COSTA MESA -- Vanguard men's wrestling faced a pair of Cascade Collegiate Conference foes on Saturday, as Arizona Christian and Menlo took on the Lions inside Seymour Sanctuary.  VU would pick up its first dual win of the season 24-13 over the Firestorm but the squad would fall to the Oaks 36-7.  VU goes to 1-3 in duals on the season.
 
VU 24 ACU 13
Dominic De'Altonaga squared off against Jimmy Maheras in the 125-pound bout and despite being one of the lightest weight classes, the two would be scoreless for almost two periods.  De'Altonaga made an escape late in the second to enter the third up 1-0 and then the action heated up.  Maheras made a takedown to leap in front, but De'Altonaga made an escape to tie things up.  De'Altonaga then made a late takedown with seconds to go and it would be upheld after a video review for the Lion to win 5-2.   Isaiah Marquez then took six points for ACU at 133 pounds, as VU was open, but the action resumed at 141 pounds.
 
Mario Sandoval made a takedown of ACU's Terrell Kinlicheenie and led 3-1 after one period.  Sandoval made an escape to go up 4-1 but an escape by Kinlicheenie made it 4-2.  The two then exchanged reversals and Kinlicheenie would rack up another takdown to go up 5-4.  Sandoval then made an escape with 30 seconds to go to level things at 5-5 and force overtime.  Sandoval was better in the extra frame and was able to make the needed takedown in overtime to win cut the ACU lead in the dual to 6-5.
 
Bryant Avila gave VU the lead in the dual as he edged out Rico Robles at 149 pounds.  Avila got the first point off an escape in the second but soon trailed 3-2 after a takedown by Robles.  The ACU wrestler made an escape to start the third but Avila got a takedown with under 20 seconds to go in the third period to gather an emphatic 5-4 win.
 
Ruben Rodriguez was in control of Davion Barnes in the 157-pound fight, with Rodriguez pinning the ACU wrestler in the third period.  Sunni Motas then had a high-scoring battle against Carlo Castagnaro at 165 pounds.  Motas notched the first takedown to lead 3-0 in the first period, but Castagnaro made an escape to open the second.  However, Motas made another takedown late in the second to take a 6-1 advantage.  Motas would lunge ahead 9-1 with a minute to go off another takedown but Castagnaro made a late surge to trim the lead to 10-8, but time woudl expire and Motas would take the decision victory.
 
Marquize Brown dominated Bronson Swan at 174 pounds, as he racked up a 14-3 major decision win to put VU up 21-6 in the dual.  Kaden Martin then narrowly edged out Jacob Potts in the 184-pound matchup, as he got two escapes to Potts' one to win 2-1.
 
Down 21-9, Michael Moreno cut the gap even more with a 12-2 win over Javier Gonzalez to trim the VU lead to 21-13.  But only the heavyweight class remained, and Alan Carrillo had the moves to keep Kaiden Cisneros at bay.  Carrillo was taken down in the first to trail 3-1 but he got an escape and a takedown in the second to lead 5-3.  He then tacked on another takedown and an escape in the third to win 9-3 and give Vanguard a 24-13 win in the dual.
 
VU 7  MC 36                     
 
De'Altonaga would take on Jimmy Estrada and the two could not generate much in the first period.  De'Altonaga got an escape in the second but Estrada made a late takedown to snag a 3-1 lead entering the third.  The Oak got an escape to open the final frame and he got a late takedown to win 7-2.
 
That put the Oaks up 3-0 and they got another six points from VU being open at 133 pounds.  Michael Torres faced Mario Sandoval in the 141-pound contest and Sandoval got a takedown in the first to lead 3-0 after one period.  Sandoval made an escape after starting in the down position in the second period and dictated the tempo to lead 4-0 to start the third.  He then made another takedown of Torres in the third to take the bout 7-2 and make the dual score 9-3.
 
Bryant Avila took on Ezekiel Lara at 149 pounds and Avila got the first takedown with seconds left in the first to tip-toe ahead 3-0.  He got an escape to start the second and another takedown deep in the frame to to take a commanding 7-0 advantage.  Lara got an escape and then a takedown to make things interesting, but Avila scored a four-point move and went on to win 14-4 and pull Vanguard to within a couple points of Menlo (9-7).
 
But the tide turned as Kanahipono Tapia pocketed a 16-3 victory over Rodriguez at 157 pounds.  Rysan Leong was the number one wrestler at 165 pounds and though he would beat Motas 8-0, the VU wrestler fought hard and did not give up a ton of scoring chances to Leong.
 
Menlo jumped ahead 17-7 in the dual as Brown took on Ledger Petracek in the 174-pound tussle.  Brown made an escape and had a couple of opportunities in the first, but Petracek also made near fall takedown to lead 4-1 to start the second period.  Brown tried to recover but Petracek was able to pin him in the third period.  Potts squared off against Isaiah Morales, the #11 NAIA wrestler at 184 pounds and Potts was holding his own in the first period until he was taken down with nine seconds left to trail 3-0.  Potts responded by making two escapes in the second but Morales made another takedown to lead 6-2.  Potts tried to make a push but Morales made an escape and a takedown to secure an 10-2 major decision.
 
The 197-pound scrap featured LeRoy Garibay and Hunter James and James would pin Garibay in the first period to increase the Menlo lead to 33-7.  Roman Torres marched out to take on NAIA #8 heavyweight Antonio Dacosta and the two were even until Dacosta was able to make a takedown with just about a minute left in the first.  Dacosta was able to make an escape to open the second and he would not let Torres get anything going, eventually winning 8-0 to give MC a 36-7 victory.
 
What was Said?  "Our guys wrestled well today.  We got to keep working on some positions that will make a huge difference," said Head Coach Caleb Flores.
 
What's Next?  The Lions will go to the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday, December 17.