Photos by Beth Oualline and Wilson Baldelomar
Boys Wrestling:
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
It doesn’t get much more competitive than Wednesday’s rivalry showdown between San Dimas and their host from Bonita.
The Saints and Bearcats won seven matches apiece.
SDHS had four wins via decision and three pins, while BHS pinned four Saints’ opponents and earned three match victories by decision.
Bonita went into the final six matches of the night trailing the Saints, and that included a 31-21 deficit with just two matches to go.
But the Bearcats got pins by Xander Rivas at 145 pounds to pull BHS to within 31-27 of SDHS.
And it almost meant that Bonita’s, and one of the San Gabriel Valley’s most elite wrestlers, Tristan Fernandez, had a shot to finish off the Saints with either a tech fall or a pin.
Fernandez chose the latter and stuck Jeremy Ortiz in the first period to set off a celebration in the Bonita High School gym.
In a two-point dual, one can look back and recognize that Bonita not giving up pins in a few of the lopsided setbacks, was the difference between winning and losing.
The dual started at 157 pounds, and Dylan Khelghatian defeated Nathan Ebel, 6-4, in overtime to give San Dimas a 3-0 lead.
Donovan Morrison would double the Saints team lead to 6-0 after a 14-12 decision over Josh Marshall.
Bonita running back-linebacker, Cole Parra, who missed all of last wrestling season, made his first appearance in 2023-24.
Parra (175) apparently shook off any rust he might have had with a first-period pin to pull BHS even at 6-6.
CT Clancey gave the Bearcats their first lead of the night (9-6) thanks to his decision victory over Roque Dominguez.
Michael Baeza would wrestle the lead back, as the 215-pounder stuck Bonita’s Connor Milici in the second period.
Ethan Lorenz, whose 2023 football season came to an end (via injury) in the regular season finale against Charter Oak, secured a first-period pin, and BHS would take a 15-12 advantage with eight matches remaining.
San Dimas’ Brendan Krieger (106 pounds, win via pin), Ben Cordero (120, 6-2), Kamari Baldelomar (126, 17-4) and Liam Robledo (138, pin) all picked up big wins, and put SDHS in a position to leave La Verne with a victory.
But it was a 14-9 victory for Elias Echeveste (113, 14-9) and Dylan Garcia (132, 11-7) that allowed Rivas and Fernandez to play the role of hero.
One of the cool things to witness was how much respect each program and their coaches showed the other in spite of being nearby rivals.
Just below the match-by-match results are links to a couple of photo galleries.
Match Results:
157: Dylan Khelghatian (SD) def Nathan Ebel (B), 6-4, in OT. (3-0 SD)
165: Donovan Morrison (SD) def. Josh Marshall (B), 14-12. (6-0 SD)
175: Cole Parra (B) pinned Fabio Lara (SD) in first period. (6-6)
190: CT Clancey (B) def. Roque Dominguez (SD), 9-6. (9-6 BHS)
215: Michael Baeza (SD) pinned Connor Milici (B) in second period. (12-9 SD)
285: Ethan Lorenz (B) pinned Angel Castaneda (SD) in first period. (15-12 BHS)
106: Brendan Krieger (SD) pinned Trevor Prejusa (B) in first period. (18-15 SD)
113: Elias Echeveste (B) def. Ethan Rodriguez (SD), 14-9. (18-18)
120: Ben Cordero (SD) def. Nick Vasquez (B), 6-2. (21-18 SD)
126: Kamari Baldelomar (SD) def. Xavier Perez (B), 17-4. (25-18 SD)
132: Dylan Garcia (B) def. Daniel Baeza (SD), 11-7. (25-21 SD)
138: Liam Robledo (SD) pinned Lucas Legaspi (B) in second period. (31-21 SD)
144: Xander Rivas (B) pinned Jeremiah Laing (SD) (31-27 SD)
150: Tristan Fernandez (B) pinned Jeremy Ortiz (SD) in first period. (33-31 BHS)
To view photos by Wilson Baldelomar, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
To view photos by Beth Oualline, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
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