The Spartans trailed 19-7, but turned the match around with wins 215 and heavyweight, setting the stage for the light weights to lead the way to the fifth CIF-SS title in the last seven years.

By Tracy McDannald

TORRANCE — Despite fielding a young roster and facing an early deficit, South Torrance wrestling coach Don Garriott was confident Thursday in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 dual final.

South erased an early 12-point deficit through six matches, flipping the momentum behind victories from Robert Crowe and Leonardo Battulga to quickly tie the dual and ride the momentum en route to a 44-22 win over Aliso Niguel.

The top-seeded Spartans (11-0) claimed their fifth CIF-SS dual title in seven years.

“They’ve went through a lot this year, where we’ve had matches like this already,” Garriott said. “At the duals to get here, we were down by like 28 points and boom, boom, boom they came back. So, they know they can do it and we always talk about not riding the roller coaster. In a dual, you’re going to win some and you’re going to lose some.”

Trailing 19-7 entering the 215-pound match, South started its comeback with Crowe’s dramatic pin with 1:15 left in the third and final period.

“We always talk about persistence,” Garriott said. “No matter what’s going on in the match, keep at it.”

The match was scoreless through the first two periods until Crowe secured four points within a 30-second stretch before the pin.

The difference, Crowe said, was not “gassing out.”

“Just hard defense through the first two periods,” Crowe said.

Crowe added that contributing to the victory was extra sweet after serving as a backup in the 190-pound weight class last year.

“It’s a legacy, man,” Crowe said. “You got all these banners up right here. It’s an expectation.”

Battulga, who entered as the state’s 25th-ranked heavyweight, then quickly recorded a pin in just 10 seconds to tie the dual 19-19. Battulga said he knew coming in he would be the “momentum-shifter of this dual.”

“And we know our lighter weights are going to get the work done,” Battulga added.

Zairone Cabrera (106), Sawyer Ross (113), Caden Garriott (120), Alex Patti (126) and Isaac Simkins (132) were able to do just that in the following five contests to seize the lead and help South run away with the dual late.

The Spartans also got a 10-2 win in the opening match at 144 pounds by Kyle Da Nobrega and an 8-7 decision from Carter Adams in the 165.

Aliso Niguel (8-4), which was appearing in its first CIF-SS final, won four of five contests prior to South’s flurry.