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UCLA Reclaims the Victory Belt Against Rival USC
UCLA Wrestling Poses with the Victory Belt after 42 - 16 Defeat of USC.

UCLA Reclaims the Victory Belt Against Rival USC

BY VINNY LAVALSITI

UCLA steamrolled rival USC, reclaiming the Victory Belt with a final score of 42 - 16.

President and Captain Paul Adkisson and the Bruins have had the USC match marked on their calendars for some time now after suffering a defeat in last year's bout for the newly-sanctioned trophy.
 
In the rivalry's third annual meeting for the Victory Belt, UCLA racked up seven consecutive duel wins.
 
In the beginning, things did not get off on the right foot for the UCLA wrestling squad, forfeiting their first match and indebting a 0 - 6 deficit before things could get underway.
 
Junior heavyweight David Coroña leveled the score and was the first to kick off the Bruins' string of victories, pinning a USC wrestler who went up a weight class to match with him in the second period of the 285 weight class.
 
"Feels good (to win). The guy wasn't exactly my weight, but he's a fast, strong guy," Coroña said. "You gotta wrestle smart in those situations and be cautious because if you get too carried away you'll make mistakes."
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Wrestler David Coroña with the Victory Belt after Pinning his Competitor.

 UCLA suffered a loss in their 125-pound match, but once 133 pounder Lincoln Fang defeated his opponent, Adkisson was confident in how the rest of the day would play out.
 
"(After Fang) I knew we had it. We just ran the house with the weights on up," Adkisson said.
 
Adkisson followed with a victory of his own to put UCLA up on the Trojans with a score of 15 - 12, a lead they would not give away for the remainder of the duels.
 
Kane Jajieh wrestled after Adkisson, competing in all three periods. It wasn't until there were 30 seconds left in the third period that the real action happened. Jajieh took down the USC wrestler to tie up the duel 8-8 with ten seconds left. A penalty by the USC wrestler earlier in the duel was tacked on to the final score, effectively making Jajieh the victor.
 
"I was cutting a lot of weight, so I was really tired out there," Jajieh said. "But it's the rivalry match man, so I had to give my all!"
 
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Wrestler Kane Jajieh with the Victory Belt after his 3rd Round Win.

One of the more notable performances came from freshman wrestler Ryan Holland. In his duel, Holland went up two weight classes from his normal 157 pounds competitors.
 
"I knew he was a lot stronger than me so I was going for legs and tackles," Holland said. "Once I got on top I just had the feel. Locked him up in a cradle, sunk it back, and just held on."
 
Wrestler Ebrahim Feghhi also went up from his 157-pound weight class and ousted a heavier USC competitor.
 
"We knew that part of the lineup was going to be tough because we've got people shifting around weight classes," Holland said.
 
Holland's match would put the Bruins at their final score of the day with 42, beating USC by 26 points.
 
"This is the event we've been building to all year," Adkisson said. "This is what we've been recruiting and training for and I think our wrestlers really came out and exposed that. I was so excited to see our guys perform at this level."
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