John Glenn wrestlers top Cal High, 48-29, in non-league dual meet
John Glenn’s Edmund Mariquez wrestles California’s Ronnie Maxwell in the 160-weight class in their Dual Meet at California High School in Whittier. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
WHITTIER – After a limited 2021 spring wrestling season, high school teams are ready to finally get back to normal this year.
John Glenn and California high schools are just two of those schools and they both put on quite a show Wednesday night (Dec. 1).
The Condors, hosting the early-season dual in a gym packed with anxious wrestlers and families, fell to Glenn, 48-29.
“The kids wrestled hard and showed a lot of heart,” said Glenn coach Monico, who began coaching at Glenn in 1999 as an assistant and has been head coach for 12 years. “We’re very young with a lot of freshmen on our team and a lot of 10th graders. It was a good win for these kids.”
Assisting coach Monico Enriquez are his brothers, Adrian Enriquez and Juan Enriquez and Martin Gevorkian.
On the other side of the mat is the Condors. After many years with coach Doug Loo in charge, a new staff took over this season and is keeping the strong tradition going on the Whittier campus.
“It’s a great privilege to be back here at my alma mater,” said assistant coach Robert Rosa.
Rosa will be assisting head coach Steve Muchaca, along with Anthony Espinoza and Daniel Delgado, who were all part of the 2013-14 Del Rio league champions.
John Glenn coaches cheer on their wrestler in their Dual Meet at California High School in Whittier. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
“We’re trying to improve on the basics and get those things down first,” Rosa added. “We’re starting to improve week by week.”
Cal opened with a match against La Mirada, while Glenn took third in the Gahr duals, Nov. 19.
Prior to the boys varsity match, the John Glenn girls had a few matches against Cal, followed by a JV match between the two schools.
In the boys varsity match, the Eagles came through with all their points with six pins out of the 11 matches on the mat. The other two wins were by forfeit.
Cal scored two pins, two major decisions, a decision and a forfeit.
After Cal opened up with a forfeit in the 106 lb. weight class, Glenn sophomore Julian Rodriguez scored the first of the six pins for the eagles. Leading, 2-0, in the first period, Rodriguez (113 lbs.) gave Glenn the 12-point advantage early in the match over freshman Bryan Meza.
The Condors’ Jesse Hernandez, sophomore, (120 lbs.) won by a major decision (13-4) over Glenn junior Emmanuel Enriquez.
“This year I hope to get to experience how it is to go to CIF and if I get a chance, Masters and maybe state,” said Hernandez, who wrestled on varsity in his freshman year. He led, 3-1 after the first period and built it up to 9-3 after the second period.
Glenn led, 12-4, after three wrestlers.
Next up was Glenn’s Jacob Enriquez (126 lbs.), who is the freshman cousin of Emmanuel Enriquez. With 45 seconds left in the opening 2-minute period, Jacob Enriquez completed the second pin for the Eagles over Condors junior Angel Anaya for the 18-4 lead.
“We have a lot of younger people now and it’s a longer time to build and get their skills higher and higher,” said Jacob Enriquez, of the young Eagles team. “All of us Enriquez’ are always competing, being cousins.”
Jacob Enriquez’ father is assistant coach Adrian Enriquez.
Cal then came back with back-to-back pins by senior Jacob Benavidez (132 Lbs.) over Robert Renteria with just 12 seconds left in the second period and junior Christopher Louden (138 Lbs.) over sophomore Andrew Gomez with two seconds remaining in the opening period.
Cal closed to within two points, 18-16, after six wrestlers.
The Eagles picked up another six points for the second Cal forfeit, followed by their third pin of the night by junior Diego Lopez (152 lbs.) over junior Adrian Melero, with 1:32 left in the first period.
Cal again won two consecutive matches – a 15-4 major decision by senior Ronnie Maxwell (160 lbs.) over junior Edmund Mariquez and a 6-1 decision by senior Santiago Silva (170 lbs.) over Glenn junior Alex Valdez. After a scoreless first period, Silva scored three points in each of the second and third periods for the win.
Glenn now led, 30-23 with four matches remaining and the result still up in the air.
However, the next three Glenn wrestlers all won by pins – senior Xzavian Miranda (182 lbs.), senior Freddie Valdivia (195 lbs.) and junior Logan Torrez (220 lbs.) for the insurmountable, 48-23, lead with only one match remaining.
The last match went to the Condors, as Glenn forfeited the heavyweight match to finish the scoring.
One of the highlights of the night was the first varsity win for Miranda, in his first wrestling match ever.
Miranda, who has specialized in the martial arts for years and attends Southeast Academy across the street from John Glenn, was in a 0-0 draw after the first period.
By the end of the second period, Miranda had his opponent pinned, but time ran out.
He finally pinned his opponent with 1:20 remaining in the match.
“This was my first match ever,” said Miranda, who was mobbed by his teammates after his first-ever win. “I’d been wanting to be on the wrestling team since last year. Covid happened and everything and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to.
“When I heard they (Glenn) had a wrestling team, I tried out instantly.”
The last league championship, which was only duals competition, went to John Glenn, led by Renteria, Lopez and Emmanuel Enriquez.
What they said:
Monico Enriquez, Glenn coach: “It was big when Freddy (Valdivia) and Logan (Torrez) won their matches by pins. Because we knew we didn’t have a heavyweight because he is hurt.
“It’s been great, finally working on campus and I got a lot of kids out and we’re excited for the future. And Xzavian came through big time for us for a first-year wrestler. He came and got that pin for us. It was huge.”
On AD Linda Parra: “Linda is a great athletic director. I couldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for her. She’s a tremendous help. She’s great.”
Robert Rosa, Cal coach: “I thought both sides did great, competing-wise. We just have a lot to improve on and get better.
“As coaches, we love wrestling and we’re trying to get back the feeling and their dedication of the sport. Our goal is to get the league championship.”
Christopher Louden, Cal (138 lbs.): “I like these (new coaches) who trained under coach Loo. Just because Loo is gone, I don’t really feel like his training is really gone. I feel like these guys are carrying on what he did with previous teams. He was really enthusiastic.
“I’m really excited to be back on the mat. To get work back in and make it to CIF.”
Jacob Benavidez, John Glenn (132 lbs.): “It was a blessing to come out here and perform for everybody. The coaches really push the pace. The practices are almost like a college. They (coaches) really get our conditioning right. We start on conditioning and end on conditioning.
“(Tonight), it was a good experience for everybody. We have a new team and a lot of people are conditioning. Now, we got a taste for everything.”
Freddy Valdivia, John Glenn, (195 lbs.): “I’ve been wrestling since my freshman year and I was part of the 2019 CIF Championship team. In my pin, I was just trying to take him (opponent) down as quick as possible.
“It feels real good to get out here and get this win. I know it’s not our home gym, but it still feels good to just win. This meet feels great to just kick off our season.”
