COVINA — Northview’s Samantha Rivera was leading her match with Corona’s Mackenzie Mendenhall at 119 pounds in the second period when she sustained a knee injury that brought coach Roy Lazaro and his staff of coaches over to tend to her.

Rivera needed just three points to close out Northview’s third straight CIF Southern Section Division 1 girls wrestling dual title over Corona. A loss would would leave the Vikings’ fate to the final match of the night.

There was no chance Rivera wouldn’t finish, summoning some strength to hold on for an 8-5 decision, and with it the Vikings got to raise another championship trophy.

Northview freshman Ysabella Hinojosa won the final match at 124 pounds, and the undefeated Vikings (7-0) claimed the championship, 39-27, beating Corona for the third straight time in the finals.

“That is all we ask from everybody,” Lazaro said of Rivera’s inspirational effort. “But that was one special girl who we expect a lot from. She means the world to our team, and I knew she was going to pull through at the end.”

Corona had closed a 24-point deficit to 33-27 going into Rivera’s second-to-last match, so Rivera knew what was at stake.,

“I just needed to stay strong, be tough and just fight through it,” Rivera said of her injury. “The girl (Mendenhall) bended it (knee) backwards, and my leg was stuck in place, but I didn’t think it was serious. I’m pretty proud of myself for coming back and fighting through.”

The girls Division 1 dual wrestling finals have only been contested four years and all four years, Corona and Northview have reached the finals. Corona won the inaugural title in 2021, but the Vikings have won the next three.

Corona (12-1) coach Jim Bowers summomed up why they came up short again in its first loss of the season.

“We were in it, no matter what, you’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some,” Bowers said. “The biggest thing is some kids performed like they were supposed to and some didn’t, that’s what happened. That’s what happens in duals, if everyone came out and did what they were supposed to do, we would have came out victorius. But I”m proud of these girls no matter what, because they’re a young team and this was their first taste of defeat all season.”

Northview came out humming. Mia Hooper opened the night in a tight match with Corona’s Kristen Dizon at 129 pounds, and Hooper was able to get a pin with five seconds left. Hooper had lost a match in the preliminary rounds.

“I kept telling her this week, redeption doesn’t come that often, sometimes it takes a while,” Lazaro said. “From her lost last week to this week she was in her own head. So I told her, good, you get redemption tonight and you get to start us off.”

Hooper was pumped.

“It was a pretty good match, there were only a couple minutes left and I had to get that pin,” Hooper said. “That girl was tough, but at the end of the day I did it. We deserve it (championship), we put in work everyday.”

The Vikings’ Samantha Felix followed with a second-period pin over Jocelyn Ortiz at 134 pounds, and in their fourth match, arguably their top pound-for-pound wrestler, Faith Bartoszek, a transfer from Wisconsin, pinned her opponent inside 20 seconds and the Vikings quickly had an 18-3 lead.

“We got a couple of upsets and things went our way early,” Lazaro said. “And luckily for us, we were able to hold it down, never really gave it back. I thought it would be a little tighter at the beginning, but some of our girls are freshman that wrestled amazing, and our new girls against some of their best girls did their job.”

You could tell Bartoszek, in her first year with Northview, was elated she made the move out west.

“I can’t lie, this is honestly the best atmosphere I’ve ever been in,” Bartoszek said. “It feels like family out here, the girls treat me great and the coaches treat me even better. Just getting to be a part of this team on a 3-peat is amazing. I just want to tell you with these Northview girls, something big (masters and state) is coming for sure.”

The Vikings’ lead ballooned to 24-3 after Trinity Palumbo’s second-period pin over Corona’s Taylor Bell at 149 pounds. Andrea Mateo’s 8-1 decision over Corona’s Angel Castro at 159 pounds gave the Vikings five wins in six matches, going up 27-3.

But Corona would make it interesting.

Alexandra Urata defeated Northiew’s Savanna Pratt 8-2 at 174 pounds, then Jestinah Solomua pinned the Vikings’ Rebecca Juarez at 194 pounds and then the Vikings forfeited their heavyweight match, quickly trimming the Vikings’ lead to 27-18.

But Northview’s 104-pounder Religh Hayes got a third-period pin over Savannah Melancon to go back up 15.

Corona’s Itzel Herrera pinned Northview’s Mia Sanchez in the third-to-last match to cut the Vikings’ lead to 33-27, and that set the stage for Rivera’s heroics.

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