.

Although the Warriors began wrestling practice in mid-March a positive COVID-19 test resulted in a two-week quarantine. That quarantine ended April 12, and the Warriors practiced that day and the next two days before an April 14 test produced another positive result and another two-week quarantine.

"We haven't had a chance to practice," Vera said.

With three days of practice for all of April and the April 29 dual meet not being preceded by any practice during the previous two weeks, Vera knew that the Warriors would be at a disadvantage. "There was consideration about canceling this dual," he said.

Four of Fallbrook's meets had previously been cancelled. Vera opted for the likely loss. "We just wanted to get a chance to compete while we could, and we went for it," he said.

Vera requested and was granted a later starting time so that the Warriors could have additional warmups. The lack of conditioning was evident in the actual competition. "With all due respect to San Marcos, I think our biggest opponent was just fatigue," Vera said.

Fallbrook only has 12 wrestlers, and some of those competed at the junior varsity level. If a team does not field a wrestler in a weight class, that match is forfeited and the other team receives six team points. A team also receives six team points for a pin, and three points are awarded for a decision. (A major decision with at least an eight-point margin provides four points, and if a wrestler is ahead by 15 points a technical fall grants five points to his team.) The Warriors only contested eight matches, so San Marcos obtained 36 points on forfeits.

The Knights thus had a 33-9 scoring advantage in the contested matches. "Even the matches that we lost, they were fairly competitive," Vera said. "We don't have a big squad this year, but the guys we have are pretty competitive."

Six of Fallbrook's points were earned by senior Johnny Bermudez who wrestled in the heavyweight class and pinned his opponent in the first minute of the second period. "He had a pretty good match," Vera said.

Frank Greenwood was Fallbrook's 195-pound wrestler, and the senior won by decision. "It got a little close for comfort at the end, but he was able to scrape out the win," Vera said.

Greenwood was part of the 2019-20 team, but a shoulder injury ended his season in December 2019. Bermudez ended his 2019-20 season in the all-division CIF masters tournament and reached the final eight of the 222-pound division.

San Marcos won five matches by pin and one by decision. "At the end of the day San Marcos was the better team that day," Vera said.

Fallbrook won the 2019-20 Valley League championship, and the Warriors were placed in the Palomar League for 2020-21.

"Given the circumstances, I couldn't be happier with the performances," Vera said. “And I'm excited to see what we can do once we have some regular practices under our belt."

The masters tournament determines state tournament qualifiers and, since there will be no state tournament this year, the masters tournament will not take place. The CIF division tournaments will be held May 29.

"My goal for the season, if nothing else, is to try to get these guys as much mat time as possible," Vera said. "It's just about the ability to compete."