Brackets
Team Scores

Led by five wrestlers who advanced to the championship semifinals, with two winning respective individual state titles, the Cerritos College wrestling team finished in second place at the CCCAA State Championships. The Falcons, who have placed second at the state championships four times in the last 11 years, compiled 138.5 team points and trailed only rival Mt. San Antonio College, who amassed 167 team points.

Capping off his Falcon career with his second state championship, 125-pound Jonathan Prata (Downey HS) battled an injury most of the season which limited him to only 22 matches, with him coming out on top 21 times. As the state's top-seed at the weight classification, Prata (pictured, left) won his opening match on Friday with a pin and then recorded a 10-2 major decision in the semifinals against Christopher Bettancourt of Mt. San Antonio to reach the finals. Facing Rio Hondo College's Alexis Tellez, who he defeated a week ago at the Southern California Championships, Prata jumped out in the first period with a takedown and a two-point near fall for a 4-0 lead. He added to that lead in the second period with an escape point and late takedown for a 6-2 lead. The clincher came early in the third period, when he quickly reversed Tellez for a 7-2 lead and completed the season with a state title.

"I've been doing this (wrestling) for a long time, so losing last year to Covid only made me miss the sport even more," said Prata. "Even when I got hurt during the season, I knew that I knew enough moves that I would be able to adjust my style and not injure myself any more. When I heard that final buzzer, I just wanted to thank my dad for everything he's done for me and for introducing me to a sport I love."

"In some ways, I feel like Jonathan came back this season for me," stated head coach Dony Garriott. "He has other plans beside wrestling at the collegiate level, and I talked to him when we were about to come back this season and told him I needed a guy with experience and he agreed to compete this year. You know, he so good and so aware of his abilities, that the coaches and I really didn't know what we could do to make him better. He always has his own plan and knows what he needs to do in order to be successful. It's just what he does."

The Falcons other state champion, freshman Jonovan Smith (Birmingham Charter HS), who seems to thrive when in the spotlight, concluded the night with a convincing 8-3 win over Fresno City College's Rudy Garcia, the #1-seed from Northern California. Smith, who was ranked #1 in the state all season, absorbed an accidental headbutt in the second period, which seemed to spark his energy level. After escaping with a double overtime win in his first match of the tournament, Smith pinned Taven Avila of West Hills College in the semifinals to earn the opportunity to take on Garcia for the championship. After a scoreless first period against Garcia, Smith, who concluded the season with a 31-1 record, needed just two seconds to get out of an escape to start the second period and earned a point. When the headbutt occurred, Smith seemed to have a new look in his eyes, and before the end of the period, had a pair of takedowns for a 5-1 lead. On both occasions, Smith had one of Garcia's legs in his arms and got him off his feet with leg sweeps. Another third period takedown finished off the match and state title for Smith.

"When I decided to come to Cerritos, I was very nervous that I wasn't going to be able to be the person that I once was," said Smith introspectively. "I believe that the true opponent is the person you look at in the mirror. I remember vividly during my junior year in high school where I was losing to a guy from Walnut High by nine points because I didn't take him seriously. I had a little talk with myself and realized that I needed to quickly re-evaluate myself and who I wanted to be. I decided in that moment to work back little by little and ended up winning the match on a takedown with three seconds left. When I got head butt against Rudy, who I have a great deal of respect for, I needed to do a little reset in my mind because my first instinct while they were working on the cut on my mouth was to just attack him. But I knew that I needed to treat it the same way I did the guy in high school and re-directed my energy and focus and beat the guy before I could beat myself."

"Jonovan is the kind of guy who, when you earn his trust, he'll run through a wall for you," commented Garriott. "He had a couple of bad experiences at two other school, so I think I just needed time to get to know him. Although he seems to not be focused on his matches because he seems like a free spirit, he's the opposite of that. He's very composed when he wrestles and is very confident. He believes he's going to win every time and has the skillset to prove it."

Cerritos had one other wrestler advance to the championship match, with 157-pound freshman Daniel Bracamontes (Villa Park HS) suffering his first loss of the season when he was pinned by Fresno City College's Noah Cortez in 2:29. The Southern California champion, Bracamontes reached the finals with a close 7-5 win over Conrad Trevino-Oceguera of Sacramento City. Bracamontes, who only competed in one tournament all season, was looking to win a state title with only 10 matches under his belt on the year.

Heading into next season, the Falcons could potentially have eight of their state qualifiers back, which gives Garriott the confidence that they can make that extra step to win their first state title since 2014.

CERRITOS COLLEGE STATE WRESTLERS

125 Pounds - Jonathan Prata - STATE CHAMPION (All-American)
133 Pounds - Roland Dominguez - 4th Place (All-American)
133 Pounds - Josh Mendoza - 8th Place
141 Pounds - Kimo Servino - Did not place
149 Pounds - Caoilte Drury - 3rd Place (All-American)
149 Pounds - Felix Osorio - 5th Place
157 Pounds - Daniel Bracamontes - 2nd Place (All-American)
165 Pounds - Armando Murillo - 3rd Place (All-American)
174 pounds - Stone Robledo - 4th Place (All-American)
184 Pounds - Joseph Rodriguez - Did not place
197 Pounds - Justin Sawai - Did not place
285 Pounds - Jonovan Smith - STATE CHAMPION (All-American)

Photos by Daryl Peterson