By Oscar Martines
The Brawl returned to East Los Angeles College as 12 colleges competed in 10 weight classes in search of winning the first-place medal.
The tournament would see Devin Peries (197 lb) place third in his respective bracket.
In the 125 lb bracket, Husky alum Adrian Curiel would kick off his first match with a victory over Christian Castillo of Victorville Valley College.
In the semifinal, Adrian Curiel would lose to Dylan Atherton of Rio Hondo College. Curiel was dominated until falling to a pin in the second round of the match.
In the semifinal of the consolation bracket, Curiel would suffer his final loss of the day to Bakersfield alum Richard Martinez.
A first-round challenge that ruled in favor of Bakersfield would swing the momentum away from Curiel, which would result in him getting pinned.
Aiden Thome (133 lb) saw two early exits as his first-round match against Trevor Bass of Victor Valley ended in defeat, followed by another defeat to Zacariah McIlvain of Mt. San Antonio College in the first round of the consolation bracket.
Despite having a strong start against McIlvain, the Husky was unable to contain the comeback and fell in the first round of the match.
The 141 lb bracket saw Ethan Irizarry represent for the Huskies.
Unfortunately, Ethan Irizarry would see a first-round exit after falling to Anthony Gardner of Cerritos College.
Ethan Irizzary would square up against Brandon Fairman of Mt. San Antonio in the consolation bracket.
A beautiful early takedown by Ethan Irizzary was not enough, as Brandon Fairman would immediately take advantage to seal the first-round win.
Arcadio Zuniga and Jacob Shibata would represent ELAC in the 157 lb bracket.
Arcadio Zuniga would fall in the first round to Carlos Martinez of Bakersfield College and would then fall once again in the first round of the consolation bracket to Adan Leyva of Moorpark College.
Jacob Shibata’s quarterfinal encounter with James O’Neal of Victor Valley would end in defeat. In Round Two of the consolation bracket, Jacob Shibata would taste defeat once again as Julian Carranza of Victor Valley would survive an early takedown to pin Shibata for the win.
Troy Garza (184 lb) started off with a win over Cerritos alum Michael Felix.
Two strong takedowns gave Troy Garza the early lead in the first round of the match. Despite a small comeback from Michael Felix in the second round, Troy Garza finished the match with a W.
Unfortunately, Troy Garza would not return for his semifinal encounter against Jakob Edwards of Cerritos.
The best Husky performance would be displayed by Devin Peries in the 197 lb bracket.
The quarterfinal match saw Devin Peries defeat Angel Anguiano of Cerritos College in a very entertaining encounter.
A thrilling first round full of takedowns and perfect escapes saw Angel Anguiano take the advantage.
In the second round, Devin Peries would turn things around, executing some great takedowns that resulted in him finishing the match off with the victory.
“He’s really improved on his feet. He was really fast on his feet. He was able to go right and then go left, jam up his opponents and take them off balance,” head coach Miguel Soto said about Devin Peries after the tournament.
Things would then look complicated for Devin Peries after suffering a defeat to Tim Saunders of USC in the semifinal match.
Despite doing everything he could to turn the match in his favor, Devin Peries was unable to keep up with Tim Saunders throughout the encounter.
With a third-place finish on the horizon, Devin Peries would bounce back from the loss by claiming victory against Manreev Singh of San Jose State in the semifinals of the consolation bracket.
An early takedown from Manreev Singh would not keep Devin Peries off balance, who delivered a great performance and dominated all three rounds.
The third-place match would be decided between Devin Peries and Owen Ormsby of Cerritos.
Owen Ormsby would take control of the match in the first round. However, the second round would be decisive on Devin Peries’ path towards claiming a medal.
A couple of takedowns followed by a strong third-round finish led to Devin Peries winning the third-place match and gain a medal for ELAC in the tournament.
“Near the end of the matches, I tried to stay in there, conserve my energy a little bit, and in this match, the same situation,
“I just conserved my energy and went for the kill near the end,” Devin Peries said after winning the medal.