Competing in his first match at heavyweight this season, freshman Martin Chavez (Beaumont HS) pulled out an exciting 2-1 win to help propel the Cerritos College wrestling team to an 18-14 Southwest Conference win over #4-ranked Santa Ana College on Wednesday night. The Falcons (10-3, 3-1), ranked #5 in the state, will now travel to the Fresco City Tournament this Saturday.

Chavez, who regularly wrestles at 197 pounds, was able to pull out the win after Perez was called for locking hands late in the match while clinging to a 1-0 lead. With less than a minute left, Chavez was looking for an escape point to tie the match when the penalty point against Perez tied the match, followed by Chavez escaping for the lead. He was able to hold off Perez for the final :52 seconds to pick up the victory.

The Falcon lineup was altered a bit when sophomore Gabe Ballesteros (Mesa, AZ HS) was unable to make his 125-pound weight, while freshman Dustin Kirk (Elsinore HS) was forced to move up to 133 pounds after missing weight. Kirk did win his 133-pound match, 11-4, but was leading 10-2 and was in line for a major victory, but a late reversal by Koan Nguyen made it a three-point team win, instead of four points. Taking over at 125 pounds was freshman Gary Howe (Los Alamitos HS), who dropped a 10-5 decision.

There were several other matches that came down to the final buzzer on the night. At 157 pounds, freshman Keanu Tom (Los Alamitos HS), who is ranked #2 in the state, needed a late takedown with :38 seconds against fifth-ranked Nathan Mateo for come away with a 4-3 win, while freshmen Maxwell Kumashiro (Los Alamitos HS) and Jeremiah Gerl (Downey Calvary Chapel HS) both had close matches.

For Kumashiro, ranked #5 at 174 pounds, he fell behind 4-1 in the first period against Raul Hernandez before a late first-period takedown closed the deficit to 4-3. Down 5-3 in the second period, Kumashiro recorded a reversal with :59 seconds left and was awarded a point when Hernandez was called for stalling. Riding time gave Kumashiro a 7-5 victory. After two scoreless periods at 184 pounds, Gerl finally recorded a reversal while on the mat with 1:21 left in the third period against Aaron Dubois. The third-ranked Gerl went on to post a 3-0 win.

125 Pounds - Christian Houser (Santa Ana) def. Gary Howe (Cerritos), 10-5
133 Pounds - Dustin Kirk (Cerritos) def. Koan Nguyen (Santa Ana), 11-4
141 Pounds - Greg Barrera (Cerritos HS) def. Andrew Schulter (Santa Ana), 6-3
149 Pounds - Ritchie Miranda (Santa Ana) def. Michael Behnke (Cerritos), 11-1
157 Pounds - Keanu Tom (Cerritos) def. Nathan Mateo (Santa Ana), 4-3
165 Pounds - Jacob Blackwell (Santa Ana) def. Timothy Garnica (Cerritos), 12-2
174 Pounds - Maxwell Kumashiro (Cerritos) def. Raul Hernandez (Santa Ana), 7-5
184 Pounds - Jeremiah Gerl (Cerritos) def. Aaron Dubois (Santa Ana), 3-0
197 Pounds - Juan Hernandez (Santa Ana) def. Christian Milian (Cerritos), 10-6
285 Pounds - Martin Chavez (Cerritos) def. Oscar Perez (Santa Ana), 2-1

Photos by Daryl Peterson