Cerritos College’s Jonathan Prata makes a move on Victor Valley’s Alex Cordoza in the 125 Lbs wight class during the quarter finals of the CCCAA State Wrestling Championships at Cerritos College. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

NORWALK – The Cerritos College Wrestling team may not have won a state title in the recently completed California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships, but to qualify a program record 12 wrestlers to the final competition of the season and wind up with two individual state champions, was huge for the Falcons.

Cerritos, which hosted the championships Dec. 10-11, finished second for the fourth time in the last 11 years, totaled 138.5 points, while Mt. San Antonio College had 167.0 for its first state championship in individuals. Cerritos has won four titles since 1971.

Fresno City College, which has won 16 titles, including the last four in a row, finished third with 117 points.

“It’s been a tradition and a strong program for years,” said Cerritos Wrestling coach Donny Garriott, of the Falcons long time success.

“I’m real excited about the future next year and another good recruiting class. We hope to have a real good offseason in the spring. I think the next couple of years will be fun.”

Garriott, in his 15th year at Cerritos, is also the wrestling coach at South Torrance High School, where his son Cael just graduated this past June and is a Gray Shirt on the wrestling team at Cerritos and son Caden is an eighth grader.

Highlighting the two-day championship tournament for the Falcons were two individual state champions – Jonathan Prata at 125 Lbs. and Jonovan Smith (285 Lbs.).

Prata and Smith were named All-Americans along with five other Falcons – freshman Daniel Bracamontes, second place (157 Lbs.), freshman Caoilte Drury, third place (149 Lbs.), freshman Armando Murillo, third place (165 Lbs.), sophomore Roland Dominguez, fourth place (133 Lbs.) and freshman Stone Robledo, fourth place (174 Lbs.).

This final state championship tournament is actually the first time the whole team of starters has competed together for the Falcons.

Prata, a sophomore, completed his two years nearly perfect, winning back-to-back championships. Prata, (21-1 this year) lost only two matches in his two years and won 43.

“Honestly, before I started wrestling (at Cerritos), we hosted the state meet (2018) and it was the best,” said Prata, who gray-shirted his first year at Cerritos. “I always wanted to win it at home.

“It (championship match) just went by so fast and I just did what I love to do – dominate.”

Dominate he did, as Prata went 3-0 in the championships. Prata, seeded No. 1 South, had a first-round bye, a pin in the quarterfinals in the first period with less than a minute left and a 10-2 major decision in the semifinals.

Prata advanced to the finals and went up against his friend and competitor, South No. 2, Alexis Tellez of Rio Hondo.

“He is a close friend of mine, but once I step on the mat, everything changes,” said Prata, who started wrestling in the fifth grade. “I know how to wrestle my matches and I just rely on my training.”

Each of the final championship matches at the state competition are under a spotlight, focused on the two wrestlers and Prata remembers the moment.

“The spotlight was pretty cool,” said Prata, who missed parts of the early season with a toe injury. “It just made me focus on my opponent.”

Prata scored takedowns in each the first and second periods for the 4-0 lead, heading into the final 2-minute third period.

Prata opened the third period with a two-point reversal for the 6-0 lead. Tellez gained his only point of the match with an escape late in the period.

With just four seconds left in the match, Prata had a takedown and then finished the match with a riding time score for the final, 9-1 result.

Prata, who is concluding his amazing career in college wrestling, is the first to win two consecutive titles at 125 Lbs. since Angel Olea (FCC) in 2007-08.

Prata will now focus on freestyle wrestling in some open tournaments in the U.S. and competing internationally with Argentina. He eventually wants to pursue a career as an electrician.

His father, Marcello Prata, is from Argentina and Jonathan Prata is hoping for dual citizenship for competition.

Jonathan Prata, who won CIF Individual titles in his sophomore, junior and senior years, said of the teams’ success, “It felt great with a bunch of young guys.”

Cerritos had eight sophomores this last season and 25 freshmen. Of the 12 wrestlers who competed at state, nine were freshmen and six of them were placers.

“I think the reason for the low amount of sophomores this season was partly due to the pandemic,” Garriott added. “A lot of the young men moved on to the next level.”

Garriott praised the two-time champion and what he has meant to the program.

“The accolades that he had coming in, you don’t get a lot of that,” he said. “He’s such a good kid, so easy going and it was such a pleasure to have him. Watching him was like watching water, so fluid.

“I remember right after he won, he hugged his dad and then he said to me, ‘you know, I really think of you as a second dad.’ That really meant a lot to me.”

In the final match of the night, Smith became the 64th individual state champion for the Falcons, which is the second most all time in California.

He was a top seed from the South at 285 Lbs.

Smith, like Prata, was also 3-0 in state competition. He started out with a bye in the first round on Friday morning, followed by probably his most important match of the state tournament in the quarterfinals, with a win in the third overtime.

“That just goes to show that even against a guy like me against a competitor who’s won Fargo (Freestyle Jr. Nationals) or who’s won state, anything is still possible,” Smith said. “The sun can shine anytime and anybody’s beatable. I just like to use the best of my wits. (Bakersfield’s Corbin Hayes) wrestled a smart match, but in the end, I knew that I could still outfox him.”

Hayes, who was South No. 5, took a 2-0 lead in the first period with a takedown for two points. Smith then cut the lead in half, 2-1, with an early escape in the second period.

