Calvary Chapel Again Seizes Control

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — With little fanfare, the Southern Section Masters wrestling meet started promptly at 10 a.m. Saturday. But what followed was 11 hours of chaos as more than 280 Southern Section wrestlers competed for coveted spots in the state finals.

The Masters is not a team event and is solely for the purpose of slimming down the field for the state meet this week in Stockton. The top eight finishers from each weight class advance.

With so much riding on each match, Saturday’s event was filled with sweat, joy, tears and a little blood.

John Azevedo, coach of defending state champion Calvary Chapel, was extremely happy that seven of his 11 wrestlers advanced, especially since some county coaches had predicted an off-year for the Eagles.

“I’m extremely proud of these kids,” Azevedo said. “They really came through for us today. Especially [Mike] Bigrigg. That was a big win for us.”

Bigrigg, one of two Calvary Chapel champions, defeated Cristobal Gonzales of Ventura, 5-4, in the 189-pound match. The win was impressive because Gonzales beat the Calvary Chapel senior last week in the Southern Section Division I finals.

Adam Bones was the other Eagle titlist. Bones, a sophomore, won at 112 pounds, beating Joe Lopez of Riverside Norte Vista, 4-2

Calvary Chapel’s Ben Nakamura just missed winning the 145-pound title, losing to Temecula Valley’s Ryan Kane, 3-2, but it was an excellent performance from the transfer student from Corona Centennial who missed the first half of the season with a hip injury.

Top-seeded Josh Saul was narrowly defeated by Division II champion Philip Alejandrino of Chino, 6-4, in the 215-pound championship match.

The other Eagles who advanced were Arsen Aleksanyan (160), Steve Esparza (103) and Josh Johnson (125).

Brethren Christian had four wrestlers advance to the state meet, two of whom won titles.

Michael Simpson, a 103-pound sophomore, defeated Steve Ybarra of Arroyo Grande, 6-5. Even more impressive than his victory in the championship match, was his win by technical fall over Tony Perez of Santa Ana in the semifinals. Perez was the 103-pound runner-up at state last year. Perez finished sixth Saturday.

Steve Garcia (119 pounds) and Larry Rodriguez (125) were the other two Brethren Christian wrestlers who advanced.

The county was well represented in championship finals, with eight finalists in the 14 weight divisions.

Laguna Hills’ Mike Quesnel, the school’s first Masters finalist, Rigo Pinon of Newport Harbor, second at 119 pounds at Division II finals last week, was the runner-up again, losing 7-4 to Steve Chilpa of Covina Northview.

Other county wrestlers who advanced were: El Modena’s Jerin Williams (103), Valencia’s Jack Anaya (112), Santa Ana’s Jose Najara (112), Jose Leon (119) and Manuel Villagomez (130), Los Amigos’ Harvey Garcia (119), Kennedy’s Richard Feistman (135), Laguna Hills’ Bob Griffin (140), Anaheim’s Tim Dye (171) and Edgar Saldivar (189), Magnolia’s Don Schwartrz (heavyweight), San Clemente’s Robert Richardson (heavyweight) and Santiago’s Daniel Melendez (215).