Brawley Union High's Austin Kieffer (top) battles Southwest High¿s Victor Medina during an Imperial Valley League duel Wednesday at IVC. (Joselito Villero) |
Brawley Union High head wrestling coach Tony Leon has been coaching the Wildcats for a long time and on Wednesday he got a reminder of just how long as he saw his team clinch its 18th consecutive Imperial Valley League title.
“Eighteen straight is a long time and I’ve been here for all of it and … it just hasn’t hit me yet,” Leon said. “It means a lot to the program to win, especially this year with the league competition getting tougher, which is always good to see.”
Brawley beat a depleted Southwest High team, 77-0, to clinch at least a share of the title.
“We had some injuries and some of our better wrestlers out tonight but that doesn’t take away from Brawley’s win,” Southwest head coach Ismael Cordova said. “They came out firing today and didn’t let up and I give them all the credit tonight.”
There were a total of nine matches wrestled as the Eagles forfeited five matches.
In the nine matches the Wildcats tallied five pins and a technical fall.
“Our mindset heading into tonight was to go hard like we were wrestling a state championship team. We didn’t want to take it light and as you can see by the score we didn’t,” Brawley junior Abraham Lopez said. “We wrestled well and shut them out and that’s what we expect to do every duel.”
Brawley senior 122-pound wrestler Arthur Carmona received a walkover in the duel. He knows what this win means for the team and why they have been so successful.
“It feels phenomenal,” said Carmona about winning another league title. “We have a great coach in Tony Leon and we have a great foundation of everything and that’s why we are so successful.”
It was a big night for the Wildcats but with the end of the season looming there is still a lot of work to be done.
“Us winning tonight just shows that we have great coaching and kids that work to be champions but we aren’t satisfied yet,” Lopez said. “We are still going to be working hard in the room to get ready for another CIF title run.”
Brawley (5-0 IVL) will host Holtville at 7 p.m. Wednesday while Southwest (3-2 IVL) will travel to duel Imperial at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“Right now injuries are a big problem heading into our last duel. There are going to be some guys that are borderline for the duel,” Cordova said. “Our goal is to be 100 percent healthy for CIF so we are going to do our best to make that happen.”
“Eighteen straight is a long time and I’ve been here for all of it and … it just hasn’t hit me yet,” Leon said. “It means a lot to the program to win, especially this year with the league competition getting tougher, which is always good to see.”
Brawley beat a depleted Southwest High team, 77-0, to clinch at least a share of the title.
“We had some injuries and some of our better wrestlers out tonight but that doesn’t take away from Brawley’s win,” Southwest head coach Ismael Cordova said. “They came out firing today and didn’t let up and I give them all the credit tonight.”
There were a total of nine matches wrestled as the Eagles forfeited five matches.
In the nine matches the Wildcats tallied five pins and a technical fall.
“Our mindset heading into tonight was to go hard like we were wrestling a state championship team. We didn’t want to take it light and as you can see by the score we didn’t,” Brawley junior Abraham Lopez said. “We wrestled well and shut them out and that’s what we expect to do every duel.”
Brawley senior 122-pound wrestler Arthur Carmona received a walkover in the duel. He knows what this win means for the team and why they have been so successful.
“It feels phenomenal,” said Carmona about winning another league title. “We have a great coach in Tony Leon and we have a great foundation of everything and that’s why we are so successful.”
It was a big night for the Wildcats but with the end of the season looming there is still a lot of work to be done.
“Us winning tonight just shows that we have great coaching and kids that work to be champions but we aren’t satisfied yet,” Lopez said. “We are still going to be working hard in the room to get ready for another CIF title run.”
Brawley (5-0 IVL) will host Holtville at 7 p.m. Wednesday while Southwest (3-2 IVL) will travel to duel Imperial at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“Right now injuries are a big problem heading into our last duel. There are going to be some guys that are borderline for the duel,” Cordova said. “Our goal is to be 100 percent healthy for CIF so we are going to do our best to make that happen.”
