By John M. Sherrard
With the win Cerritos remains undefeated this season at 12-0. Mt. SAC, which won state dual titles in 2013 and '15, finished at 2-1 in the team duals. Palomar College placed third.
To get to the championship the Mounties defeated East Los Angeles College 43-9, and No. 2 Palomar College in the semifinal, 20-17.
Mt. SAC had three wrestlers go undefeated in their three matches: freshman George Torres, 125 lbs., freshman Vincent Herrera, 157 lbs., and sophomore 174 lbs. Reed South.
Mt. SAC opened the duals with the easy victory over ELAC by winning seven of the nine weight classes, including falls by Torres, Herrera and freshman Freddie Garcia.
In the semifinal win over host Palomar College, the match came down to the end for a winner to be declared.
Torres, in the 125 lb. weight class went into overtime, winning 8-6, to give the Mounties the 20-17 victory and advanced to the championship.
"The second round was an intense match between the No. 2 seed Palomar team and our No. 3 seed team, which came down to the last match," Mt. SAC Wrestling coach David Rivera said.
Mt. SAC defeated Palomar last year in the So Cal Duals Championship.
The Mounties got off to a good start in the finals against Cerritos College by winning the first three matches.
The finals began at the 141 lb. weight class, with sophomore Casper Sherow, freshman Joseph Dominguez at 149 lbs. and Herrera (157 lbs.) all winning by decisions to give the Mounties a 9-0 lead. Cerritos got into the scoring column with a major decision win at 165 lbs. to trail, 9-4.
South (174 lbs.) won by a 6-5 decision for the 12-4 lead. But, the Falcons came right back with a win (184 lbs.) to trail, 12-7.
Cerritos tied the match at 12-12 with a win in the 197 lb. weight class by technical decision (20-4).
David Zavala, at 285 lbs., gave Cerritos the lead for good, 18-12, with a pin in the first period over freshman Guillermo Padilla.
Torres then closed the gap to 18-15 with a 7-5 decision at 125 lbs. before the final match of the night.
In that deciding match (133 lbs.), Cerritos' Anthony Vargas broke a scoreless tie in the second period with a takedown and had two more in the third period and eventually won, 7-2, over Mt. SAC freshman Roy Galvan.
Mt. SAC returns to conference action against Rio Hondo on Wednesday, October 19th at 7:30 pm.
For more information contact Mt. SAC Sports Information at 909.274.4630.