Brockson second, Huntington third at Mission Hills Invitational

The Mission Hills Invitational wrestling tournament Jan. 6 at Mission Hills High School included a second-place result for Fallbrook High School junior Nic Brockson and third place for Fallbrook senior Devin Huntington.

"It went good. It was a really tough tournament," said Fallbrook coach Tom Brockson.

The Warriors began 2024 competition with Fallbrook's first Valley League dual meet of the year Jan. 4. The Warriors hosted Del Norte, who obtained a 45-35 victory. "It came down to the last match," Brockson said.

Thirty of the Nighthawks' points were from forfeits when Fallbrook didn't field a grappler in the weight class.

Fallbrook brought six wrestlers to the Mission Hills Invitational. Nic Brockson was in the 128-pound division. He followed a first-round bye by pinning his next three opponents in the first period. Brockson pinned Christian's Colton Evernham 1:09 into their match, pinned Diego Gonzalez Suarez of Rancho Buena Vista 1:13 into that bout, and pinned Eliel Santiago of Mission Hills 1:10 after the semifinal began.

Poway's Thomas Storer also had a first-round bye and pinned his next three opponents in the first period. Storer and Brockson faced each other in the final. "They went back and forth," Tom Brockson said.

Storer went ahead with an early takedown. The opponents had two scrambles later in the first period before Storer was able to pin Nic Brockson at the end of the period.

Huntington wrestled in the 152-pound bracket. He had a first-round bye and then pinned Reese Arthur of Rancho Bernardo 45 seconds into the second period. In the quarterfinals, Ramona's Liam Gonzalez won a 13-9 decision to relegate Huntington to the consolation bracket. Huntington then pinned San Pasqual's Caleb Wright 1:33 into the second period and defeated Poway's Thomas DeBoer in a 5-1 decision.

"Devin had some big wins," Tom Brockson said.

Mount Miguel's Ty Pope faced Huntington in the third-place match, and a pin 1:10 into the competition gave Huntington third place. "It was a really big win for him," Brockson said.

Daniel Wilson was Fallbrook's 140-pound grappler. The junior began the tournament by pinning Christian's Brandon Scharer at the end of the second period and then winning an 18-7 major decision against Russell Henzie of El Capitan. In the quarterfinals Gambino Martinez of Castle Park obtained a 17-4 major decision victory over Wilson, whose only consolation bracket match was an 8-5 decision loss to Vista's Jeremiah Vander Meulen.

Fisher Phillips also won two matches before being eliminated. The 146-pound senior faced Alex Nunez of Ramona to begin the competition. The match was tied in regulation before Nunez obtained a takedown for a 6-4 overtime victory. Phillips began consolation bracket competition with an overtime victory of his own, defeating Christian's Micah Melendez in a 7-6 match. Noah Wisniew of Mountain Empire was pinned by Phillips 1:15 into their bout. Monte Vista's Alparasian Sener ended Phillips' participation with a 7-5 decision win.