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Sports

Temecula Valley, Murrieta Valley could meet in CIF Dual Meet Wrestling Tournament

The Golden Bears and the Nighthawks, traditional wrestling powerhouse programs, top the Division 1 pairings in Saturday's dual meet wrestling tournament.

A pair of powerhose wrestling programs could quite likely meet again in the playoffs -- this time for a CIF title.

Temecula Valley and Murrieta Valley will compete in the Division I CIF Dual Meet Finals Saturday at Villa Park High School. As opposed to the individual tournament, which will take place next week, this tournament recognizes the strength of an entire program at all weight classes.

The Golden Bears are the top seed going into Saturday's finals. The champion from the Southwestern League will face Damien High in the first round.

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But league rival, Murrieta Valley, could be the team Temecula Valley fears most. Although Temecula beat Murrieta, 48-19, in the teams' first dual meet of the season, Murrieta has as many individual league champions as Temecula Valley (three each) and will both be sending a number of wrestlers to the CIF Individual Championships Feb. 18-19.

Temecula Valley may have the mystique, but Nighthawks coach Brett Schleiger knows how to counter that--because he was a Temecula Valley wrestler himself.

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"It was our first dual meet of the year and big brother came in an intimidated us a bit," Schleiger said. "But the next week we beat Great Oak and we found our confidence."

Murrieta Valley faces third-seeded Laguna Hills (South Coast League champion) in the first round and Schleiger said if they get past Laguna Hills, the Nighthawks have a good shot at meeting Temecula Valley for the title.

Division I features some of the top leagues and teams in the state, including Corona Centennial, Oak Hills and South Hills.

Weigh-ins begin at 9 a.m. and wrestling starts at 11 a.m.

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