The drama then set in for the final period and overtime for the two wrestlers.

Hayes started the period on the bottom, but quickly escaped for the 3-1 lead. He received a stalling warning with less than a minute (:47) to go in the match, but 17 seconds later Smith tied the match with a takedown, 3-3. The final 22 seconds of the match were dramatic.

After the takedown of Hayes, he escaped to take a one-point lead, 4-3, but with two seconds left, he received a second stalling penalty, which resulted in a point for Smith to tie the match, 4-4, to send it in to OT.

In the first OT, neither wrestler scored a takedown for a possible win, so the second and third overtimes would decide the match.

In the second OT, Smith was on the bottom to start and escaped with 12 seconds left for the, 5-4 lead. Almost the same scenario occurred in the third overtime, with Hayes escaping with 21 seconds left to tie the match, 5-5.

At that point, Hayes was leading with riding time that would result in a point for an eventual win unless Smith did something dramatic.

He did exactly that with a match-clinching takedown with seconds remaining. On to the semifinals the next morning for Smith, who was all smiles.

“I knew that I had a lot in the gas tank left,” said Smith, of those last few seconds. “I knew that if I were to explode at the end, it would disorient him.”

Garriott was surprised at the heavyweight’s quick takedown.

“I don’t know that I’ve seen a heavyweight take down someone that quick with so little time,” he added.

In fact, it was so quick that Garriott actually missed that final move by Smith and only recently witnessed it on Instagram.

Smith, who was 31-1 this season, went on to win his semifinal match Saturday morning with a pin to advance to his first college championship match.

It turned out to be the classic title match with the best in the North versus the best in the South.

No. 1 North Seed Rudy Garcia from Fresno City College, who won the Nor Cal’s, came into the title match with two pins in his two matches at state.

After a scoreless first period in the championship match, Smith built up a 5-1 lead in the second period with an escape and two takedowns.

Garcia’s only point was an escape. In the third and final period, Smith had an escape and a point for riding time, while Garcia had two escapes, for the final score of 8-3.

“Jonovan can switch gears whenever he wants,” Garriott said. “He’s beautiful to watch.

“How great it was to start the championships with Jonathan (Prata, 125 Lb. champion) and end with Jonovan (Smith, 285 Lb. champion). Pretty good bookends.”

The third Cerritos wrestler to reach the finals was Bracamontes in the 157 Lb. weight class.

Bracamontes, the South No. 1 Seed, had a first-round bye, a first-period pin in the quarterfinals and a 7-5 decision in the semifinals.

He lost by way of a pin by the North No. 1 Seed, Noah Cortez of FCC.

The future looks bright for the young Cerritos wrestlers in the near future, with numerous state qualifiers returning next season.

What they said:

Gene Choi, Cerritos Asst. wrestling coach: “This is what we’ve been waiting for. The Covid year kind of sucked.

“We were so excited at (So Cal) Regional when we got all 12 to state. It’s super exciting to have 12. It’s the first time in my coaching career to have 12.

“Donny (Garriott) was my high school coach and my first college coach (Cerritos).”

Note: Choi went on to wrestle at San Francisco State after Cerritos and was an All American.

Jonathan Prata, (125 Lbs.) Cerritos sophomore wrestler: “Coach Donny (Garriott) was like a father-figure to me. I love him. I’ve known him since high school.

“Each match I try to improve. My first year (freshman) I was still learning and also the rules. In my matches, no one really beat me in riding time. That was domination and I just wanted to give it my all.”

Daniel Bracamontes, (157 Lbs.) Cerritos freshman wrestler: “Luckily, after (the cancellation of the 2020 season) Covid I’m fortunate enough to be able to come back to wrestle at Cerritos.

“It feels good just to compete and sticking to the basics. I’m just grateful for the opportunities.

“(Garriott) is a great coach and is very involved in the program and helps to motivate everyone.”

Bracamontes was 9-1 in 2021 in the 157 Lb. weight class.

Armando Murillo, (165 Lbs.) Cerritos freshman wrestler: “It’s fun and we train for this. The training, the weight-cutting, the drilling, it’s for the end of the season. It’s all for this.

“I ended on a bad note in high school as I went two and out in state, but in (Community College) it’s not over. I just have to wrestle back. I just like the sport. It’s fun for me.”

Note: Murillo won a CIF title in high school. He was 21-4 this season with Cerritos College.

CERRITOS COLLEGE STATE WRESTLERS

125 Pounds - Jonathan Prata - STATE CHAMPION (All-American)

133 Pounds - Roland Dominguez - 4th Place (All-American)

133 Pounds - Josh Mendoza - 8th Place

141 Pounds - Kimo Servino - Did not place

149 Pounds - Caoilte Drury - 3rd Place (All-American)

149 Pounds - Felix Osorio - 5th Place

157 Pounds - Daniel Bracamontes - 2nd Place (All-American)

165 Pounds - Armando Murillo - 3rd Place (All-American)

174 pounds - Stone Robledo - 4th Place (All-American)

184 Pounds - Joseph Rodriguez - Did not place

197 Pounds - Justin Sawai - Did not place

285 Pounds - Jonovan Smith - STATE CHAMPION (All-American)

Cerritos College wrestlers win individual state championships

What they said: