TRADITION SPURS SAN FERNANDO TIGERS SEEKING A RECORD 11TH CITY SECTION TITLE.Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer What is believed to be the first undefeated team in San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. High wrestling history attempts to take a proud program to new heights Saturday, taking aim at a record 11th City Section championship. The Tigers (21-0), ranked No. 1 by the Daily News and coming off a victory in last week's City Dual Meet finals, enters the section championship at University High in West Los Angeles
They were produced by the only three head coaches the Tigers have had in a sport Sam De John, the late founder of San Fernando's wrestling program, helped make an interscholastic in·ter·scho·las·tic adj. Existing or conducted between or among schools. in  ter·scho·las sport more than three
decades ago.
De John coached San Fernando to its first six City titles before retiring in 1989, Mike Castillo produced three more section champions, and current coach Fernando Gonzalez added No. 10 in 2003 - his first season with the Tigers. ``I think this team is really pretty good,'' said Castillo, the unofficial historian of San Fernando wrestling. ``I don't think Sam ever went undefeated in dual meets, and I never did it. That's a real accomplishment.'' The Tigers completed their undefeated dual-meet season with a 55-18 triumph over El Camino Real in the City Dual Meet title match Saturday at Birmingham of Lake Balboa. Seven San Fernando wrestlers - Santos Santos (sän`t  s), city (1996 pop. 412,288), São Paulo state, SE Brazil, on the island of São Vicente in the Atlantic just off the mainland. Delgadillo, Mike Solis, Eddie
Uribe, Ruben Saenz, Julio Lopez, Rashaad Reynolds and Mike Parra - went
undefeated as the Tigers beat Huntington Park Huntington Park, city (1990 pop. 56,065), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential and industrial suburb of Los Angeles; founded 1856, inc. 1906. Its varied manufactures include metal, glass and rubber products and industrial equipment. (58-13), Chatsworth
(42-30) and ECR ECR Efficient Consumer ResponseECR European Congress of Radiology ECR Electron Cyclotron Resonance ECR El Camino Real (Kings Highway; California) ECR Electronic Cash Register ECR East Coast Radio (South Africa) to win the title. San Fernando's seven other weight-class starters - Tony Mendez Tony Mendez (also known as Antonio Mendez) is a former CIA technical operations officer. His job was to support clandestine and covert CIA operations. He is most famous for the Canadian caper during the Iran hostage crisis, when six American diplomats were smuggled out of , Mike Le, George Garcia, Danny Pena Danny Pena (born November 25, 1976 in Inglewood, California) is a retired U.S. soccer defensive midfielder. He spent most of his career, both indoors and outdoors, with teams in the western U.S. , Matt Castillo, Adam Zavala and Jose Silva Jose Silva can refer to different people:
``We have a very solid team up and down,'' said Gonzalez, whose team has wrestlers ranked among the City's top three in 10 of 14 weight classes by The California Wrestler. Four of them - Reynolds at 130, Lopez at 135, Uribe at 145 and Delgadillo at 275 - are ranked No. 1 in the section. ``We have a little bit of balance and depth,'' Gonzalez said, ``and we have six or seven really 'nail' guys.'' Uribe (31-4) and returning City individual champions Delgadillo (33-4), Solis (28-9 at 152) and Saenz (27-6 at 140) have the most wins for the Tigers, who benefit from the school's wrestling tradition. ``I'd have to say Sam started the tradition,'' Castillo said. ``The school is a very traditional school, in terms of holding to its history in athletics. And it's a community school, where kids come from the community. It kind of builds on itself.'' The tradition is manifested in alumni support for the program and for the annual Sam De John Tournament. ``Coaches and alumni come and visit through the year, telling how hard it's been and about the honor and responsibility and expectations,'' said Uribe, one of four senior co-captains and the wrestler Gonzalez says ``drives my team.'' ``I think (the tradition) does help me,'' Uribe said, ``and I also got it from my brothers.'' He is the fifth Uribe to wrestle for the Tigers, following older brothers Bernardo, Fernando, Eusebio and Raul, who won a City individual title in 2003. The Tigers also have benefited from depth beyond the 14 starters. San Fernando also won this year's unofficial City junior-varsity championship - the Viking Invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. at Monroe - and Gonzalez says the abundance of strong reserves creates productive practice sessions. ``Some of our best matches are in the wrestling room,'' Gonzalez said. ``I tell my guys three or four of them could be in the City finals if they were at another school. Of course, I tell them I don't want to leave, but I want them to know I think highly of them.'' Gonzalez believes that depth, and that this year's Tigers start just six seniors, bodes well for San Fernando next season. But first things First Things is a monthly ecumenical journal concerned with the creation of a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society" (First Things website). first: Saturday's City Championship at University, where competition begins at 10 a.m., with finals starting at 6 p.m. ``You don't want to put the horse before the cart or count your chickens before they hatch,'' Gonzalez said, ``but I definitely feel we have the capability, if we wrestle to our ability, to win. I feel very confident about that.'' Dave Shelburne, (818) 713-3609 dave.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: San Fernando's Ruben Saenz, wrestling El Camino Real's Yoel Hanohov, is a defending City Section champion. John Lazar/Staff Photographer Box: TITLE TIME |
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