Alemany has grip on wrestling title

By John Wareham, Special to the Daily News

Updated: 01/29/2009 10:29:00 PM PST

With the Mission League title and bragging rights at stake and the loss of one wrestler to the other team still an open wound, host Alemany of Mission Hills battled Crespi of Encino and won in come-from-behind fashion, 43-33.

The win all but secures the Warriors (3-0) their second consecutive league title - both with the help of state-ranked, 135-pound Gary Espinosa, who had wrestled for Crespi before transferring to Alemany for his final two seasons. The current Celts team hadn't forgotten that and battled hard to beat their former teammate and his new squad.

The energy was intense for all of Thursday's matches and increased significantly when Alemany's 189-pounder Anthony Espinosa defeated Ryan Callahan 20-5 after Espinosa picked up his opponent and dropped him on his back twice and teammate Akeem Gonazles, at 215, aggressively pinned Andrew Agajanian.

Crespi took the lead 27-26 when Scott Haskell pinned Matthew Rojas, but Alemany regained the lead for good when Carlos Lazo beat Jonathan Artner 16-1 and Steven Flores pinned Zach Leber at 130 pounds.

The two squads wrestled with such intensity that several competitors in the first five matches had injuries, including one that resulted in a controversial loss for Rabbaanee Williams of Alemany.

The match of the night would have been Espinosa against his former team, but Crespi chose to not send out an opponent. Espinosa won the final home match of his senior season by forfeit.

Alemany will take part in the Best in the Valley Tournament on Saturday at Chaminade and concludes league play against Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday.