The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Poly alum Jayon Brown and PlayFair Sports Management.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by JuJu Smith-Schuster and the JuJu Foundation.
You could feel the energy in Ron Palmer Pavilion Thursday afternoon as Long Beach Poly hosted Wilson to open Moore League play.
After a full afternoon of hard-fought wrestling, Wilson’s Dorian Ortloff took the mat against Poly’s Tyler Gains with the match on the line.
The Jackrabbits and Bruins were tied 33-33 heading into the final match.
With a height disadvantage, Gains tried to get the 6-foot-8-inch Ortloff off balance to get him to the mat, but the senior was able to keep his balance and countered to get Gains down.
Once the two were on the ground, Ortloff was able to maintain the top position and eventually pinned Gains for the pin and gave Wilson a thrilling 38-33 victory over Poly to open Moore League play.
“Before every match you got to get into a certain frame of mind,” Ortloff said. “Almost primal where you know you’re going to hurt them. One I was able to get him on the floor, in my mind fireworks were going off.”
The match kicked off with Nathan Itchon defeating Jacob Jenner 16-7 in the 113-pound bout.
Poly extended its early lead after Eduardo Sandoval was able to pin Colin Horn.
Wilson got on the board after Justin Bernal defeated defeated Ryan Perra, 10-9. The Jackrabbits came right back with a pin as Eduard Mather came up with a second-period win against Max McGill.
Alex Cabrera continued Poly’s lightweight dominance when he pinned Derek Solorzano in the opening period.
After Wilson forfeited the 145 and 152 bouts, Eden-Jay Khamnoy pinned Jose Palomeda and the Bruins were right back in the match.
“Our 60s through 80s is a tough little group,” Wilson coach Seth Wegter said. “We brought in some young guys in the lighter mid weights, but they did well and we did what we could do. So, Poly is a super tough team, and they got some incredible wrestlers.”
Before the Wilson boys made it a sweep, the Bruins’ girls team defeated Poly 42-36.
Poly picked two wins by pins by Hailey Modena and Reighleme Valdez each pinned their opponents in the first period.
Both teams couldn’t field competitors for each weight class so that made each of the seven bouts crucial for each team.
Much like the boys’ match, the Bruins were able to get big pins from Kayla Espinoza and Estefany Ibarra after a win by Poly’s Shelby Stump.
Poly will be back at home next week when they host Lakewood and Wilson hosts Compton.
