Pali High Wrestling Second at City Regionals

Aaron Galef, Jake Carpenter, Chance Chapman, Joseph Velado & Hamzah Alsaudi Win their Weight Divisions

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

One week after losing to San Fernando in the semifinals of City Duals, Palisades High’s wrestling team got another crack at the Tigers in the Region 3 Meet last Saturday in Sylmar. Although San Fernando again took the team competition, the Dolphins won four of five head-to-head finals matchups.

“We stepped up today,” Pali High Coach Aldo Juliano said. “Kids that were missing last week did what they were expected to do. We have to really be on next week [at finals] because only the first place guys go to state—finals is when we have to get the ones. It’ll be us, Birmingham and San Fernando fighting it out for the team title.”   

Max Much was fourth in the 106-pound weight division and Eric Smith pinned West Adams’ Joseph Enriquez in the first period to take third place at 126 pounds. Jonathan Quero beat Bright Star’s Nathaniel Botello 10-1 in the third-place match at 138 and brother Erick Quero built a huge lead before pinning Panorama’s Douglas Pineda for third at  145.

Emilio Albir got pinned by Jaylen Mason of Van Nuys with 45 seconds left and had to settle for second place at 182 and Alejandro Ventura took fifth place at 220, also qualifying for the City Championships this Friday and Saturday at Roybal Learning Center.

Parsa Pourmoula faced off against San Fernando’s Kobe Lepe in the 120-pound final and Lepe executed a takedown and a reversal to take a 4-0 lead before pinning Pourmoula in the second period.

Aaron “Peanut” Galef showed fierce aggression from the start and led 4-0 after two periods against the Tigers’ Evan Azurdia. The last two minutes belonged to Galef, who twice had his opponent on the verge of a pin. He earned a convincing 11-2 decision and is one of the City favorites at 132 pounds.

Also shooting for a state berth this weekend will be 152-pounder Jake Carpenter, who bested San Fernando’s Trevor Gill 13-4 in the regional finals, outscoring the exhausted Gill 5-0 in the third period. Carpenter was third in the City at 140 last season.

At 160, Chance Chapman beat Trevor’s brother Trenton, 11-4, getting two takedowns and a reversal in the third period of a grueling final match.

“I didn’t get to wrestle [San Fernando] at duals because I was injured,” said Chapman, who took fourth in the City at 147 last winter. “I was going for a cradle. Yeah, he was big but I got a lot of points because he didn’t fight much on the bottom.”

Back-to-back City 195-pound champion Hamzah Alsaudi wrestled most of the year at 220 but dropped to 195 for regionals and pinned San Fernando’s Everardo Baro midway through the first period to collect the first-place medal. The Dolphins senior hopes to make it a City three-peat Saturday night.

“I dove him for a cradle and got him with a reverse half,” Alsaudi said. “I pinned him last year at regionals too but it was easier this time than last time. I feel comfortable at this weight because I’ve won City twice before.”