Paloma girls wrestling team wins CIF dual meet championship

Members of the girls wrestling team and their fans pose with the CIF championship trophy. (Staff photo)

 
By Doug Spoon, Editor

Leaving nothing to chance, the Paloma Valley girls wrestling team launched an all-out assault against the opposition Wednesday night in winning the CIF Southern Section Division 2 dual meet championship.

Every point scored by the Wildcats came by pin in a 54-29 victory over Montclair before an enthusiastic crowd in the Paloma Valley gym. Trailing 18-12 early, the Wildcats fought back and never trailed again, adding to their legacy as one of the Southland’s top wrestling programs.

Coach Luis Robles said he wasn’t surprised by the dominating performance of his wrestlers, who still have the CIF individuals coming up.

“Pin or get pinned,” Robles said. “That’s what we say. And we obviously don’t want to get pinned. We’re very physical; we have an aggressive style. You saw it tonight. We were pushing forward. We’re going for falls. We’ll take the decision, but we always go for the fall.”

Jianna Rivera pinned her opponent at 125 pounds and Gabby Jimenez did the same at 140, but the score was tied at 18 when Melissa Moreno took to the mat for her 170-pound match. Moreno fought off her opponent for nearly three periods before pinning her for a pivotal victory that put the Wildcats up for good.

“[Montclair coaches] made a really good move. They bumped their 155 wrestler up to 170. It was a match-up thing. Their 55 has a style that is different than my 70, but I believe it threw them off, because my 70 was leading most of the match. She knew she was going to keep fighting for the pin. It was stressful, but she got the pin when we needed it."

Brandi Ayala followed with a pin in her 190-pound match and Lynda Guerra did the same at 235. When Elly Martinez won by fall 1t 100, the Wildcats had a 42-18 lead and were closing in on the victory.

That win was assured in the 110 weight class when Estrella Santana won a hard-fought match with a pin. Savanna Leyva followed with a pin at 115.

In that [110] match, all we needed to do was not get pinned and we’d clinch the dual. But I told her, it’s not our style to not win. Our girl came through for the win by fall.”

So now it’s on to the CIF individual tournament, which Paloma won last season through the top performance of several wrestlers. Robles is confident again, even though this is a much younger team.

“This is one of the younger teams we’ve had,” Robles said. “They’re all first-and second-year wrestlers except one. The way we started the season to now is night and day. We lost a dual to start the year. Some of these girls weren’t even on the team when we started. They joined us in November, December.”