BY ALLAN STEELE
HEMET › Perris Citrus Hill has yet to win an outright league title in wrestling, but the Hawks put themselves in position for a shot at program history with a big win Wednesday night over Hemet, which had been unbeaten in league. Pins late in the dual at 170, 195, and 285 sealed a 41-31 victory in what had been a tightly contested match. The win clinched at least a share of the Mountain Pass League title, a feat the Hawks have accomplished twice before, but now the goal of an outright title and a perfect league season are within reach with a match against Hemet Tahquitz next week. “Early we felt we had the makings for a good team and then we were hit by so many injuries in the middle of the season that we didn’t know what was going to happen,” Citrus Hill coach Scott Schumm said. “Then guys started getting healthy and started improving as we went along and certainly right now, they hit on all cylinders tonight.” Senior Chris Schumm came up big in a big spot. The Citrus Hill 195-pound senior hadn’t wrestled all season and will have knee surgery this week, but stepped in and picked up a second-round fall to put the Hawks up 33-25. Hemet (7-2, 3-1) took a 21-15 advantage on a pin by Caleb Wilson at 152, but the upperweight matches were controlled by the Hawks. “They showed up and won in key spots and they pinned a lot of our guys and that was the biggest thing,” Hemet coach Julius Reyes said. “We knew coming into the match that we could not get pinned if we were going to pull it off. … We knew it was going to come down to one or two matches and could have gone either way.” The Hawks accounted for five falls, including one at 120 pounds by Anthony Vargas, whose pin gave Citrus Hill an early 10-0 lead. “I wanted to be a little more aggressive, more shots,” said Vargas, who pinned Jacob Wuerth with 19 seconds left in the second period to improve to 20-1. Wuerth was a CIF placer last season, and Vargas is ranked 31st in the state. “This is a good step for us,” said Vargas. “It will build up confidence for our whole team.” “Everyone in the league knew it was going to come down to Hemet and Citrus,” Reyes said. CONTACT THE WRITER: [email protected]