Four Warriors place at CIF divisional meet

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The CIF Division II boys wrestling championship meet was held Feb. 12 at Alliant University in San Diego, and four Fallbrook wrestlers placed.

Ethan Aguila placed third in the 154-pound bracket; Nick Brockson was the fourth-place 108-pound wrestler; Xavier Pacheco ended the meet sixth in the 115-pound division, and Marco Arias Jr. took eighth place among 140-pound matmen.

“Those four guys performed really well,” said Fallbrook coach Cristian Vera.

Two of Fallbrook’s wrestlers missed the Feb. 12 meet to attend the funeral of Fallbrook High School senior Oscar Ledesma. Eight Warriors competed in the CIF tournament. A high school wrestling meet has 14 weight classes, so the Warriors were limited in the team points they could obtain and finished 10th as a team with 56 1/2 points.

“I never take guys just to fill up slots,” Vera said. “The other four kids who participated all deserved to be there.”

All four of those wrestlers lost both matches in the dual-elimination tournament.

Aguila was seeded third among 154-pound matmen. He had a first-round bye and then pinned Tommy Speer of Mount Carmel 1:56 into the match. Jun Melchior of Scripps Ranch was seeded second, and in the semifinals Melchior defeated Aguila by a 12-5 decision.

“It was a competitive match, but unfortunately he came up a little short against Jun,” Vera said.

In his first consolation bracket match, Aguila pinned San Pasqual’s Sam Pontanares 1:25 after the match began. Aguila thus advanced to the third-place match against Moses Saucier of Grossmont. With 15 seconds remaining in the second period, Aguila pinned Saucier to take third place.

“I’m very proud of his performance, and I’m very happy that he finished in the top three in this division,” Vera said.

“Up until the Melchior march, he had total control,” Vera said. “They were tough matches, but he blew everybody out except for Jun.”

Brockson had a first-round bye and then pinned William Nguyen of Mount Carmel four seconds before the end of the second period. Division champion Edwin Sierra of Poway pinned Brockson 20 seconds into the semifinal.

“Brockson just came right back and wrestled well,” Vera said.

Consolation bracket competition for Brockson began with a pin of Scripps Ranch’s Noah Harris with 13 seconds remaining in the first period. In the third-place match Brockson won an 11-2 major decision over Denzel Ayala of Vista.

“He held his own,” Vera said. “He’s only a sophomore and he’s already competing at this level.”

Pacheco is also a sophomore. Aguila and Arias are seniors.

In the first round of the 115-pound competition Pacheco won an 11-1 major decision against Mount Carmel’s Dominic Taylor. Eventual division champion Elias Navida of Poway then pinned Pacheco 1:32 into the semifinal match.

Pacheco’s first consolation bracket match was a pin of Escondido’s Liam Baker 54 seconds into the second period. If a wrestler achieves a 15-point lead a technical fall is awarded, and when Pacheco received three points for a near fall lasting at least five seconds he led Bradon Eilers of Rancho Buena Vista by a 17-0 margin to trigger the technical fall. In the consolation semifinal, Pacheco was pinned by Grossmont’s Jacob Barnes 17 seconds before the end of the second period.

The consolation semifinals losers compete for fifth and sixth place. Noah Gallegos of Bonita Vista lost his consolation semifinal by a medical forfeit and was not able to face Pacheco, who was awarded fifth place.

Arias had a first-round pin of Olympian’s Nabil Azizi 36 seconds into the third period. Daniel Felix of Escondido won a 12-0 major decision over Arias, who was then pinned in the consolation quarterfinals 25 seconds into his match with Garrett Elliott of Scripps Ranch. The consolation quarterfinals loss sent Arias to the seventh-place match against Rahman Ferguson of San Ysidro, and when Ferguson pinned Arias 18 seconds into the third period Ferguson secured seventh place while Arias settled for eighth.

“To still finish in the top eight I think is very impressive,” Vera said.

Daniel Wilson was Fallbrook’s 122-pound representative. Billy Townson of Poway won the weight class and pinned Wilson 1:12 into their match. Wilson then faced Tyler Patel of Mount Carmel; the match was tied after the regulation three periods before Patel won a 9-8 decision in overtime.

Derrick Yap lost both of his 134-pound matches as did Aiden Lane in the 147-pound division and Tank Benitez in the 222-pound bracket.

Lane is also a senior. “Aiden has been a real big presence in our room,” Vera said.