Etiwanda captures CIF-SS Division 3 dual-meet crown
The Etiwanda boys wrestling team didn’t need a CIF Southern Section title for validation, but the Eagles got it anyway.
Etiwanda finished off its first dual-meet title in school history last week, defeating host Chaminade 3933 for the Division 3 crown.
“It’s another notch in our belt,” Etiwanda coach Larry Cutbirth said. “It shows our program is growing. Overall, from the outside it’s nice to get our respect.”
The only other time Etiwanda reached a CIF-SS dual-meet final was 1992.
While the match was back and forth, the ending was anticlimactic. With the score tied 33-33, Chaminade forfeited the last bout, at 145 pounds, to give Etiwanda the victory.
Cutbirth said he was surprised Chaminade forfeited since it had at least one wrestler who weighed in for that weight.
“I would’ve put someone out there, but he chose not to,” Cutbirth said. “I coach my team, and they coach theirs.”
Each team won seven of the 14 matches, but Etiwanda had four pins, two forfeits and one minor decision while Chaminade had four pins and three minor decisions.
While many coaches choose not to participate in the CIF-SS dual-meet tournament and focus on the individual tournament instead, Cutbirth said he has always taken the opportunity to wrestle at duals.
“I think it’s a good opportunity to get a chance to wrestle at duals,” he said. “The worst thing that happens is, you lose. But I respect the coaches that don’t want to go.”
As is usually the case for coaches leading up to dualmeet matches, Cutbirth mapped out which matches he thought he would win, which he thought he would lose and which were tossups.
Cutbirth penciled in a loss for the Eagles at 170 pounds, but Issac Pena defeated Chaminade’s Giovanni Gonzalez 7-0.
“He stepped up and I had it going the other way,” Cutbirth said. “That gave us some momentum. It gave us more margin for error.”
Cutbirth had three matches marked as tossups, and the Eagles won all three via pin: Moses Vaitai (220), Galen Brown (285) and Ryan Khan (113).
“I knew it was going to be close and any one of those could have swung the match,” he said.
Outside of the forfeits in the first and last matches, Jacob Bell (126) was Etiwanda’s other winner.
Etiwanda led 33-27 when Chaminade won back-toback minor decisions at 132 and 138 to tie the match but ultimately leave Chaminade short.
The first three rounds of the tournament took place Jan. 28 at San Clemente High School. Fourth-seeded Etiwanda advanced to the final with wins over Patriot 72-6, Buena 60-12 and topseeded Trabuco Hills 39-33. The championship match was at Chaminade because Chaminade was a higher seed than Etiwanda.
Saturday was Etiwanda’s next step in the postseason with the Baseline League finals. The Etiwanda boys had eight league champions and 12 of their 14 wrestlers qualified for the CIFSS individual tournament at Brea Olinda High School, while the Etiwanda girls qualified 11 wrestlers for their individual tournament at San Dimas High School.