PREP ROUNDUP : Laguna Hills Wrestlers Dump Canyon

Did he really have to rub it in?

Laguna Hills had just upended Canyon in the Coast 4-Way wrestling meet Tuesday night at Laguna Hills High when Hawk Coach Cliff Jarmie informed a Canyon assistant that he has but three seniors on his team.

This is not the kind of news Canyon wanted to be hear after being soundly thumped, 46-18. But Jarmie pleaded ignorance in wake of Laguna Hills’ lopsided victory. His pre-meet calculations had the Hawks (9-0) winning by a margin of, oh, two or three points. Not 28.

“I expected it to be much closer,” he said. “But we got some pins in there, and that really makes the difference.”

Canyon Coach Steve Marshall agreed. Pins by Jeff Greco (130) and the Hawks’ final four wrestlers, David Yarbrough (160), Kris Johns (171), Orlando Rangel (189) and heavyweight Manuel Rocha led to the Comanches’ (0-1) demise.

“They’re ranked third. We’re ranked sixth,” Marshall said. “They were supposed to beat us, but there are some things we have to work on.”

One guy who needs little work is Johns, who was moved to varsity to fill some temporary holes--several football players haven’t returned to starting positions yet. But Johns is 7-2 and Jarmie isn’t so sure he won’t stay where he is.

“He’s been a great surprise, he’s doing great,” Jarmie said.

The other half of the double dual meet had the crowd on needles and, not surprisingly, pins.

After Cougar brothers Terry and Andy Tuzzolino won on pins, ninth-ranked El Dorado trailed fourth-ranked Capistrano Valley by four points going into the heavyweight faceoff between El Dorado’s Jeremy Lipps and Capistrano Valley’s Gus Rios. When Lipps pinned Rios at 4:57, it gave the Golden Hawks (7-0) the 31-29 victory.

The Cougars are 8-1.