After wrestling at 113 and 120-pounds for the majority of the season, Adrian Hernandez made his debut at 106 for the Tigers and dominated his way to a tournament triumph on Saturday at the Kalama Rubber Chicken.
All five of the junior’s wins were by bonus points – four pins and one tech fall – including his championship pin of La Center’s Hunter Shirley, ranked seventh in Class 1A. Hernandez was on bottom in a 6-6 match to start the third, reversed Shirley and settled in for the fall.

Centralia totaled 143.5 points to place fourth overall. Rochester (62 points), Tenino (49.5) and Napavine (46) all placed inside the top-20.

Lafel Denetclaw was the runner-up at 144-pounds for the Tigers and Ronin Blair took third at 215. Dobah Denetclaw (138) and Dashba Denetclaw (150) each finished in fifth.

At 126, it was a No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown between Napavine’s Peyton Hernandez and Darrington’s Creed Wright. In a potential Class 1B/2B state championship preview, Hernandez scored the match-winning takedown in sudden victory to win 6-3.

Hernandez pulled off a reversal with 71 seconds left and rode out to keep the bout going. The junior, now at 28-1 on the season, scored at 31 seconds in SV-1.

Tenino’s Koy Knox registered three pins and a tech fall to win the 165-pound bracket and teammate Rowdie Tafoya placed fourth at heavyweight.

Rochester saw Christopher Tartios (175) and Lucas McIntire (285) place fifth.

Land, Scalici secure home tournament titles

Bonus points ruled the tournament for W.F. West’s Tucker Land and Race Scalici, fueling them to win their weight classes in front of their home crowd at Saturday’s Bearcat Invite at W.F. West High School.

After suffering his first loss of the season in the finals at Rumble in the Valley last weekend to Deer Park’s Evan Henry, Land got back on track with a pin and back-to-back tech falls to triumph at 190-pounds.

It was nearly a rematch, but Henry was pinned by Washougal’s Garrett Lees in the semis. Land racked up three takedowns, three sets of back points and a reversal in a 22-4 clinic.

“He righted the ship,” W.F. West head coach Jamie Raketvich said. “He’s a mature kid. Had a little hiccup and he’s got it figured out.”

Scalici earned the match-winning takedown early in the third period in the semifinals. He rolled in the finals versus Deer Park’s Gavin Carnahan.

It is the junior’s first tournament win since the Warrior Wrangle over a month ago.

On the backside, Beau Guyette (150) and Kallon Homan (175) won four straight matches to place third. Graysen Serl joined the third-place club at 157 while Lewis Allen took fourth at 132.

Escalera lone local champ at Battle at the Bridge

After three tournaments of falling at least two matches of winning, Onalaska’s Beninto Escalera got off the schneid and piled up four pins to secure the 120-pound bracket in Battle at the Bridge on Saturday at Hockinson High School.

Escalera didn’t allow his opponents to notch a point in the first two rounds, then he recovered from a reversal in the semis and finals to settle in for the falls. He was the lone Logger to earn a placement on the day.

Winlock’s Oscar Silvestre was the runner-up at 106-pounds, dropping in the title match against Camas’ Micah Bennett via tech fall. Silvestre reached the finals with a pin and a 19-3 tech fall that took over five minutes to get.

Blake Burnett (215) and Tanner Frasier (165) placed fourth and sixth, respectively for the Cardinals.

Wentzel claims best tournament finish out East

It took four weekends for Adna’s Eli Wentzel to get into the finals and despite losing by technical fall, the junior ended up as the runner-up at 144-pounds in Saturday’s Coyote Classic out in Ellensburg.

In the quarterfinals and semifinals, Wentzel picked up first period pins in 61 and 65 seconds. Then in the finals, White Swan’s Anthony Luton secured a takedown 26 seconds into the match and recorded the fall in one minute.

The Pirates didn’t have another placer. Three grapplers reached the semifinals, but lost in that round and the consolation semis.