San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
EAGLES STEP UP AS NEW ROYALTY
The king has moved on. Poway High has dominated the San Diego Section Division II wrestling championships, winning the last 10 seasons.
Before that, the Titans won 19 consecutive CIF Division I titles and 12 straight 3A Division titles.
For 41 straight years going back to the last non-title season in 1981, Poway has claimed a section crown in wrestling.
But Poway was returned to Division I this season to open the way for someone else to finally win a Division II title.
That team turned out to be Granite Hills.
By winning the team title, it is the first wrestling championship for the Eagles, whose best CIF performance came in 1994 when they finished second to, of course, Poway in Division I.
For a school that has chased the championship dream since opening in 1960, this title means everything.
To be honest, Granite Hills, with 11 semifinalists and nine finalists, clinched its first title before the finals even started.
With 332.5 team points, the Eagles outdistanced the field with Mira Mesa next with 151, Escondido third with 130 and Steele Canyon fourth with 121.5.
Junior Abram Cline started the Eagles off with a victory on a first-period pin in 2:55 at 108 pounds.
In keeping with the long journey to the title, it took Cline six tries to finally pin Samuel Costa from Olympian.
“It took a while to get him on the mat,” said Cline, who is ranked No. 2 in the state. “We have a different mindset because we knew we had the title.
“It’s awesome to be right here now. I couldn’t ask to be a on a better team than this one.
“But this is not the ultimate goal because we eventually want to be state champion.”
That will mean the Eagles will face off with Poway at next weekend’s Masters Meet at Mission Hills High before cruising off to
Bakersfield the following weekend for the state tournament.
Don’t forget, defending state champion Clovis Buchanan is also in Granite Hills’ way.
That doesn’t matter to the newly crowned CIF champions.
“It was hard to focus all day long,” Cline said. “The thought of the state championships, though, keeps me going.
“We had a tough schedule all year and some of the guys took some tough losses.
“Winning the CIF title is kind of the reward for us and every Eagle from the past.”
Granite Hills also got winning efforts from Carlo Arreola with a 10-2 decision at 115 pounds, Aiden Chur with a pin in 5:41 at 122, Jayson Suetos with a pin in 5:44 at 128, Devon Wells with a pin at 5:49 at 140, Ryan Carroll with a 6-2 decision at 147, Collin Guffey with a pin in 1:11 at 154, Zach Waterhouse with a pin in 3:56 at 162 and Keagan Kroeger with a pin in 3:45 at 197.
“This feels better than I ever thought it would,” Granite Hills coach Jesse Sheard said. “And I’ve had a long time to think about this.
“You saw what winning a state title did for the football community at our school, I think this will grow the wrestling program in the next few years.”
Long live the king.