SANTA ANA - The Dons hosted Palomar College in their opening dual of South West Conference action with the visiting Comets getting the 21-20 victory. Palomar (8-2, 1-0) jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with back-to-back falls, forcing the Dons (5-7, 0-1) to attempt to rally late in the match. With six victories in the final eight matches, the Dons did all they could to rally but fell just one point short in the end. Full match results are below.
125 Pounds
The first match opened with Palomar's Frank Sandoval scoring on a takedown roughly one minute into the match before pinning the Dons Eliseo Medina at 1:55.
133 Pounds
The second match of the night opened with a quick takedown by Palomar's Alberto Garcia against Ezekiel Jimenez. Much like the first match, this one ended with a fall at 2:32.
141 Pounds
Ronnie Collister scored the first points of the night for the Dons with a takedown of Palomar's Josh Lawson less than 30 seconds into the match. Before the set could get to the second period, Lawson scored an escape but Collister quickly countered with a takedown and a near fall to take a 7-1 lead into the second.
With Lawson down and nearly a minute into the period, Lawson scored an escape to make the match 7-2. That would account for all the scoring of the second, with Collister extending his lead to 8-2 seconds into the third.
About 50 seconds into the third, Collister went up 10-2 with a takedown before Lawson got an escape to make it 10-3. Collister scored another takedown with 30 seconds left to go on to the 13-3 major victory.
149 Pounds
It took almost a minute and a half for scoring in the 149 matchup but it was SAC's Joaquin Collister with a takedown of Chris Jones to go up 2-0. Late in the first period, Jones scored an escape before Collister scored another takedown. But a second stalling warning on Collister cut his lead to 4-2 going into the second.
Collister opened the second with an escape before another stalling warning gave Jones a point, making the score 5-3 going into the third period.
With 1:01 left in the third, Collister scored a takedown to go up 7-3 before a near fall gave him another two points at 9-3. Yet another stalling warning gave Jones a point, making the match 10-4, which would prove to be the final score.
157 Pounds
Palomar's Bruce Valdez opened the 157 match with a takedown about a minute in before Richard Miranda scored a reversal 30 seconds later. Valdez answered right back with a reversal of his own. Miranda scored another reversal to tie at 4-4, before riding out his opponent to the second period.
Miranda continued to ride Valdez through the second period, but was penalized for a full nelson, giving Valdez a 5-4 lead going into the third.
But a reversal 20 seconds in put Miranda back on top at 6-5 before he finished out the match on top, giving him a 7-5 win with riding time.
165 Pounds
Erik Collin scored a takedown of Eric Roberts to give Palomar a 2-0 lead at 165 pounds. Roberts would get a point back with an escape but Collin would get a takedown shortly after to extend his lead to 4-1.
With under a minute left in the first, Roberts would get another escape to cut the lead in half at 4-2, which would hold to the second period.
The second period found Roberts scoring an escape for all the scoring, sending the match into the third with Collin leading 4-3.
Collin would escape 40 seconds into the third to go up 5-3, before holding that score to the end.
174 Pounds
After no scoring for a minute, Palomar's Alex Graves got two takedowns and a near fall with a pair of Micah Macias escapes mixed in to make the match 6-2. The quick scoring continued with two more takedowns by Graves around a Macias escape as Graves took a 10-3. Graves closed out the set with a fall with just seven seconds left in the period.
184 Pounds
Raul Hernandez used a takedown for the Dons to go up 2-0 before an escape by Dalton Du Casse made the score 2-1 after one. With Hernandez down to start the second, he escaped to extend his lead to 3-1.
That score remained into the third with a conceded escape by Hernandez starting the final period. But Hernandez would get the points back with a takedown in the final 40 seconds to go up 5-2. Another escape made it 5-3 before Hernandez scored one final takedown in the final seconds to win 7-3.
197 Pounds
Jonathan Fraser opened scoring in the night's second-to-last match with a takedown of Palomar's Brad Schwarze. However, those would be the only points of the first down.
Fraser's lead would extend to 3-0 with a stalling warning point being rewarded in the final seconds of the second period.
The slow scoring came to an end in the third with Fraser scoring an escape and a takedown in the first minute to go up 6-0. Another stalling warning put Fraser up 7-0 before Schwarze scored his first points on an escape. With over three minutes time of riding time and a last second takedown, Fraser scored a 10-1 victory.
282 Pounds
With the Dons trailing four points going into the final match, Abraham Aguilar was in need of at least a technical fall to give the Dons a chance in the match. Aguilar seemed to have a fall for the Dons in the first period, but scored a takedown instead as Palomar's Adam Waller rolled his shoulders out.
That 2-0 lead carried into the second with Aguilar electing to take the down position. Just 10 seconds in, Aguilar escaped to extend his lead to 3-0. That was the extent of scoring as the two wrestlers went into the third with Aguilar leading 3-0.
The third started with Aguilar conceding an escape to make the score 3-1 before Aguilar scored a pair of takedowns with conceded escapes to make the score 7-3 in the final minute. Aguilar would be awarded one more point after a stalling violation, giving him a 9-3 win.
