Angel Parra and Ambrose Partee engaged in an epic match at 170 pounds in Wednesday night’s Channel League wrestling dual between Santa Barbara High and San Marcos.
The thrilling bout remained tied after three 30-second overtime periods before Santa Barbara’s Parra prevailed, 6-5, on penalty point in a sudden-death fourth extra period.
Parra’s victory drew a huge roar from the Santa Barbara fans at J.R. Richards Gym and helped the Dons take a 50-28 victory to claim their first city wrestling championship in program history. They earlier posted a first-ever win against Dos Pueblos.
“It feels really good,” said Santa Barbara senior 145-pounder Niko Proft. “Really proud of the team pulling through this year, especially as a senior. It’s really cool to see us come out on top.”
Proft used his quickness to pin Levi Cooper with one minute left in the first period of their match.
After a 13-2 decision by Antonio Yurraide by San Marcos over Jonathan Corona a 152 pounds, Benicio Garcia Holland of the Dons posted a second-period fall against Jorge Rocha at 160 pounds for a 35-16 advantage.
Parra and Partee then went at it in what Santa Barbara coach Marc Fidel called a “gut check match.”
Down for most of the match, Parra tied the score at 4-4 on a penalty point in the final period. He came close to scoring a takedown in the last seconds of regulation but Partee fought him off to send the bout into overtime.
In overtime, a victory is decided by a two-point takedown.
Parra fought off Partee at the end of the first 30-second overtime to keep the score at 4-4.
Partee started in the down position for the second overtime and scored an escape point for a 5-4 lead.
Parra answered with 11 seconds left in the third overtime, scoring an escape point to even the score at 5-5.
The first wrestler to score in the fourth overtime would decide the match. Parra was awarded the winning point when the referee called a technical penalty for an illegal grasp of both legs.
“Both those boys wanted it, and it was just a great match,” said Fidel. “That’s the sport right there. That’s why we train the way we do, for that kind of gut-check time. That’s nine minutes of wrestling… crazy exhausting.”
San Marcos coach Eric Flores said it was unfortunate for the match to end on referee’s decision.
“We tried to argue that point,” he said. “The ref was pretty consistent in his explanation of defending his call, basically wrapping around the legs and holding it for a period of time before starting to work up. Super technical call.
“We had three coaches up there to try and challenge it, and it came down to literally him having the eyes on the microscope there and he made the call.”
Jonathan Mora and Jose Escobar followed Parra’s epic win with pins at 182 and 195 pounds to clinch the match for the Dons.
Fidel felt the bout that really made the difference for Santa Barbara was Raymundo Carbajal’s win at 132 pounds. In his varsity debut, he recorded a 19-3 technical fall to give the Dons five points for a 17-12 lead. San Marcos forfeited at 138 pounds and Proft won by fall at 145 for 12 more points and a 29-12 advantage.
“The thing that lit the fire for us was at 132 pounds,” said Fidel. “We had a brand new novice wrestler go out and get a technical fall, and our kids just erupted. They were like, ‘We got this.’
“He’s never wrestled anything but a novice match. That was awesome.”
Santa Barbara started its Senior Night on a good note as Austin Dye pulled off a third-period pin against Ty Travis of the Royals at 106 pounds
After winning the 113-pound weight class by forfeit, San Marcos took a 12-6 lead on a first-period pin by Jacob Dominguez, who was wrestling up two weight classes at 120 pounds.
Dominguez used his upper-body strength to flip Ray Uribe on his back and record the pin with 24 seconds left in the period.
“He goes out there and it doesn’t matter what weight class he wrestles. He puts on a show,” said Flores of Dominguez. “He executes every freaking time, defense is on point, shots are great. He knows how to scramble and get out of tough situations.”
Santa Barbara tied the score on a forfeit win at 126 pounds.
“They had a full lineup today,” said Flores of the Dons. “Right off the bat, those forfeits kicked out butt.”
The Royals got pins from Jake Carroll at 220 pounds and heavyweight Emanuel Munoz to end the match.
Wednesday’s crosstown win keeps Santa Barbara in the hunt for a top-three finish in the league and possible CIF Duals bid. The Dons finish their league duals against Buena and Rio Mesa.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us next week, so we’ll see,” said Fidel. “It’s all a learning experience for these guys. I’m super excited they got that feeling of what winning wrestling looks like.
“I’d also want to point out that we’re so happy that coach Flores and coach (Kit) Cooper are at San Marcos. They’re building a great culture over there and they’ve go some wrestlers that are tough as nails.
“We just had to figure out a way to weather their storms.”