SANTA ANA – The annual OCWCA All-Star Classic on Monday night had the look of a Calvary Chapel-against-the-county dual.
Calvary Chapel, which hosted the event, had wrestlers in seven of the 11 of the matches. There were three weights (113, 182 and 195 pounds) that didn’t have a match.
Calvary Chapel wrestlers went 5-2. One of the losses was at 132 pounds, which matched two Calvary Chapel wrestlers, Richard Gurule and Brandon Bollinger.
“The boys wrestled well,” Calvary Chapel coach Sal Garcia said. “I think they used this as an opportunity to see where they’re at against some of the county’s best. They made the most of it.”
One of the biggest victories for Calvary Chapel came at 152 pounds. Nathan Zotea upset top-ranked Alex Bay of Irvine, 6-0.
Both wrestlers were coming off of tough weekends. Zotea finished eighth at the Battle for the Belt and Bay was seventh at the Five Counties Invitational.
“He’s starting to come along,” Garcia said of Zotea. “I think he’s going to be a really good wrestler.”
The event is designed to have the two top-ranked wrestlers in the county at each weight face off. Several of the top-ranked wrestlers did not participate, and there was just one match featuring No. 1 vs. No. 2 and that came at 170 pounds. Top-ranked Canyon’s Jared Fernandez defeated second-ranked Ramsey Cole of Laguna Hills, 9-1.
The match counts toward each wrestler’s 40-match regular season limit.
Unranked Gustavo Mello of Calvary Chapel upset fourth-ranked Nick Volpe of Laguna Hills at 145 pounds, winning by fall. The same thing happened at 106, as unranked Easton Amuro of Calvary Chapel knocked off fourth-ranked Preston Shepherd of Irvine, 8-2.
Calvary Chapel’s Elijah Palacio (120) and Luciano Arroyo (126) won their matches by technical falls.
The two losses for Calvary Chapel came by one point. Gurule edged his teammate Bollinger, 5-4, and Sean Amberry of Los Alamitos had a 5-4 victory over Blayke Lalonde.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@scng.com
