Seventh heaven for Fountain Valley wrestling

Ask most in the Fountain Valley High wrestling camp, and they will tell you that a league championship just comes with the expectations of the program.

A long line of league championships has made the Barons a confident bunch, but individually, several of the team’s members had yet to contribute to the cause.

It is considered tough to win one championship and tougher to repeat. With Fountain Valley going for its seventh straight Sunset League title, the Barons have dealt with the concept of personnel change before.

Several of the previously undecorated wrestlers of Fountain Valley’s squad laid claim to their piece of the legacy on Wednesday. The visiting Barons defeated Edison 34-24 to clinch at least a share of their seventh consecutive league crown.

Matthew Fee, a first-year varsity wrestler for the Barons (7-0, 4-0 in league), clinched the match with a pin of Jovanni Page at 220 pounds.

“I didn’t think I would be able to win that match,” Fee said after putting the Barons over the top. “It’s insane. I don’t know what to say.”

A key match came at the midway point, with Edison senior Elijah Palacio wrestling up in weight to try to take away points from Fountain Valley’s top-end talent. Palacio, who has wrestled at 132 and 138 at tournaments this season, took on Barons freshman Max Wilner at 145, a third-place medalist in the Five Counties Tournament.

The combatants were stingy in the points department. They traded escapes to open the second and third periods. Wilner broke a 1-1 tie, lifting Palacio up and taking him to the mat for a takedown with 34 seconds to go.

Palacio threw everything he had at Wilner in the final 30 seconds, but Wilner used the boundary to protect himself against a potential match-flipping takedown.

Wilner defended well, coming away with a 3-2 decision.

Upset with the result, Palacio tossed aside his headgear. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called against the Chargers (3-1 in league), and Edison lost a team point because of it.

For the first time in the match, Fountain Valley took the lead at 16-14.

“It was senior night [for Edison], but I came to handle business,” Wilner said. “My team did, too. We handled business, and we got another league title.”

Edison had roared out to a 15-0 lead after three matches, with Angela De La Cruz (106) and Anthony Loyola (120) winning their bouts by pin.

Fountain Valley freshman Dylan Zotea began to turn the tide with a pin of Jake Drotning at 126 pounds.

Following Wilner’s victory over Palacio, Edison sent Jared Williams (152) to the mat hoping to rebound with a pin. Williams defeated Nico Damschen by major decision (11-0), but it was Fountain Valley’s bench that applauded after the match. Four points conceded was better than the six that Edison would have posted for the pin.

“Nico did a good job,” Barons coach Brad Woodbury said. “He didn’t get pinned. He did his job when he was out there, and that was huge. We needed that.”

Chargers coach Pete Escandon and his team appeared to be living and dying with every move made in the final matches. Without a heavyweight in its lineup, Edison needed at least a victory by technical fall from Page to beat the Barons.

“Going into my third year, I really want that league championship,” Escandon said. “Really want it.

“We could have won that match tonight, and we just didn’t show up how we could have.”

*

Fountain Valley 34, Edison 24

106 – De La Cruz (E) pins Tran (FV), 2:25.

113 – Moses (E) dec. Rao (FV), 5-1.

120 – Loyola (E) pins Tu (FV), 5:26.

126 – D. Zotea (FV) pins Drotning (E), 0:46.

132 – Ramirez (FV) maj. Yokoe (E), 15-6.

138 – C. Ching (FV) dec. Garcia (E), 5-1.

145 – Wilner (FV) dec. Palacio (E), 3-2.

152 – Williams (E) maj. Damschen (FV), 11-0.

160 – T. Ching (FV) dec. Bradbury (E), 7-2.

170 – Taub (FV) dec. Jimenez (E), 7-3.

182 – Lund (E) dec. N. Zotea (FV), 7-2.

195 – Moradian (E) dec. Madrid (FV), 12-5.

220 – Fee (FV) pins Page (E), 5:57.

285 – Vemuri (FV) wins by forfeit.

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner