No. 4 Irvine Holds Off Laguna Hills Wrestlers

It all came down to the final match Wednesday night at Laguna Hills. With a two-point lead, Irvine could only hope that 275-pounder Alex Alessi would be able to hold off Laguna Hills sophomore Brandon Hobbs for the victory.

But Hobbs was determined to take it to Alessi and tried every which way to dump Alessi on his back for precious points. As the two grappled and grunted for that upper hand, the score remained scoreless late into the third quarter.

With 30 seconds remaining, Alessi was able to get an escape for one point and keep Hobbs at bay to run out the clock to win, 1-0, and a 32-27 nonleague wrestling victory for Irvine (10-0).

“I knew it would be close, but this was a really good match. I love it. It’s good for wrestling,” Irvine Coach John Phillips said.

Said Hawk Coach Cliff Jarmie, “It was a good match, but we were without five of our starters, who have just finished up with football. I’m not taking anything away from Irvine. They’re a solid team. But let’s wait until January to see where we’re at.”

The last time the teams competed was at the Southern Section Dual-Meet Championships in 1995. Laguna Hills won that one.

Irvine began Wednesday’s meet by taking a 3-0 lead as 103-pounder Sanjay Shanbhag defeated Joseph Rey, 7-2. But sixth-ranked Laguna Hills (4-2) came right back with a pin by Victor Ha, who put Albert Fu on his back in 3 minutes 12 seconds.

From there, it was close until the end.

A key match for Irvine was in the 152-pound contest between Irvine’s Shai Kalansky and Laguna Hills’ Josh Hertz. Hertz beat up Kalansky three weeks ago at the El Dorado tournament to win by a major decision. But this time, Kalansky was able to get a reversal to win, 11-9, in overtime.

“That was a big win for us. He has been working hard, and to be able to come back and beat a guy who beat you up pretty bad a few weeks earlier says a lot about Shai,” Phillips said.

Other Vaqueros who got victories included C.H. Rush (140), who pinned Dustin Ashe-Everest in 1:15, and Chris Koreis (135), who won by fall, pinning John Maris in 30 seconds.