For the first time since the 2014-2015 season, Arizona has back-to-back state championship teams at the two highest levels of competition with Liberty and Sunnyside repeating from last year.

Liberty brought home the third championship in program history thanks to a 228 to 173 win over Cibola Friday night at the D-I state championships held in Prescott Valley and Sunnyside scored an incredible 277.5 points to claim the 33rd title in Blue Devil history.

Coincidently, Mountain View Mesa outlasted Sunnyside in 2014 and again 2015 to win back-to-back Division I titles and Cibola beat Liberty at the D-II level to win the 2015 championship after winning it all in 2014.

It was almost a foregone conclusion this year with the Blue Devils sending 14 wrestlers to state and it was pretty much a done deal when eight of them wrestled for a championship Friday night and the 277.5 points scored by Sunnyside is the third highest ever scored in Arizona history.

“One of our philosophies is getting better one percent everyday and I think a lot of these guys bought into that philosophy,” Sunnyside head coach Anthony Leon said. “It gets tougher and tougher every year but if we live by that philosophy we’ll be fine.”

The championship was the fourth for head coach Leon, including the last three in a row, and Eric Benton won his third with Liberty with the first championship coming in 2016. 

The D-III and D-IV state championships will finish up on Saturday night with Canyon del Oro (49) leading Yuma (44) in D-III competition and Morenci (79.5) leading Santa Cruz (77.5) in D-III. THe Dorados took third in 1977 and Morenci has seven titles.

The girls championship is also slated for Saturday night. There is no team competition but the wrestlers will be battling for ten individual championships.

 

D-I INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

106: Logan Smith (Desert Vista) 30-7, Fr. over Joey Jarman (Mesa) 38-5, Fr. (Dec 4-2)

113: Zander Phaturos (Liberty) 37-5, So. over Noah Kasprowicz (Boulder Creek) 42-7, Jr. (Dec 5-2)

120: Zach Espalin (Chandler) 49-3, Jr. over Cesar Avelar (Brophy Prep) 42-8, So. (Fall 1:10)

126: Juan Sierra (Cibola) 43-5, Jr. over Bryce Bernard (Valley Vista) 41-8, Sr. (Dec 7-0)

132: Andres Avelar (Cesar Chavez) 35-2, Sr. over Tanner Castillo (Red Mountain) 44-9, Sr. (Dec 6-3)

138: Tyler Sauter (Liberty) 37-3, So. over Dalton Loyden (Chandler) 43-9, Fr. (Dec 7-2)

145: Zeke Guerrero (Cibola) 35-5, Sr. over Anthony Morales (Kofa) 43-5, Sr. (UTB 3-2)

152: Alfonso Martinez (Desert Vista) 48-1, Sr. over Kalvin Boggs (Queen Creek) 31-12, Jr. (MD 10-1)

160: Kamyn Stonebraker (Liberty) 36-4, Sr. over Sebastian Valencia (Cibola) 21-5, Sr. (Dec 5-2)

170: Preston Cameau (Desert Vista) 34-2, Sr. over Ikaika Maldonado (Perry) 39-4, Sr. (MD 11-1)

182: Matthew Stevenson (Liberty) 47-2, Sr. over Makai Obregon (Valley Vista) 42-4, Sr. (Dec 11-4)

195: Liam Hoffmeyer (Cibola) 32-3, Jr. over Kimball Begay (Mountain View Mesa) 53-3, Sr. (Dec 7-4)

220: Luke Padwe (Pinnacle) 56-0, Sr. over David Palosika (Mountain Pointe) 48-5, Sr. (MD 10-0)

285: Jacob Moore (Boulder Creek) 46-2, Jr. over Dante Smith (Desert Ridge) 32-2, Jr. (Fall 1:40)

(Cibola/Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

D-II INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

106: James Williams-armstrong (Sunnyside) 43-2, Fr. over Jackson Rustad (Casteel) 48-5, Fr. (Dec 7-2)

113: Job Lee (Sunnyside) 36-3, Fr. over Colby Ryan (Raymond Kellis) 47-8, Fr. (Fall 2:34)

120: Gilbert Rodriguez (Mountain View Marana) 36-2, Jr. over James Brown (Sunnyside) 40-4, Jr. (Dec 2-1)

126: Jesse Ybarra (Sunnyside) 37-0, Sr. over Noah Wasserbeck (Campo Verde) 46-5, Sr. (MD 16-3)

132: Jaime Rivera (Sunnyside) 35-4, So. over Markell Rivera (Ironwood) 58-5, Fr. (Dec 6-3)

138: Chris Lopez (Mountain View Marana) 58-1, Jr. over Tyler Rokop (Ironwood Ridge) 37-5, Sr. (Dec 6-2)

145: Sebastian Robles (Sunnyside) 44-4, Jr. over Austin Scott (Mountain View Marana) 36-7, So. (Dec 5-2)

152: Carlo Castagnaro (Cienega) 49-2, Sr. over Rene Flagoso (Sunnyside) 39-8, So. (Fall 1:33)

160: Fernando Villascusa (Sunnyside) 31-2, So. over Andrew (AJ) Valle (Casteel) 49-3, So. (Dec 2-0)

170: Ty Ryan (Raymond Kellis) 59-2, Sr. over Gabe Levy (Cienega) 20-4, Jr. (Dec 2-1)

182: Jayden Fletcher (Campo Verde) 26-1, Sr. over Jose Beltran (Ironwood Ridge) 35-4, Sr. (Dec 5-2)

195: Jasiel Tapia (Independence) 45-3, Sr. over Atticus Lee (Higley) 33-1, Sr. (Fall 3:58)

220: Brock Locnikar (Notre Dame Prep) 29-0, Sr. over Joshua Gale (Williams Field) 38-6, Sr. (Dec 3-2)

285: Raphael Masella (Horizon) 38-5, Sr. over Jackson Solomon (Higley) 43-2, Sr. (Dec 2-1)