Last-Match Pin Carries Prep
GSL wrestling
For three years, drama-filled wrestling matches between two-time league co-champions Gonzaga Prep and University have been the norm.
Each has ended the same way, with a last-match pin deciding the outcome.
This time Nick Bliss did the honors during Thursday night’s 35-28 Bullpup victory. Gonzaga won for the second straight year by the nearly identical score.
The final score came after coaches for both teams pulled out all the strategic stops. A flip of the coin forced first Prep coach Phil McLean, then University coach Don Owen to jockey wrestlers throughout the lineup to maximize advantage.
While the contest may have come down to the final two matches, three early wins born of necessity played a major part in Prep’s triumph.
“I felt we had to win every match between 158 and 190,” said McLean. “When we lost the coin toss, it forced us to use Kyle Gleason in the first match and move everyone around.”
McLean had wanted talented sophomore Travis Pascoe to open at 178 against Reggie Lee. Gleason, however, responded to the change with a hard-earned 7-5 win over Lee.
“We wrestled a weekend match exactly like this,” said Gleason, who won by nearly the identical score. “Reggie is a great, great wrestler. We will see each other again.”
Pascoe, normally a 168-pounder, bumped up to 190 and won by technical fall.
Then in a dramatic 215-pound encounter, Doug O’Coyne recorded a five-point move with a minute to go for a 9-7 win over Ed Pospisil.
O’Coyne had fallen behind on a series of penalty points that, he admitted, had upset him.
That 11-0 start put Gonzaga in position to win. The Titans led briefly following a pair of pins before falling behind again 23-12.
But they made a late charge when sophomore Ben Osborn stunned regional veteran Sean Malone 11-0 in the 11th of 14 matches.
Osborn, who had undergone surgery on his nose following an auto accident, was wrestling for the first time this year.
“Today was the day the doctor said I could start live wrestling,” he said. “This is exciting. I’ve never wrestled under the lights before. It was something else.”
But the dramatics weren’t over. With U-Hi back in front 28-26, on Josh Vande Vanter’s technical fall, Gonzaga’s Paul Koehler was asked to move up a weight to 158. He responded with an 11-5 win.
“Coach hadn’t seen their wrestler and took a chance,” said Koehler. “He felt Nick and I could bump up a weight and get two wins, which was a better deal.”
The pair did just that, with two-time state placer Bliss finishing off the Bullpups’ season-opening GSL triumph.
“They’re all going to be like this,” said McLean. “That’s how tight the league is. Week after week it’ll be the same deal.”
Mead 56, Ferris 22
The Panthers made the debut of new coach Scott Bliss a happy one.
Wrestlers won the last six matches by pin to rally from a 22-20 deficit.
Included was Tony Curtis’ second-round upset of state-placer Zack Moffitt.
Next Wednesday and Thursday the Panthers host Central Valley and University in key GSL matches before the league breaks for Christmas.
NC 40, Mt. Spokane 30
New GSL entrant Mt. Spokane won five matches by pin in its debut, but it was not enough against North Central.
The Indians won seven straight times from 108 through 148 pounds, including by forfeit when a Wildcat wrestler failed to make weight.
Rogers 74, Shadle Park 0
The Pirates opened the season with a bang, shutting out the Highlanders. Eight matches ended in pin, one by technical fall and two others by forfeit.
CV-Lewis & Clark
Results weren’t reported.
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