EV Wrestlers Get In Face Of Pressure

East Valley battled tradition and hostility as well as talent when the Knight wrestlers traveled to Moses Lake in its first step on the journey to state.

They came through with flying colors, advancing 14 wrestlers to this weekend’s Region IV tournament in Ellensburg and winning a heated team competition in the process.

“If you were wearing green it was tough,” said EV coach Craig Hanson. “We were right in the heartland down there.”

Moses Lake, first or second in 22 state tournaments, pulled out all the stops when the Knights, last year’s AA state champ, came to town.

“I’m so proud of the team,” said Hanson. “They handled all the pressure thrown at them. I told them early, ‘People will boo you. If they do it’s a good sign. Look at it like it’s cheers.”’

Moses Lake partisans packed their gym and cheered on the Chiefs who sent eight wrestlers to the finals to EV’s five. But the Knights won four championships to two and pulled out a 299-297 triumph.

“We figured we’d won it and they had us losing,” said Hanson, who prepared his Knights for the eventuality.

Then EV assistant Rory McDonald discovered that John Sommer’s championship points at 101 pounds weren’t added in. The four additional points tipped the score back in the Knights’ favor.

Sommer beat a AAA regional veteran for the title. Kevin Woolf won an overtime decision at 122 in an all-Frontier League finale. Last year’s state runners-up Justin Walker, 129, and Brad Crockett, 141, were also champions. Walker avenged last year’s loss to Andy Soliman of Prosser and Crockett’s third technical fall of the tournament added 1-1/2 points to EV’s team score.

Finishing second was Chris Dassow at 178 in another all-Frontier matchup.

Third placers for the Knights included Brad Perry at 108, Jay Campbell at 135, Mike Manuel at 158 and Rusty Ruchert at 168.

“There were lots of intense moments,” said Hanson. “One match in particular, Manuel was down five points with 30 seconds left. I told him to cut him and go for takedowns.”

Manuel got the takedowns to tie and another to win in overtime.

Also qualifying for regionals is fourth-placer Todd Perry at 115. Fifth placers are Knights Josh Birt, 168, Matt Manuel, 178, Matt Jolley, 190, and Mike Eller, 275, and West Valley’s Ty Roberts, 141, and Justin Demke, 148.

They’ll have to wrestle entry matches against Kingco League No. 4 placers at regionals to advance.

“I’m counting on our experience to come through,” said Hanson, who is hoping for 11 state qualifiers. “We have enough seniors to do the job.”

, DataTimes