Laguna Hills' Morales survives tough test to reach semifinals

BAKERSFIELD - As the final whistle sounded to end Bobby Morales' quarterfinal match, Laguna Hills coach Cliff Jarmie grabbed his head and exhaled.

That's because his senior 130-pound, top-ranked wrestler Morales, was close to falling from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Morales had to fight off a potential takedown attempt to hold on for a 3-2 victory over AJ Valles of Sanger High on Friday night in the CIF State Wrestling championships at Rabobank Arena.

Morales advances to the semifinals Saturday morning where he will face third-ranked Damien Arredondo of Buchanan of Clovis.

"He (Valles) was good at stalling and backing up," Morales said. "I had to find to find my way around that."

The tournament resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. with the consolation fifth round. Wrestlers have to win this match to guarantee themselves a spot in the top eight in their weight class.

His quarterfinals match was the toughest of the day for Morales. He won his first match, 9-1, and then received an injury default in the second round.

Jarmie believes that his hard-fought victory over Valles will only serve to help Morales as the tournament resumes.

The championship semifinals begin at 9:30 a.m.

Calvary Chapel has three wrestlers in the championships, Morgan McIntosh (189) William Knowles (215) and Michael Manighalam (285).

Manighalam had a busy day, knocking off the fifth-seed Daniel Gusev of Center High of Antelope and later the second-ranked Ory Elor of College Park of Pleasant Hill.

The victory over Elor was a controversial, 4-3 victory.

Manighalam scored the winning point on an escape in overtime. However, the College Park coaches protested the call and after a 10-minute delay, Manighalam was eventually awarded the victory.

Calvary Chapel coach Arsen Aleksanyan said that the opposing coaches were protesting the stalling calls. Both wrestlers had two.

The College Park coaches thought that one of the escape points Manighalam scored should have been ruled fleeing the mat, which would have given the point to Elor.

The county wrestlers who are still alive in the consolation bracket are Tyler Adams (Tesoro, 112), Michael Vargas (El Dorado, 130), Charles Chavez (El Dorado, 140), Walker Slaughter (Irvine, 140), Sean Datte (Tesoro, 171), Preston Quam (San Clemente, 189) and Wyatt Baker (Servite, 285).