February 14th, 2009

WILLIE JONES
CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Varsity Takes First

Your Marauder Varsity stunned the city conference with a tremendous first place win, in the 2009 Willie Jones Memorial City Championship, just barely nipping Eastern League rival and 2009 Eastern League Champions, Patrick Henry by 1.5 points 211.5 to 210.  Other Eastern League teams Morse (170 points) and host team Scripps Ranch followed right behind.

The team was led by Jr Carldee Soriano who was the 135 lb Champion followed by  Srs Wilson Lu (2nd at 105 lbs) and Dexter Carranza (2nd at 140 lbs), and Jr Josh Edralin who finished 2nd at 112 lbs.

Carldee Soriano Junior 135 CHAMPION	Dexter Carranza  Senior 140 - 2nd Plac
Wilson Lu Senior 103 - 2nd Place	Josh Edralin Junior 112 - 2nd Place

The team scored more points than any Marauder Team that any of the coaches could remember. The run for the championship started in the first round, where the Marauders won 7 of 9 matches, all with pins.  In the second round, they covered all but one of the BYE matches in the first round picking up 8 bonus points (points for"byes" are only awarded if the wrestler wins in the following round).

Ulysses Savage Junior 119 - 6th Place	Paulo Tolernino  Senior 130 - 5th Place
Agustin "Gus" delaCruz Sophomore 125 - 3rd Place	Chris Pappas Junior 145 - 3rd Place

At the end of the first round, the Marauders led with 28 points, Henry had 25 and Scripps Ranch 24. But by the next time Team Scores were announced, Patrick Henry who had defeated the Marauders soundly in league had pulled away by 9 score PH 96, MM 85, Morse 79...as the day went on MM closed the gap just a bit to 5 points...PH 99, MM94, SR and Morse at 82.5 and 82...the last time scores were posted it was PH 149, MM 144, Morse 121 and SR 119.

Lee Tea Junior 171 - 5th Place	Alvin Acain Sophomore 152 - 5th Place
Gabi Musallam Sophomore 215 - 4th Place	Mike Anguiano  Senior HWT

During the next two rounds coaches tried to track the scoring...parents and wrestlers in the stands said they were trying to keep track...but things were going along really fast, with 3rds and 5ths being wrestled out of order because of minimum times between matches and the 5 match maximums being applied to the tournament.

Carolin Brendan  Senior 189	Kevin Alimbyajean  Senior 160

We fell behind a bit at the finals, loosing 3 out of 4, our hope being the 3rd thru 5th place finishes...but no one was sure of what the final outcome would be,,,it was just too close to call...As awards were being handed out, most everyone gathered by the podium waiting for the team finals to be announced...see, you win individual awards, but the CITY Championship is primarily a TEAM event...

The first announcement was for MORSE...3rd  Place
They took the podium to applause of parents and well wishers...

The guys were waiting to be called up for second...

then the stunning announcement...that there was a virtual dead heat...
with only 1.5 points separating the two teams...
after a short pause the announcement was made for the 2nd place team...
PATRICK HENRY

The Marauders in the stands, and sitting on the rolled up mats went crazy. 
I've never seen a more excited bunch. We celebrated at Pizza Hut...It was surrealistic ....no one could believe we'd won...everyone had the realization of how important each other's accomplishments had been...if even one wrestler on the team had not advanced or a sixth place had fallen to a 7th, or a 3rd had been a 4th, or any combination of events throughout the day had been just a little bit different, it would changed the outcome.

Someone said it was like the Heith Ledger movie "Knights Tale",
and that they'd felt like they'd "Changed their Stars".

Just could be....NEXT WEEK CIF at ESCONDIDO!!!