Top-Ranked Santa Ana Wrestlers Dominate Calvary Chapel

Top-ranked Santa Ana scored its biggest victory of the season, upending defending state champion Calvary Chapel, 43-21, in front of a raucous home crowd Wednesday.

The Saints, 9-0 in dual meets, became the first county team to defeat the Eagles since 1991, when Dana Hills beat them. It was Santa Ana’s first victory over Calvary Chapel in four meets.

“If we were ever going to get them, it was this year,” Saint Coach Scott Glabb said. “And it might be awhile before we get them again. This was big for our school and good for us to build on the rest of the season.”

Santa Ana didn’t just win, it dominated Calvary Chapel (12-1), winning eight of 14 matches. And the Saints accounted for all three pins in the meet.

The most important one came in the 152-pound class. After losing the first four matches to the Saints, the Eagles won four straight to trim Santa Ana’s lead to 19-12. But Santa Ana’s Steve Avalos pinned Calvary Chapel’s Conan Williams in 1:21 to revive the Saints’ momentum.

“That match was the turning point,” Glabb said.

“I’m just glad I was able to do the job,” said Avalos, one of nine seniors on the team. “We’ve been trying to beat them since I was a freshman. We had talked about this match all week. We knew this was our chance to step up.”

Even though Eagles Andy Tufnell (160) and Mike Porter (171) won, Calvary Chapel could not recover. Santa Ana’s Alex Becerra (189) and Ed Astudillo (215) recorded pins against Peter Mosley and Justin Boulais.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo said. “They showed how good they were last weekend at [the] Five Counties [tournament] and they wrestled tough tonight. We knew it would be hard.”