Masters on the Mat

Alsaudi Claims Third City Wrestling Title; Galef, Carpenter and Chapman also Win their Weight Divisions

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The tranquility Hamzah Alsaudi displayed before stepping onto the mat for his very last City Section match Saturday night at Roybal Learning Center was born of confidence­ and experience. He had been there, done that—twice—and was no prisoner of the moment.

In fact, the only pressure he felt was put on himself to finish the tournament the way he had started it… with a quick pin. After a takedown in the first 20 seconds the Palisades High senior probed his opponent for the next minute until he saw an opening, flipped Birmingham’s Moses Trujillo on his back and waited for the referee to signal the end at the 1:33 mark.

Four matches, four pins—all in the first period—just how Alsaudi envisioned winning his third straight 195-pound title. He needed 15 seconds to vanquish Poly’s Ken Perez in the first round, barely over a minute to beat San Pedro’s Alex Davis in the quarterfinals and    1:36 to pin Sylmar’s Sergio Cabral in the semifinals.

“I used a wrist and half-nelson to get him,” Alsaudi said of the final against Trujillo, whom he pinned in the third period at the Blackwatch Tournament. “I’m not going to say it was easy, but I definitely didn’t struggle as much. I got all pins, which is what I wanted. I’ve been wrestling at 220 the whole year but dropped down for City, which was the plan. I’ve been working a lot on my snapdowns. That’s how I got the first takedown.”

Alsaudi won his first City title as a sophomore,  edging San Fernando’s Alonso Alvarez 3-2 in triple overtime in the finals, and repeated last winter with a 5-3 decision over San Pedro’s Abraham Rivera. This year, he wasn’t satisfied winning on points and being named Upper Weights MVP was icing on the cake. His next goal is medaling at the state meet in Bakersfield.

“This will be my third trip and I still want to win,” Alsaudi said. “It’s more sweet this time since I get to share the experience with my teammates. The key is for me to be aggressive—the more aggressive the better!”

Also qualifying for the state meet were three other  Dolphins: 132-pounder Aaron Galef, Jake Carpenter  (152) and Chance Chapman (160). Each took first place in his division Saturday, helping the Dolphins to third place in the team competition with 179 points, behind runner-up San Fernando (256.5) and champion Birmingham (277.5).

Galef combined cat-like quickness with bullish strength to score a lopsided majority decision over San Fernando’s Evan Azurdia.

“I beat him 11-2 at regionals but felt like I didn’t open up enough so today whatever opened up I shot,” said Galef, who broke his finger the day before regionals last year. “It was tough because I could’ve won City last year but this feels really good and makes all the work I put in over the summer worth it. I haven’t been pushed to my limit yet, but I know I will be at state.”

Carpenter, who was third in the City at 152 a year ago, pinned his first three opponents to reach the final Sunday against San Fernando’s Trevor Gill, who led 2-1 through two periods before Carpenter was awarded three points on a near fall and prevailed 4-2.

“He was giving up at the end so I kept pushing,” said Carpenter, who also beat Gill in the regional finals. “I locked up the cradle and put him on his back.”

Chapman piled up the points on his way to a major decision over Eagle Rock’s Jose Davila Valdez.

“I was just going for it,” Chapman said. “It was my last City match so I went as hard as I could. We’ve gone to a lot of tough tournaments and I’ve been hanging with those guys, so hopefully I can do well at state.”

Joseph Velado reached the finals at 170, Emilio Albir was second at 182, Jonathan Quero was fourth at  138 and Parsa Pourmoula was sixth at 120.

Freshman Lily Topputo took third place in the girls 130-pound division with a 9-1 victory over Leyla Cortez of Eagle Rock. She then wrestled Zyana Cabrera of Birmingham for a state berth but lost by fall.