Edison wrestles away title

Mike Sciacca

Romney Fuga barely broke a sweat in his quest for the heavyweight

title at Saturday’s Sunset League wrestling finals at Edison High.

Playing within the familiar surroundings of his own school’s

gymnasium, the Edison junior didn’t compete for more than a minute in

any of the preliminary matches he wrestled en route to a spot in the

275-pound class final against junior Josh Camacho of Los Alamitos.

“I knew that if I stuck to what I had been taught in practice,

then I’d be all right,” said Fuga, who estimated that his record was

35-3 overall this year, wins by forfeit, not included. “I felt pretty

confident out there.”

In the final, the easy-going and talented Fuga needed 1:50 to pin

Camacho to earn his first league title.

At last year’s league tournament, he finished in second place as a

sophomore.

For the second straight year, Edison won the team title by

finishing first with 191 points.

The Chargers qualified 11 athletes for the Feb. 16-18 CIF-Southern

Section Coastal Division Individual Wrestling Championships, to which

Edison will also play host.

“It will be exciting to be back here in a few weeks and wrestle

for a CIF title,” Fuga said. “We have a lot of guys who can win a CIF

title.”

Winning their weight class title for the Chargers were sophomore

Garrett Drucker (119), senior Dylan Jensen (130), senior Brandon

Drucker (135) and senior Jimmy Hynes (160).

Five other Chargers finished second in their respective divisions:

sophomore Chris Chacon (112), junior Joe Hirsch (125), sophomore Nick

Abraham (140), senior Jake Pinkham (189) and junior Stephan Holmquist

(215).

Blake Allison finished third at 152.

Esperanza, whom Edison defeated on Feb. 2 in a showdown for the

dual meet league title, finished second with 160 points.

Los Alamitos finished third in the team standings with 134 points,

followed by Huntington Beach (60), Fountain Valley (57) and Marina.

Edison and Esperanza will represent the league at this weekend’s

CIF Team Wrestling Championships, which are hosted by Esperanza.

Marina and Huntington Beach each had three CIF qualifiers for the

individual wrestling championships on Feb. 16-18.

One of the meet’s most inspirational efforts Saturday came from

Huntington Beach junior Nathan Borden, who took on David Lindsey of

Los Alamitos in the 152-division final.

With about 25 seconds remaining in the match, Borden was doubled

over by a nagging knee injury when he was caught the wrong way at the

edge of the mat.

After rocking back and forth, then going back down after his first

attempt to get up, Borden managed to get back up and get back onto

the mat.

He proceeded to earn a technical fall and the weight class title.

Borden then was escorted out the gym once his match was complete.

“He’s a tough kid who’s all about heart,” Huntington Beach coach

Austin Cathey said of Borden. “We left it up to him, at his

discretion, if he wanted to return to the mat. He did. He just wanted

to win.”

The other Oilers qualifying with Borden for the upcoming CIF

Coastal meet are senior Andrew Rivas at 103 pounds and junior Joe

Murphy at 112.

Oilers who are designated as alternates for the meet include

junior Joe Falco (135), junior Luke Harmon (140), senior Kyle LaRose

(160), junior James Green (171) and sophomore Lars Houshoulde (215).

The three CIF qualifiers from Marina are junior Michael Koehnlein

(119), junior Shaun Lin (130) and senior Eric Kartchner (135).

Koehnlein finished third in his division and Lin and Kartchner

each placed second in their respective divisions.

“I call them my ‘Three Amigos,’” Marina coach Dennis Piramo said.

“Those three guys have been steady for us all season long.”

Alternates from Marina include freshman Derek Lin (112) -- brother

of Shaun Lin -- junior Ian Thorpe (189) and senior Raymond Chavez

(275).

Three days prior to the league meet, Edison captured its first

duals league championship in 15 years by capping an undefeated league

run with a 37-21 defeat of Esperanza.

Three Chargers -- Fuga, Jensen and Pinkham -- pinned their

opponents, and six others -- Garrett Drucker, Hirsch, Brandon

Drucker, Abraham, Hynes and junior Brian Visnoski -- each won their

match.

Visnoski won his match in an overtime thriller.