Canyon Springs holds off Mayfair for crown
Competing without Sonny Kling, the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 190 pounds, Richard Trujillo of Canyon Springs could feel the pressure starting to build.
“We were all feeling a little down because our top guy, he’s not wrestling, and that did something to us,” Trujillo said. “But we saw it as a way forward and a chance to show ourselves. He wasn’t going to be in the spotlight so now it was our turn.”
Trujillo, the last man to the mat on the night for the Cougars, knew what was needed in this, his moment.
“It was all coming down to me,” Trujillo said. “I always wondered when my time was going to be.”
Trujillo, a sophomore, scored two late points and played relentless defense over the final 90 seconds to earn a 3-0 win at 157 pounds over Tumar Yanagisawa. Trujillo’s win helped Canyon Springs hold on and claim the CIF Southern Section Division
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1 dual meet championship with a 38-30 victory over Mayfair on Wednesday night.
“It’s been a long time,” Canyon Springs coach Jason Lowe said. “We have five silver plaques since 2002, so it feels really good to get a gold one.”
It’s the first dual meet section title since 2002 and fourth overall for Canyon Springs.
“This means so much for everyone,” Trujillo said. “It means we’re leaving our mark on the school’s history.”
Canyon Springs took an early 9-0 lead after Gavin Vargas opened up with a 14-7 win over Joshua Silva at 165 pounds, and Eli Gould pinned Thomas Tootill with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in the first round.
“They beat us without their No. 1, so I have to give them credit,” Mayfair coach Ibee Atalla said. “They’re a tough-nosed program so we knew we were in for a dogfight.”
Kling missed the match because he did not make weight, Lowe said. Diego Ruiz wrestled in his place at 190 pounds but was quickly dispatched by Mayfair’s Jack Beard with a pin just 80 seconds into the match.
“We kind of expected that, without Sonny, they had advantage in the top weight classes,” Lowe said.
Mayfair’s Kayden Cartee, ranked No. 18 in the state at 215 pounds, then used a rolling shoulder takedown to position and pin Jose Fiere with 1:12 left in the first period as the Monsoon’s took a 12-9 lead.
Mayfair’s Daniel Torres — known as ‘The Beast’ — needed less time to pin Canyon Springs’ Jamari Richardson, putting Richardson’s shoulders to the mat with 1:14 left in the first round for an 18-9 advantage.
“This is my world,” Torres said. “The way we were able to stay in it, take the lead and not give up means a lot to us.”
The Monsoons pushed their lead to 21-9 after Daniel Torrez came from behind to beat Xavier Manzo 3-1 in the final seconds at 106 pounds.
Max Murillo got Canyon Springs back on track with a 10-4 victory over Sebastian Brooks at 113 pounds, and Isaac Castaneda got the crowd going with a thirdround pin over Samson Escala at 120 pounds.
David Fletes’ quick pin of David Silva at 126 pounds returned the lead to Canyon Springs, 2421, but Mayfair’s Esteban Arment beat David Ornelas 9-6 to tie the meet heading into the final four matches.
Richard Murillo won five points for a 22-7 technical fall over Leonardo Guerrero at 138 pounds, and the teams traded pins at 144 and 150 pounds to set up a potential winner-takeall final match.
“I was stressed going into it, but I knew that if I wrestled to the best of my ability then it was going to work out,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo settled his nerves and after a scoreless first period, earned one point for a leg control in the second round and took two more points in the third with belly-to-back takedown before holding on till the buzzer.
“It came down to the last match, but we did it as a team,” Trujillo said.