Levi Returns El Camino Real to Familiar Position--On Top

Moshe Levi’s body has taken enough punishment. But after leaving the El Camino Real High wrestling team for five weeks, he thought he had a little more to give.

Rejoining the team just two weeks ago, Levi won the 140-pound weight class and sparked El Camino Real to its fourth consecutive team title Saturday in the City Section individual championships at University High in West Los Angeles.

Levi pinned Jeff Ford of Granada Hills in 1:57 and clinched the title for the Conquistadores with seven bouts remaining.

El Camino Real outscored runner-up San Fernando, 245-220 1/2.

“The way I figured it, all the damage to my joints wasn’t worth the medals or memories,” said Levi, who has wrestled for eight years. “But the reason I came back was I wanted to win City.”

El Camino Real’s Edward Lemus (119 pounds) and Jamar Cargo (189), San Fernando’s Willy German (160) and Monroe’s Arthur Bryan (215) each claimed their second consecutive individual title.

Bryan pinned San Fernando’s Noe Ramirez in 1:23 and was named the tournament’s most valuable wrestler.

Ramirez initially appeared able to challenge Bryan, who improved to 43-1 with 35 pins. But after riding Ramirez from on top, Bryan was finally able to find a pinning combination.

“He’s one of the strongest guys I’ve had to wrestle,” Bryan said. “It just took a little while to turn him, and once I did I was able to hold on.”

Joseph Michel (112), Jason Rico (125) and Ken Enriquez (heavyweight) also won individual titles for San Fernando, which placed second for the fourth year in a row.

Josh Berg (103), Ryan Umali (130), Aaron Wyner (152) and Andreik De Leon (171) also claimed titles for El Camino Real, which set a school record for points at a City final.

El Camino Real held a narrow 207-199 advantage entering the finals but San Fernando’s chances were dealt a blow when sophomores Ramon Perry (135) and Conrad Silva (145) failed to win their bouts.

Perry had a title slip from him in the final seconds when he was penalized two points for illegally locking his hands.

It was the third time in the match that Perry was called for the infraction, and Bell’s Walter Espinal won a 6-5 decision.

Silva was also called for illegally locking his hands and lost a 5-2 decision to University’s Jose Puentes.

De Leon (29-7) decisioned Josh Roepke of Granada Hills, 14-5.

Roepke (25-3) was expected to be a finalist at 160 but he failed to make weight and had to move up a class.

Roepke’s misfortune may have also affected San Fernando’s City title chances. San Fernando’s Manuel Hernandez would have reached the 171-pound final but took third instead, and El Camino Real got unexpected runner-up points from Alex Keyan at 160.