Jorgensen-Carrillo: Two Dynamic Takedown Artists  

Welcome back to The Match Primer, wrestling junkies. In this edition, we’re going to take a closer look at one of the intriguing matchups that could take place in the 3A duals this weekend at 126 pounds between number one and number 5 in the Power Poll  and two dynamic takedown artists. This matchup pits Morgan’s two-time state champion, Jarrett Jorgensen against ALA’s funky defending state champion, Lukas Carrillo. 

Jarrett Jorgensen: Hardnosed and Technical 

 Two-time state champion and one-time runner up, Jorgensen is one of the best wrestlers the small community of Morgan has produced. Jorgensen can do everything from leg attacks to throws. Has solid offense, solid defense, a large gas tank and is as mentally tough as they come. He wrestles everyone and everywhere. This season, he won the Layton Invitational, placed fifth at the RTOC and went untested at the Jody Warren Duals. 

Neutral

Jorgensen’s work from the neutral position is a joy to watch. From the opening whistle, he’s attacking. He will club his opponent to close the distance and initiate hard hand-fighting exchanges. He is comfortable in upper body situations by maintaining superior head position and creating pressure. He has great throws and feels his opponent’s pressure well to thwart takedown attempts. His rough style of hand-fighting makes opponents think they need to wrestle from space which feeds into two of his best shots, a blast double and a low single. When he blast doubles, he’s already thinking about back points. He runs up to his feet and looks to split his opponent’s legs with a turk step. 

Defensively, Jorgensen has great reactions and short offense. In the finals of the Layton Invitational, he picked up multiple takedowns with a simple sprawl-go behind. Jorgensen can also chase down nearside cradles and end matches from this position. He’s always attacking and seems to get better as matches progress. Opponents need to mentally prepare for a very hard six minutes when they toe the line against Jorgensen. 

 Top

 Jorgensen continues his onslaught when he gets on top. He looks to use a tight waist and chop combination to put his opponent’s head into the mat. He maintains this pressure by staying on his toes. As people try to build their base, Jorgensen will secure a two-on-one and hit a tilt to start scoring back points. Jorgensen will also take his foot off the gas to bait opponents to step up where he will jump on nearside cradles to look for the fall. 

Bottom

 When he ends up on bottom, Jorgensen keeps it simple. He maintains a solid base, doesn’t get his wrists tied up and just stands up. When he gets to his feet, he does a great job of being mobile while he breaks the grip of his opponent which makes it harder to return him. He is also good at catching legs coming in and scoring reversals. He has bought into the philosophy that bottom work isn’t as much about technique as it is about attitude. 

Lukas Carrillo: Dynamic Athleticism 

 Last season, ALA’s Lukas Carrillo was one of a few freshmen to take home a state championship. He shut out a tough Will Korth in the finals at 106 pounds. This season, he’s bumped up three weight classes. Sometimes, when an athlete puts on a lot of size, it takes some time to adjust to wrestling bigger, stronger opposition. I don’t think that will be an issue for Carrillo since he competes all year and competed at 126 or higher during the freestyle/greco season and even in the early going of this season.

Neutral 

 Carrillo is very athletic and likes to use a wide variety of attacks. He is a product of Champions Wrestling Club and as we’ve learned over the years, CWC trained under the LaMont family are tough with their under-hooks. Lukas Carrillo isn’t an exception. He looks to close the gap and get to his under-hooks which often leads to an over-under scenario. From this position, he does a lot of things well. He will clear the arm on the over-hook side right into a collar tie to move his opponent’s head out of the way to open a window for a knee-pull single. On the under-hook side, he looks throw his opponent by to pick up a high-single where he does a good job of chaining together finish attempts. One of his better finishes is a back step (AKA seat dump) that he uses effectively. To go along with these crafty leg attacks, Carrillo isn’t afraid to fall back on his greco training and hit crowd pleasing throws. 

Defensively, Carrillo is solid. He is very quick and reads opponents well, so opponents have a hard time getting to his legs and end up in a tight front-headlock. With his front-headlock, we’ve seen him hit big four-point throws in the international styles and in folkstyle, he forces his head under his opponent, keeps their head pinched and walks toward their legs to capture a nearside cradle. When someone gets to his legs, Carrillo is a fantastic scrambler. He will roll under opponents to pass a leg over his head, attack both ankles and whenever he does any of these wild techniques, he is looking to pick a leg up and get his head higher than his opponent’s. 

Top

 ALA, is turning into a team full of kids with good cradles. Carrillo can hit them all. Nearside, cross-face it doesn’t matter. He has long arms and utilizes them well. He also rides legs really well. He will use leg rides to force an opponent to their stomach and get his hip on the far side to twist his opponent’s body and look for turks. If the turk isn’t there, he scoops up a bar. We’ve seen wrestlers such as Dayton Fix be very successful using this set up to get to bars in folkstyle and trap arm gut wrenches in freestyle. Carrillo does a great job of staying busy and using his length to get to his offense. 

Bottom

 Carrillo’s scrambling ability is also present when he’s on bottom. He’s good at creating space with rolls to get to his feet. If he gets returned, he’s proficient at getting returned in good position and taking advantage of the opportunities that he creates with those flurries of action. Because of this, he scores a lot of reversals and right back into his top work. 

What to Watch For

 This match features two highly competitive, highly aggressive and highly adaptable wrestlers. In the eyes of this writer, the winner of this contest will be whoever can better implement “Plan B” both of these wrestlers will likely have the answers for their counterpart’s “Plan A” and whoever can impose their “Plan B” will be the likely winner. The most competitive sequences will be from the neutral position. Jorgensen is a great attacker, Carrillo is a great scrambler. If Jorgensen can take Carrillo down without scrambles, it could be a long match for the ALA eagle. On the flip side, if Carrillo puts Jorgensen through chaotic scrambles and flurries whenever he attacks, he could force Jorgensen to fall back on another strategy. Regardless, this should be a fun one at the 3A duals!