Five wrestlers take first place as Jaguars win Escondido Rumble

On Friday, 26 Valley Center wrestlers traveled to Escondido High School for a two-day wrestling extravaganza called The Rumble, and after a day that lived up to its name, the Jaguars came away with the tournament championship.
Each wrestler was guaranteed five matches, and those with highest win/loss records were entered into the medal tournament, where they could wrestle three additional matches. Sixteen Jaguars advanced to the medals’ tournament, with five winning championships in their respective classes—Sam McCuskey (98 pounds), Dustin Miller (106 pounds), Manny Boyle (122 pounds), Damian Stehly (173 pounds) and Travis Weddington (217 pounds).
Meanwhile, John Mayo took second at 98 pounds and Trevor Ryback finished third at 115 pounds. Four Valley Center wrestlers took fourth—John Murphy (114 pounds), James Oakley (122 pounds), Daquota Avila (138 pounds) and Kevin Izadi (heavyweight).
Five Jags finished seventh in the tournament—Zach Dewey (128 pounds), Kaulana Miller (128 pounds), Christian Guerrero (133 pounds), Jesus Diaz (191 pounds) and Lorenzo Gomez (heavyweight).
After more than 120 individual matches, 11 Jaguars earned medals for finishing in the top four.
But the biggest surprise of the day was winning the tournament championship. The tournament’s design is give underclassmen more opportunity to wrestle prior the entering the CIF tournaments. The Jaguars gained valuable experience that will be helpful for this coming CIF Division IV Tournament coming up on Saturday at Olympian High School in Chula Vista. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. with the championship finals scheduled at 6 p.m.
The Valley Center wrestlers suffered a setback with a league finale loss to Del Norte High School, 39–27, on Thursday.
Two forfeits and some lackluster performances led the Jaguars to their demise, but two Jags won by pin—Juan Oros at 105 pounds and Dustin Miller at 114 pounds—while Christian Guerrero won a 5–4 decision at 132 pounds and Dylan Smith won a technical fall at 173 pounds.
The Jaguars finish the season in third place in Valley League with a 3–2 league record and a 4-4 overall mark.

Jags win first home wrestling dual meet in three years

Dustin Miller flips over in the 103-pound match:
Connor MacFarlane twists to get out of a hold in the 112-pound match:
Trevor Ryback fought back from certain doom to win the 119-pound match:
Zach Dewey fights for position in the 130-pound match:
Daquota Avila rolls over his opponent in the 140-pound match:
Kevin Murphy sizes up his opponent in the 145-pound match:
Damian Stehly gets his opponent off the ground in the 160-pound match:
Dylan Smith goes for a hold in the 171-pound match:
Jeremy Halligan grapples with his opponent in the 189-pound match:
Travis Weddington tries to get the upper hand in the 215-pound match:
photos by Dan Kidder

Despite missing one of its top wrestlers, the Valley Center varsity wrestling team pulled together and won its first home dual meet in three years with a 39–36 win over San Pasqual on Thursday.
With Juan Oros out with a rib injury, two Jaguars won by pin, while four more earned wins to propel the Jaguars past the Eagles.
“After the 2008 Valley League/CIF team of ten seniors graduated, we began a three-year building cycle,” head coach Clay Clifford said. “With a win like this, it looks like we have turned the corner.”
Trevor Ryback earned the first pin for the Jags, pinning Brian Pansegrau in 1:19 to win the 119-pound match. Damian Stehly also won by pin, taking down Mike Anastasia in 3:43 to win the 160-pound match.
Dustin Miller started off the match with a 7–1 decision in the 103-pound match, while Zach Dewey won an 8–4 decision in the 130-pound match, Daquota Avila won by technical fall, 16–0, in the 140-pound match, and Dylan Smith won a 12–1 decision in the 171-pound match. Two Jaguars also won by forfeit, while Valley Center forfeited one match in the meet.
Then on Saturday, the Jaguars competed in the 34th annual Jim Londos Tournament at Orange Glen High School in a field of 36 schools. Overall, the Jags finished in 12th place with 64.5 points, as four wrestlers finished in the top ten in their class.
Miller led the Jaguars with a third place finish in the 104-pound class, while Smith took fifth in the 172-pound class, Stehly finished seventh in the 161-pound class and Aydin Cooper finished seventh in the 216-pound class.
Over Christmas vacation, the Valley Center wrestlers competed in the Santiago High “Shark Tank” Tournament, in a field of 56 schools, as well as the Mira Mesa Team Tournament, in a field of 12 schools.
Oros was the lone survivor of the “Shark Tank” tournament, finishing sixth. He lost a heartbreaker match in the semi-finals, falling to Coachella Valley’s Sergio Hernandez, 4–3. Ahead 3–2 with seven seconds left in the match, Oros suffered a last second takedown to end the match. In his next match, Oros sustained a rib injury, so he was pulled out of the tournament and finished sixth.
Meanwhile, Smith went 3–2 before being eliminated, and both Stehly and Cooper finished with 2–2 match records. One of the most exciting early round matches of the tournament was Cooper’s 27–22 loss to Buena Park’s Jake Wiggens. The match had the entire crowd riveted on the outcome and left both wrestlers were exhausted.
The JV wrestlers competed at the Mira Mesa Team Tournament on Dec. 30 and brought home a pair of gold medals.
John Murphy and James Oakley both went 5–0 to receive gold medals. Dewey received a silver medal for 4–1 record, while Kaulana Miller and Lorenzo Gomez received bronze medals for their 3–2 finishes.
The Jaguars are now 1–2 overall, and Thursday night at 7 p.m. is a league showdown at Orange Glen.