It was business as usual for W.F. West on Wednesday, as the Bearcats dominated Centralia on the mats in a 66-6 victory.
“We wrestled good,” W.F. West coach Jamie Rakevich said. “We took care of business.”
Five Bearcats came away with pins, including Liam Land (132), Grayson Serl (144), Kage Homan (165), Tucker Land (175), and Kyle Nowels (215).
Andrew Snyder (157) earned a victory via tech fall, tallying 21 points in his win, while Beau Guyette (150) won via major decision.
Adrian Hernandez (113), Adrian Jaimes Montenegro (126), and Race Scalici (138) won via decision.
While Jaimes Montenegro and Scalici led throughout the entirety of their matches, Hernandez had to break a 4-4 tie in the third set, and he did so by outscoring Centralia’s Jose Alatorre 5-2 in the third period.
“It was good for him to get that win,” Rakevich said. “He looked good.”
Antonio Campos came away with the Tigers’ victory, pinning his opponent 88 seconds into his bout. Centralia coach Scott Phillips, who has coached Campos since he was four years old, had nothing but positive things to say about the senior.
“When he gets matches like this, he gets the chance to go out there and show off a little bit,” Phillips said. “He’s a real smooth, athletic wrestler, very good technician, and we’re just proud of him.”
Campos and Izaiah Marquez are the only two seniors on this year’s team, and Phillips is looking forward to building up the underclassmen over the next few years, especially as more come in from the junior high level.
The closest match of the night came before the varsity match even started, as W.F. West’s Kaylee Lehman pulled out a triple-overtime 5-4 win over Centralia’s Ana Blankenship.
Blankenship trailed by one in the final seconds, but pulled out for an escape right before the buzzer. While Phillips joked that he wished she could have pulled out the win in OT, he was pleased with the way she battled.
“She wrestled really tough, but I expect that from her,” Phillips said.
Both schools are back in action on Saturday. The Bearcats will welcome several schools, including 4A Graham-Kapowsin and Skyview, to Chehalis when they host the Bearcat Invitational on Saturday, while the Tigers will take part in the River Ridge Rumble at Timberline High School in Lacey.
Wolves come up just short against Bobcats
The Black Hills wrestling team came up a little short on Wednesday, as the Wolves fell to Aberdeen 41-30.
The Wolves haven’t been on the mat much recently due to closures from the weather, and Black Hills coach Jason Dick said it was tough for the wrestlers to be fully dialed in.
“It was tough,” Dick said. “The kids were a little slow. It was expected. They wrestled tough, but we weren’t ourselves tonight.”
The match went down to the last two matches, but the Bobcats prevailed for the win.
“We needed another couple of pins,” Dick said.
Hunter Faught (175) won via pin just 14 seconds into his match, while Cash Boos (126) and Connor Mounts (132) also pinned their opponents.
Aiden Labouff (120) dominated his opponent, winning via tech fall, while Khristian Brant (138) J.J. Oraya (190) won via major decision.
Black Hills will join Centralia in Lacey on Saturday, as the Wolves are also participating in the River Ridge.
