DIV. II WRESTLING: ROYAL FLATTENED IN SEMIS.

Byline: IVAN OROZCO

Staff Writer

TORRANCE -- The Royal of Simi Valley wrestling team huddled behind the scorer's table Saturday night in an attempt to regain composure.

The Highlanders had started flat and already lost two of their first three matches in the semifinal round of the Div. II dual meet championships at North High.

Recognizing the blank stares from the team bench as another Highlander appeared about to go down to defeat, coach Richard Carrillo called for a mid match meeting. It didn't help.

The Highlanders lost 11 of 14 weight divisions, nine by way of pin, and were kept from making a run at a second-consecutive CIF dual-meet title, losing 63-9 to top-ranked Laguna Hills.

Royal finished the season with a 9-2 dual meet record. Laguna Hills went on to beat North 53-12 in the title match.

"Some of our guys were starstruck going against the No. 1 seed," Carrillo said. "That happens in tournaments all the time. Teams see they're the top seed so they must be the champions. That's something that changes with maturity to realize we have to wrestle everyone like they are the No. 1 seed. We handed it to them before they earned it."

Royal is accustomed to coming into championship dual meets as the favorite, but that changed when the school was moved up to Div. II after winning the Div. V dual-meet title last season.

"This goes to show that we're not invisible," said Paul Moomjean, Royal's assistant coach. "We can't be too hard on ourselves. They're a team with 11 returners and six CIF placers."

The Highlanders only other loss came against Marmonte League rival Agoura last month.

"Our first loss was a wake up call," said Kevin Dunn, who won his 125- pound match against Laguna Hills' Max Nishimura. "This one shows we can still grow as a team."

The pep talk early in the meet sparked Matt Rulon, and he gave the Highlanders a bit of confidence when he beat Tim Weber, the Hawks' 189- pounder.

"(Weber) had pinned me really quick in a tournament earlier this year, so I was kind of worried about that," Rulon said. "But our coach and one of our teammates (Ryan Brown) gave a good speech, and that got me going to beat him."

Marmonte League rival Thousand Oaks reached the quarterfinal round, in which it was eliminated by North. The Langers beat Rancho Cucamonga, the No. 7-ranked team in Div.II, 42-32 in the first round.

"We came in here knowing we would have a tough time against some of these teams," Thousand Oaks coach Kerry Lyne said. "But it served as practice for some of our guys and to get them ready for next week."

Crespi falls in first round: Crespi of Encino lost to Santiago of Garden Grove 45-30 in the first round of the Southern Section Division VI playoffs in Wildomar.

ivan.orozco@daily news.com

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