Dons Drops Second In A Row To Palomar

Santa Ana College loses its second duals meet against Palomar College in four days. / Adrian Gonzalez / el Don

By Matthew Salzer

The Dons wrestling team came up short Wednesday in a close match against Palomar in their third dual meet of the season losing 21-20..

Palomar came charging out of the gate by pinning Santa Ana College 125 and 133 pounders Eliseo Medina and Ezekiel Jimenez respectively, taking the lead at 0-12.

The Dons then rallied back with victories at 141 and 149 pounds from the Collister brothers as the smaller Ronnie defeated Palomar’s Josh Lawson 13-3 for a major decision and the bigger Joaquin defeated Palomar’s Chris Jones for a 10-4 decision, bringing the team score to 7-12 for SAC.

Richie Miranda took to the mat at 157 for the Dons and after a match that had a total of three reversals in the first round between him and Palomar opponent Bruce Valdez, Miranda came out with a 7-5 victory bringing the team score to 10-12.

However, the Dons momentum was stopped when Palomar’s 165 pounder Erik Collin defeated Eric Roberts in a 3-5 decision, followed by Alex Graves pin of SAC’s Micah Macias, bringing the team score to 10-21.

Returning sophomore Raul Hernandez then hit the mat to defeat Palomar’s Dalton Du Casse by a 7-3 decision to bring the team score to 13-21.

In the most exciting match of the night, Jonathan Fraser faced off against Palomar’s Brad Schwarze. Fraser fought for control the whole match, taking down Schwarze and controlling him. At one point in the third round when Schwarze scored an escape, Fraser literally charged across the mat at Scharze to engage the fleeing wrestler and closing out the match at 11-1.

“I think I could have pinned him. I could have done better,” Fraser said.

With the team score at 17-21, it fell upon SAC heavyweight Abraham Aguilar to try and close it out. Aguilar maintained control during the match but was only able to win the match 9-3, resulting in a decision win that ended the match with Palomar taking the victory.

“We lost a couple of winnable matches but we fought hard and are always happy with the win,” Palomar Head Coach Brody Barrios said.

SAC just came off of a 2-2 performance at the South State Duals where they lost to Palomar 22-18 on OCT. 18.

“I’m really proud of these guys. They wrestled their hearts out we’re climbing. We’re getting better” Silva said.

The Dons now head to San Luis Obispo for the Cuesta College Meathead Movers tournament Saturday.