Perillo qualifies for state wrestling tournament with third place at San Diego Section masters

linkTook first at Division I tournament

Fallbrook High School senior Nick Perillo qualified for the CIF state wrestling tournament March 6-7 at Rabobank Arena at Bakersfield.

The top three wrestlers in each weight class at the CIF San Diego Section's all-division masters tournament February 27-28 at Southwest High School in El Centro qualified for the state tournament. Perillo placed third in the 182-pound weight class.

"He had a pretty exceptional tournament," said Fallbrook varsity coach Cristian Vera.

"It's been a long time since we've had a state qualifier, so it feels good that we finally have one," Vera said. "We're all really excited about it."

The last Fallbrook state qualifier prior to Perillo was Brett Jones, who finished second in the 119-pound weight class in the 2009 masters tournament and also qualified for the state tournament in 2008 when the San Diego Section was allowed four 112-pound grapplers and Jones placed fourth in the masters.

"It's really motivating for everybody," Vera said of Fallbrook having a state qualifier for the first time in six years.

In 2015 the top seven finishers in each weight class at the San Diego Section's Division I tournament February 21 at Mission Hills High School qualified for the masters while the eighth-place wrestler could be taken to the masters as an alternate. As a team the Warriors finished tenth among the 18 Division I schools despite only fielding 11 wrestlers rather than one in each of the 14 weight classes. "It was a good time for me and the coaches," Vera said. "The boys were excited about it, too, to be in the top ten."

Perillo became Fallbrook's first division champion since Jones won the 119-pound class in 2009. "He had three or four really good matches," Vera said of Perillo.

In the Division I tournament Perillo pinned Eastlake's Tanner Waller in 1:15, pinned Raymond Jenkins of Mira Mesa in 1:46, and pinned Helix opponent Solomon Worthey in2:08 to advance to the championship match against Jorge Rodriguez of Escondido.

"We were excited about that. Getting a guy in the finals of CIF is a big deal," Vera said.

Perillo and Rodriguez each had seven points after the three regulation periods. A takedown in overtime gave Perillo a 9-7 decision victory and the Division I championship.

Mario Beltran finished third in the 138-pound class at the Division I tournament, although the senior was ill the first day of the masters and was unable to complete. "It was just an unfortunate situation," Vera said.

Bacilio Gaspar placed sixth in the Division I 145-pound bracket to earn a trip to the masters and Drew Backe placed seventh in the heavyweight division. Two Fallbrook matmen were eighth in the division tournament; Guillermo Juarez wrestled in the 120-pound class and Cy Calloway was Fallbrook's 195-pound grappler. Although the qualifying 120-pound wrestlers all traveled to El Centro and were all within the two-pound weight allowance, one of the 195-pound qualifiers was overweight and Calloway competed in the masters tournament.

"Taking four guys is much better than we have done in past years," Vera said. "For us as coaches it was a big deal to see that."

Gaspar, Juarez, and Calloway all ended the double-elimination tournament without a win. "They ran into some tough opponents pretty quickly in the tournament," Vera said. "The level of competition goes up pretty dramatically from CIF to masters."

Vera explained that the division tournament had 18 teams while 24 wrestlers were in each masters weight class and all of those qualified from their division tournaments. "There really aren't any scrubs or any weak wrestlers," Vera said.

"Only the best guys go to masters and from masters only the best guys go to state," Vera said. "I couldn't have asked for them to perform any better."

Perillo earned a first-round bye in the masters and won his first competition by pinning West Hills wrestler Andres Sanchez 56 seconds into the third period.

In the quarterfinals Perillo faced Brian Hissong of La Costa Canyon. Perillo pinned Hissong 55 seconds into their match at the La Costa Canyon Classic Hamada Memorial tournament December 12-13 at La Costa Canyon High School, where Perillo took fourth place. Although Perillo didn't pin Hissong in the masters tournament, the three periods ended with Perillo having a 7-2 points advantage.

The win over Hissong put Perillo into the semifinals against top-seeded Andrew Tausch of Poway, who would take second place. "Nick had a pretty tough match," Vera said. "Once you get to that level of masters or any competition there's no easy match."

A wrestler who is ahead by 15 points is awarded a technical fall victory, and Tausch earned such a win over Perillo by increasing his scoring lead to 24-8. Perillo remained positive by recognizing that he was able to score points. "He felt really good about the match because he was able to go in there and get toe-to-toe," Vera said.

Perillo needed to win both of his losers' bracket matches to advance to the state tournament. "It was crunch time for Nick," Vera said.

Perillo began the consolation bracket with an 11-8 win over Colin Forman of Steele Canyon, who had pinned Perillo in a previous match. "He beat Colin Forman pretty definitively which in itself was a huge victory for Nick," Vera said.

The match for third place and the final state tournament berth was between Perillo and Mark Benedict of Imperial High School.

"Mark Benedict has consistently been ranked in the top 20 in the state all season. Nick had never wrestled him, but we knew of him," Vera said.

Benedict had also reached the semifinals before being sent to the losers' bracket by eventual champion Chasen Blair of Rancho Bernardo. Benedict had injured his shoulder in that loss.

In the third-place match Perillo led Benedict by two points with 20 seconds remaining in the third period. "Mark took a shot at Nick," Vera said. "He ended up hurting his shoulder even more."

With ten seconds remaining in the period Benedict withdrew due to his injury. "It's a real shame that Mark wasn't able to finish the match," Vera said.

Perillo likely would have beaten Benedict had it not been for the withdrawal. "We felt pretty confident that Nick was going to end up winning that match," Vera said.

The victory qualified Perillo for the state tournament. "He was able to get there," Vera said. "He is one of the three best guys in San Diego Section and has earned the right to go to state."