Millikan boys’ wrestling looked like a legitimate title contender on Saturday when they dispatched of visiting Cypress 60-15 in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs. The Rams won 11 of the 14 matches, and seven of those victories came via pin.
“I’m not surprised because we have a lot of great wrestlers and we performed,” Millikan senior Trevor Thompson said. “We work hard in practice and we’ve been working (individually) since quarantine started. We’re really glad that we can come out here and wrestle. A huge thanks to our coaches for organizing all of this.”
Thompson took on one of Cypress’ top wrestlers at 145 pounds and pinned him late in the second round thanks to efficient counter moves and match control. Thompson is the first four-time Moore League individual champion in Millikan history.
“That was kind of special for me as his coach, but especially as his dad,” Millikan coach Marshall Thompson said. “Before he won league as a freshman he told me he was going to win league four times.”
Thompson, Chris Hernandez (126 lbs.) and Kydyn Lima (138 lbs.) gave Millikan an early lead with pins. Justyn Schwoegler battled to win his 160-pound match 11-4, and then Ash Gomez (170 lbs.), Nathan Gomez (195 lbs.), Santos Salas (285 lbs.) took their upper-weight matches via pin. Andrew Aguirre (106 lbs.) also won via pin and Gavin Laverde (120 lbs.) looked strong in his 9-4 victory to cap the day.
“I expected a tough match and to be honest I think it was a tough match,” coach Thompson said. “These dual matches have a lot to do with the matchups. A lot of our tough kids were matched up with their tough kids. When you’re tough kids are winning usually you’re going to win the match.”
Millikan will hit the road for the semifinals on Tuesday.
“I was very happy with the effort and how our kids wrestled,” coach Thompson said. “It looks good for us going into the next round.”
Coach Thompson added that he’s very pleased to have a season for his wrestlers, but that he can see the difference.
“For the kind of season we’re having I have to be happy with the way they’re wrestling,” he said. “We haven’t been able to work on a lot of the technique that we like to do because we haven’t had the time. I could tell that some guys looked a little rusty and made some mistakes that they wouldn’t make if we had a full season. But I thought overall they wrestled really well and I think the score shows that.”
