Knights-Eagles Rivalry Makes Gripping Drama

The cast of characters has changed, but the East Valley-West Valley wrestling rivalry is alive and well.

If anything, Thursday night’s 36-30 Knight victory was even more dramatic and entertaining than usual.

“That is about as intense as a rivalry gets,” said first-year EV coach Mark Perry, who relied on five freshmen too young to know better. “There was no loss (of impact) even though Charlie (Miller) and Wayne (McKnight) have stepped down.”

The fans who waited for a match that started 45 minutes late, got their money’s worth. Five matches were decided by pin in the third round, including four in the match’s final 30 seconds. A pivotal contest at 129 pounds went to Mark Eastman by a score of 9-7 after he countered one Dave Cooper throw attempt into points of his own and blocked two more at the end to preserve his narrow lead.

Even when the match was over, it wasn’t over. It took several minutes to determine whether Ben Wise’s deciding pin in the night’s final match would indeed stand.

First-year Eagle coach Bill Bauman argued that Josh Castor’s shoulders were not inside the wrestling circle. It was ruled otherwise.

In a contest of sudden turnarounds and interesting battles, the biggest was by EV freshman Rusty Ruchert.

He trailed Andy Imada 15-3 and was underneath when he reached back and pulled the Eagle junior to his back for a pin with 28 seconds left.

“Andy just got hung up on top and got pulled over,” Bauman said.

It turned a potential 16-15 Eagle lead into a 21-12 deficit.

“That just speaks to his character,” said Perry. “But all our freshmen, not just Rusty, did the job.”

At 108, Justin Walker won a third-round pin. And at 168 pounds, a weight usually reserved for older, more experienced wrestlers, Jason Alexander pulled off a 7-4 decision for a 30-18 Knight lead.

Back-to-back Eagle pins, including at 190 by Paul Pfeifer in something of an upset, tied the match. It set up Wise who trailed 2-1 before countering Castor’s takedown attempt into six points.

“Tradition, sometimes, is hard to overcome,” said Bauman. “We should have beat them but didn’t. I’d like to get them again but can’t.”

East Valley’s five freshmen, thrust into the lineup by necessity when, Perry said, some upperclassmen bailed out during the year have started a tradition of their own.

Titan coach makes like a juggler

University’s Don Owen must handle his wrestling team much like a bookkeeper deals with a budget.

The athletes are allowed only 20 matches per season and the GSL’s eight-match slate is a mere fraction.

But the Titans are on the verge of their first league championship and Owen must juggle his competitors to ensure the best possible lineups for their final three matches, particularly at Central Valley on Jan. 26.

“It depends upon how many No. 1’s we can wrestle,” said Owen, whose team is in Montana this weekend for the Rocky Mountain Classic and on Jan. 29 will participate in the state dual match championships.

University improved its record to 5-0 with a win over Gonzaga Prep (4-2) that still left Owen dissatisfied. The Titans lost three matches that he said they should have won and didn’t wrestle well in the others they lost or one that they did win.

“I suppose when you win 39-20 and the kids don’t wrestle well against a tough opponent you shouldn’t whine too much,” said Owen. “But we’re making the same mistakes we made early in the year and have some of the brightest kids in school on the team. They need to wrestle smarter on the mat.”

Gymnasts compete in Seattle

Northwest Gymnastics Academy opened its boys season last weekend with a meet in Seattle.

Chris Jones won vault and floor exercise in Class 3, age 16. Aaron Sheck was a fourevent winner in high bar, parallel bars, still rings and pommel horse, age 13. In Class 4, age 10-11, Tyson Byers won floor exercise.

Others placing among the top three, in Class 4, age 12-13, were Brian Velategui, who won pommel horse; Nick Antich, second on floor and vault and third on parallel bars; Dillon Reeve, second on pommel horse and Ryan Brewer, third on vault.