For the first time since the 2016 season, the Cerritos College wrestling team has captured the Southern California Regional championship. Competing at Santa Ana College on Saturday, the Falcons finished with 216.5 team points, which was just ahead of Bakersfield College (188.5 points) and Mt. San Antonio College (168 points). In addition to winning the team title, Cerritos advanced 11 wrestlers to the CCCAA State Championships, which will be held at Fresno City College next weekend. They had five indivdual champions, while another reached the finals. The last two years saw the Falcons coming in second place after winning the title from 2014-16.

Earning individual championships for Cerritos were freshman 125-pound Jonathan Prata (Downey HS), sophomore 133-pound Andres Gonzales (Capistrano Valley HS), freshman 141-pound Isaiah Mora (Esperanza HS), sophomore 157-pound Larry Rodriguez (Downey Calvary Chapel HS) and freshman 197-pound Hamzah Al-Saudi (Palisades HS), while freshman 149-pound V'ante Moore (Lawndale HS) reached the finals before losing a close 3-2 match. Also qualifying for the state tournament were sophomore Stefano McKinney (Torrance HS), who came in third place at 133 pounds; sophomore Drake De La Cruz (Long Beach Millikan HS), who placed fourth at 165 pounds; freshman Bryan Samayoa (Long Beach Millikan HS), who took third place at 174 pounds; sophomore Angel Verduzco (El Dorado HS), who placed fourth at 184 pounds and freshman Randy Arriaga (Capistrano Valley HS), a fifth place finisher at 285 pounds.

Prata came in as the top-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds and posted three strong wins to take the title, including a 6-2 decision over Connor Diamond of Mt. San Antonio College in the finals. Another wrestler seeded #1 to win his weight was Gonzalez, who opened with a pin and then pulled out a 10-6 win over teammate McKinney before recording a 9-2 win against Kahill Tucker of Rio Hondo College in the finals. McKinney rebounded from his loss to earn a pair of wins, including a 17-2 technical fall over Jose Mata of Santa Ana College in the third place match.

Continuing to wrestle well in the latter part of the season, Mora pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tournament with his 9-8 win over top-seeded Ali Kaveh of Santa Ana in the semifinals. Unranked in the tournament, Mora opened with a pin and then a technical fall before his win over Kaveh. Riding that momentum, he was awarded the championship when David Ortega of Victor Valley College was forced to default due to an injury. As for Moore, who was also a top seed, he earned a pair of wins before his defensive battle in the finals against #3-seeded Adrian Gonzalez of Bakersfield College.

Another champion for the Falcons came at 157 pounds, as top-seeded Rodriguez earned a technical fall before a thrilling offensive match against Doroteo Lopez of East Los Angeles College, which resulted in a 14-12 victory for Rodriguez. That advanced him to the finals, where he registered a 10-5 win over Emmanuel Zepeda of East LA for the title. The final champion for Cerritos, Al-Saudi needed just two wins to pick up the title, but they were both nail-biters. After receiving a pair of byes, Al-Saudi held off Cody Huynh of Mt. San Antonio College, 4-2 before an exciting 4-3 win over Andy Voong of Rio Hondo in the finals.

Samayoa reached the semifinals at 174 pounds before getting pinned and sent to the consolation round. He rebounded with a 14-6 win over Daniel Serrano of Santa Ana and capped off his day with an 11-9 victory over Jacob Annis of Bakersfield, who came in as the #4 seed. De La Cruz suffered a loss in his first match at 174 pounds, but battled back with a technical fall and pin to reach the third place match, where he lost a tight 9-8 score against Scott Hokit of Bakersfield, who was the #3-seed. Entering the 285-pound weight class as the #3-seed Arriaga lost his first match to eventual champion Enrique Galicia of Palomar College, who posted three upsets to win the title. After a win in his next match, Arriaga was then pinned but came back for a pin of his own over Jackson Clark of Mt. SAC in the fifth place match.