John Glenn High junior Josiah Delgado, wrestling at 220 pounds, has a good hold of Taylen Washington of Mayfair High in the final event of last Thursday’s Suburban League wrestling meet. Delgado defeated Washington 9-3 but Mayfair won the meet 52-13, giving Glenn its first league loss of the season. PHOTO BY ARMANDO VARGAS, Contributing photographer
By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on Twitter
From 1987 to 2009, the John Glenn High boys wrestling program won 20 Suburban League championships. But lately, it has been Mayfair High which has ruled the league, finishing in first place the past four seasons and even winning the California Interscholastic Federation- Southern Section Western Division title last season.
The two met last Thursday evening at Glenn in a battle for first place and following the event, it appears that Mayfair is in line for a fifth straight league championship. The Monsoons completely dominated the Eagles 52-13 in a meet that may have been a tad bit closer “They’re a tough team, they’re returning CIF champs, they’re ranked number one,” said Glenn boys head coach Monico Enriquez. “We knew all of that coming in. I really thought we were going to wrestle better; we were ready to wrestle better. But hat’s off to them. They’re looking really good and they have things going over there. They deserved to win.”
Mayfair was up 5-0 after Ernie Aguilara easily defeated sophomore Jason Amaya 15-0 at 106 lbs. But at 113, senior Michael McLorty went the distance against Andrew Ferrer and posted a 16-7 decision. Then at 120, the Eagles took the a 10-5 lead when senior Rene Pineda pinned Brandon Conchola with five seconds remaining in the first period. The pin came moments after Pineda had a reversal move to go ahead 4-3.
But after that, it was all Mayfair, which won the next nine weight classes. With the Monsoons up 13-10 and wrestling in the 138 lb. weight class, senior Manolo Chin was leading Brody Whitt 2-1 in the second period. However, Whitt was able to pin Chin with 10 seconds left in the period.
Then at 152, junior Adrian Manzanares was going toe to toe with Alec Martinez, leading 6-3 after the first period and 7-6 in the second after an escape move. But Martinez regained the lead with a takedown and then pinned Manzanares with 1:38 remaining in the third period.
“I think the 138’s was a huge game-changer,” Enriquez said. “I thought if he gives up that pin, the momentum changed. They did a good job of picking it up from there. Adrian should have won that match. Manolo should have won that match. They were in a dog fight and [Mayfair] was just better than us today.”
With the score 46-10, the Eagles got their last victory of the night at 220 when junior Josiah Delgado defeated Taylen Washington 9-3. Joseph Tan then earned a bye in the heavyweight class to complete Mayfair’s rout.
Both teams had entered the meet with heavily lopsided victories to open the league portion of their schedules. The Eagles had blasted Cerritos High 66-12 on Jan. 5 and Norwalk High 70-0 on Jan. 17 while the Monsoons had no problems with Artesia High, 60-3, on Jan. 5, Cerritos, 75-0, on Jan. 12 and La Mirada High, 73-4, on Jan. 12.
“It kind of gave us a measure of where we’re at,” Enriquez said. “We keep an eye on each other and we look at each other in tournaments. I thought we matched up really well. We were winning some matches early on and we didn’t hold on.”
Glenn travelled to Artesia this past Tuesday and hosted Bellflower High on Jan. 26. The regular season comes to an end on Tuesday with Glenn hosting La Mirada in what will probably decide second place while Mayfair, which had its bye on Jan. 26, will host Bellflower.
“We ran [the league] for a long time and Mayfair was always right up there,” Enriquez said.
“Then they finally turned it around and now they’re getting us now. It’s just a matter of time and we just have to keep working. Hopefully we can give them a run for their money. But definitely they’re doing a good job and they’re the team to beat right now.”
Preceding the boys meet, the Mayfair girls, despite not having a wrestler in four weight classes, posted five pins to come away with a 52-28 victory. Freshman Nicole Demasi defeated Madeline Arce 13-5 at 116 for the only on the mat victory for the Lady Eagles.