New Style Hasn’t Slowed Rancho Santiago’s Padgett

Matt Padgett, one of the best high school wrestlers to compete in Orange County, is learning a whole new way to go about things at Rancho Santiago.

Padgett compiled a 140-18 record in three years of varsity competition at Canyon High School before graduating in 1992. He had 114 pins in that three-year span, which is believed to be a national high school record.

But he is the first to say he was primarily one-dimensional in his approach.

“I was all upper body,” Padgett said. “Here, my style has changed a whole lot. In high school, you could just grab a guy, throw him down and pin him. It’s a lot more aggressive (at Rancho Santiago). Now I have to defend my legs because guys are going for them all the time.”

Padgett also has learned to attack opponents’ legs.

Padgett, despite the adjustments, still has had an outstanding season. He is 25-3 with 14 pins, and will be one of 10 Rancho Santiago wrestlers competing at the State tournament Friday and Saturday at Santa Rosa College.

Padgett is ranked third in the state at 167 pounds, but figures he has a strong chance at the championship, something he never accomplished at Canyon.

He was 50-0 as a senior going into the second round of the State tournament. But he lost to Keith Richards of Mission San Jose, who eventually won the title.

Padgett’s family moved to Hemet in the summer of 1992, but he planned to move in with a friend and enroll at Rancho Santiago. Things fell through at the last minute, and he moved with his family.

But because none of the community colleges in that area had wrestling teams, he sat out the season.

After about six months, he missed competing so much he had to get back into it as soon as possible.

So he moved in with his grandparents in Norwalk and enrolled at Rancho Santiago.

Padgett had been working out with weights a great deal when he wasn’t wrestling and bulked to nearly 190 pounds.

But he quickly lost 15 pounds in the first two weeks of practice and the weight continued to come off as the season went along. He got as light as 162 and Coach Gary deBeaubien asked him to slim down to 158 to make the team stronger.

“The first time I had to cut weight it was tough,” Padgett, 19, said. “I wasn’t happy with anybody. Coach knew me as a happy-go-lucky guy, but not back then.”

By the time the Southern California tournament began last Saturday, Padgett was 167, his strongest weight. He went 3-0, and won his class.

His prime competition this weekend figures to be Cuesta’s Trent Williams. Williams beat Padgett this season, when Padgett was ranked No. 1.

“It was kind of like a slap in the face (to wake me up),” Padgett said about losing after being top-ranked. “The rank has a lot of pressure and I’m glad I’m not there anymore.”

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Basketball update: Riverside will be the place to be if you want to see Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball teams this week.

Five of the eight teams from the conference are playing in the 16-team Riverside tournament.

Irvine Valley (4-4) starts the parade, playing East Los Angeles at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Riverside (6-2) plays Cerro Coso at 7 Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Cypress (4-5) meets San Bernardino Valley at 3, Fullerton (8-2) battles Mt. San Antonio at 5 and Golden West (5-3) plays Mt. San Jacinto at 7.

The tournament continues Thursday and Friday, with the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Saddleback (4-2) plays host to Grossmont at 7 tonight, then is in the Santa Barbara tournament starting Thursday.

Rancho Santiago (7-3) plays host to Pomona-Pitzer JV at 7 Friday night and Orange Coast (7-1) is at Los Angeles City at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Cypress (9-1), Golden West (9-2) and Orange Coast (7-3) are off to the strongest starts of the women’s teams.

Community College Notes

Palomar (11-0) finished as the top-ranked team in the Southland football poll. San Bernardino Valley (10-1) was second, Mt. San Antonio (9-2) third, Bakersfield (10-1) fourth, Orange Coast (8-3) fifth, Riverside (7-4) sixth, Los Angeles Valley (9-2) seventh, Long Beach (9-2) eighth, Cerritos (7-3-1) ninth and Moorpark (8-3) 10th . . . Two former Saddleback players--Marcellus Chrishon (running back) and Mark Welker (offensive lineman)--made the All-Big West Conference second team for Nevada.