San Fernando Sends 3 to State Wrestling Finals

The words sputtered from Samuel DeJohn’s mouth like water out of a clogged sink.

The San Fernando High wrestling coach was trying to laud his three City Section champion wrestlers Friday night, but he was so hoarse from yelling instructions during their matches that the words barely could be heard.

“We’ve got five guys on our team and three are City champions,” DeJohn said. “I feel like a proud father.”

The San Fernando winners--Ronald Drake (131 pounds), Jomas Robledo (98) and David Yziguirre (105)--will advance to the State finals along with 10 other City wrestlers who captured titles at El Camino Real High.

It was the second straight City championship for both Drake, a senior, and Robledo, a junior. Drake was also named most valuable wrestler by a vote of the coaches.

El Camino Real won the team title with 164 points, but was too gracious of a host at first. Six Conquistadors made the finals, but their first four wrestlers were defeated. Brian Carter (175) finally pleased the partisan crowd with a win by default over Robert Franklin of Canoga Park, who injured an ankle and could not continue.

The loudest applause, however, was saved for El Camino Real’s Roy Schneider (191), who pinned Canoga Park’s Chuck Mitchell in 4:29.

“After the four ECR losses, our fans were kind of down,” Schneider said. “When I saw that, it made me angry. I wanted to win that much more.”

James Jung (138) of Chatsworth upset Thomas Kang of El Camino Real in overtime. Kang had beaten Jung in three previous meetings.

Another Conquistador, Darryl Coleman (132), dropped a close match to Robert Zuniga of Franklin, 7-3.

Coach Milt Goffman said that there were better individual wrestlers in the tournament, but the Conquistadors had the most depth.

“Any time six of your wrestlers make the City finals, you’ve got to be pleased,” Goffman said. “We had a great season.”

And the season isn’t over yet for Carter and Schneider.

Champions at other weight classes included: Canoga Park’s Morris Biggers (112); Wilson’s Andrew Hernandez (119); Franklin’s Aaron Brown (145); Fremont’s Darren Lee (154) and Lester Ware (165); and North Hollywood’s Eli Aramian (245).

Ware, who finished second in the City last season, pinned Tak Odama of Canoga Park in 1:02, the quickest fall of the evening.

Franklin was second in team standings with 150 points. Canoga Park (124) was third, Fremont (108) fourth and San Fernando (81) fifth.

The State finals will be held Friday and Saturday at Independence High in San Jose.