The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Although she was wrestling up a class, Millikan’s Ashley Hernandez knew exactly what she wanted to do as she stepped onto the mat Thursday night at Wilson.
The freshman wanted to help her team, and she did just that with a pin victory that proved to be the tipping point as the Rams defeated Millikan 42-39.
“I saw my team stressing and I knew I had to do this for them,” Hernandez said. “They’re my family and I really care about them, so I knew if I win this – I help the team a lot.”
Wilson didn’t make it easy for the Rams as the two were evenly matched at each weight class and after the first five contests, Wilson had a 15-12 lead with senior Hailey Fenton winning her match in a three-round thriller, which came down to a 13-10 decision.
On the boy’s side, Wilson stormed out to a 20-4 lead with a win by Jacob Jenner but Millikan responded with four straight pins to take a 32-20 lead.
With wins from Chris Anguiano and Tannor Costello, Millikan took a big step forward to winning their 15th straight Moore League title.
“This all starts in the wrestling room,” Costello said. “We’re just constantly training for this and every day we’re here trying to win.”
Both teams will now compete in a couple of tournaments before preparing for the girls Moore League next week Finals at Lakewood.
The boys will have the Moore League finals on Feb. 8 after the CIF Southern Section team events that take place the first week of February.
“This season has been pretty good for us,” Costello said. “We basically train to go out there and dominate. Most people go out there to train and win – we train to go out there and dominate.”
