San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
POWAY EDGES CLOSER TO STATE NO. 1 BUCHANAN IN DUAL MEET
No. 2 Titans rally in middle weights but can’t surpass Bears
There now can be no doubt Clovis Buchanan is the top dual-meet team in the state.
But the gap is closing. The top-ranked Bears beat their second top-three team in 10 days, downing host Poway 31-23 in a thrilling dual meet Saturday in a battle of the state’s top two wrestling teams.
But this was a much different story than a year earlier when the two wrestling powerhouses met on the football field at Buchanan. The seventime state champions, including a run of six titles in the past seven years, won 11 of the 14 matches last year to beat Poway, 55-9.
“One of the first things I said to them after the match
Buchanan1 `3 Poway 23 was this was so much better than last year, we got our heads handed to us there,” said Poway coach John Meyers. “Our fight was there this year. We were missing that last year, which really surprised me.”
It started out looking a bit like 2022 when Buchanan’s loaded lightweights took them out to a 10-0 lead after the first three matches.
Elias Navida, the Titans’ junior 128-pounder, put an end to that run, scoring an escape with just six seconds left in the match for a 3-2 victory over Joe Toscano, the No. 1ranked wrestler at the weight. Navida was No. 3.
“First, I couldn’t believe our first three guys got shut out,” said Navida. “It was very important to turn that around. I hit the move and I wasn’t really sure I had gotten out. Then I heard the crowd get so loud I got so excited, everyone was going crazy.”
“We call Elias ‘Showtime,’ ” said Meyers. “He showed us tonight.”
The Titans closed the gap to 13-9 as Navida started a run of Poway wins in three of the next four weights.
Junior Paul Kelly scored a pair of takedowns and a thirdperiod ride-out en route to a 5-1 victory over Reggie Raiz at 138.
Wisconsin-bound Laird Root, the No. 2 ranked 152pounder, dropped down to 147 to face Buchanan’s Devin Alexander. His convincing 8-1 decision cut the margin down to four.
“It was a good match but I’m kind of disappointed in myself for not listening to my coaches and letting him go and try to get a major decision,” admitted Root. “I was kind of selfish for that. It won’t happen again.”
Two matches later, Angelo Posada’s 4-2 decision over Mason Espinosa at 160 again closed the lead to four, but they would never come that close again.
At 172 the Bears’ state finalist Sloan Swan’s pin opened a 10-point lead.
The Titans’ normal 172pounder Luke Condon, also heading to Wisconsin, agreed to move up for the team to 184. There, he scored an impressive 22-17 technical fall, but would rather have faced Swan.
“I asked him to do it for the team earlier in the week, and he agreed, but he wasn’t happy,” said Meyers.
The final victory on the night for Poway came at 285 as Adam Farha opened up a 10-1 lead on Alec Dansby before pinning him with a cradle with 55 seconds left.
Ten days earlier, the Bears wrestled in the match they call “The Big One” vs. Clovis. Buchanan used their edge in the lower weights to down the state No. 3-ranked Clovis, 3818.