CENTURY LEAGUE WRESTLING : El Modena Gets Victory Over Canyon

Canyon’s Darryl Christian, the much-heralded transfer from Oregon, had just worked over the county’s top wrestler at 140 pounds.

And the Comanches held out hope.

But after Christian’s victory, Thursday night’s Century League meet between longtime rivals El Modena and Canyon started to tilt heavily in favor of the second-ranked Vanguards.

El Modena followed with back-to-back pins and a technical fall to give the Vanguards a substantial lead, and ultimately, a 38-25 victory and sole possession of the league lead at Canyon High.

“At 145, when Matt (King) got that pin, I think that was the turning point,” Canyon Coach Steve Marshall said. “We were on a roll up to that point, but after that pin, we knew (winning) would be tough.”

Second-ranked Christian got the roll going when he stunned David Wells, 15-1, and gave unranked Canyon a 22-13 lead.

But King pinned Kevy Martinez at 1:28 to pull El Modena to 22-19, and at 152, sophomore teammate Aaron Santana took a 5-1 lead before he pinned Randy Higgins at 3:01, and gave El Modena the 25-22 lead. Then El Modena’s Brian Klinker racked up the points against Marc Schlesinger before he won by technical fall, 19-2.

Sophomore Rich O’Connor scored a 8-7 upset decision over El Modena’s Brad Carlson at 171 to give Canyon an outside chance, but the Vanguards’ Zane Koss (189) and Dan Kingman (heavyweight) scored easy decisions to close it out.

“It was a lot closer than I’d like it to be,” El Modena Coach Alan Clinton said. “We didn’t win some I’d thought we’d get. But it’s always tough against Canyon.”

El Modena (21-1, 4-0) finishes its league dual season Tuesday against Santa Ana Valley. League finals are Friday. Canyon fell to 3-2, 3-1.

In another league match:

Villa Park 34, Orange 30--B.J. Puu, Scott Nelson, Shawn Berning and Mark Rommel pinned their opponents for Villa Park (3-1 in league). The Spartans will wrestle Canyon Tuesday with the winner taking second place in league. Orange dropped to 1-3 in league.