Central Valley Wrestlers Handle Gonzaga Prep Cunanan’s Impressive Victory Clinches It For Unbeaten Cv

By the standards set among Greater Spokane League wrestling contenders, Central Valley’s 34-22 victory over Gonzaga Prep was decided early.

Shane Cunanan’s stunning take-down with no time remaining for a 7-5 decision over Tom Brown secured the contest with one match left.

The victory gave the Bears (5-0) first place over the Bullpups (5-1) and once-beaten University and Rogers.

In other matches Thursday night, Rogers (4-1) beat Lewis and Clark 47-21 and Mead (3-3) slipped past North Central (0-5) 41-34.

Two-time state placer Cunanan moved up a weight to contest Prep’s unbeaten 129-pounder, Brown.

“I had a feeling I would,” he said. “Coach said we’d wait until we saw if we had a chance to win the match. Then I’d go up.”

It took a move he’d been working on unproductively this year to win the pivotal contest after the two slugged it out to a 5-5 standoff.

Cunanan had blocked Brown’s takedown attempt a minute earlier and weathered another attempt before scoring from underneath with his first successful knee tap.

“I just kind of got out of position and he had a nice shuck, but I squared up with him,” said Cunanan.

CV coach Dale Ethridge said Cunanan had been a little off with the move in earlier matches and had never scored with it.

“What a fantastic time to get it done,” said Ethridge.

The Cunanan-Brown bout was typical of the kind of mano-a-mano action from start to finish between wrestlers from both teams.

“I spent 8 hours scanning 12 or 15 different scenarios and it didn’t go at all like I thought,” said Ethridge. “It still worked out for us.”

The night’s first contest forced Gonzaga Prep’s hand, when Pat Rusca rallied from a 5-0 deficit to force overtime against CV 141-pounder Brandon Brown, only to lose when Brown got the takedown.

“We took a few risks after that and took a chance at 178 and 190,” said Prep coach Phil McLean.

Things didn’t pan out. In the critical 178-pound match, Joe Thiefault pinned Nick Sullivan, who the night before had won by pin at 190.

“They were trying to generate wins and thought they’d take our gun with their gun,” said Ethridge. “Joe’s tough.”

The Bullpups regained hope with a controversial 6-5 decision by Jason Francis over Brandon Bogue at 215 and trailed just 28-22 on Cory Brannon’s technical fall with two matches remaining.

Cunanan rendered the situation moot.

Elsewhere, Rogers took a 22-6 lead after four matches and was never challenged.

The Pirates’ Ben Houk nearly got an upset victory before losing 10-8 to state veteran Brian Lehrman at 108 pounds.

In the night’s final contest, Nick Fuller rallied from a 10-8 deficit to score a reversal, two near falls and takedown in the third period of a 16-12 triumph.

Mead led 15-0 over NC and held on in a match that had nothing but major decisions, technical falls or pins.

Lyle Beerbohm at 148, Mark Denholm at 101 and Mead’s No. 2 275-pounder Art Avalon remained undefeated in league.

One team stands in the way of an undisputed GSL championship for Central Valley. The Battle of the Bone is coming up next week against rival and nemesis University.

Frontier League

Colville (1-1) had eight pins and won the final six matches to rally past Cheney 54-22 in a league match at Cheney.

The Blackhawks (0-2) led 22-21, but lost five of the final six matches on pins.

In a pleasant surprise for Cheney, Jacob Powers (158) pinned Chris Lynds after trailing 9-2. Lynds, attempting a pin, got too high and ended up with his leg caught and arm tucked under. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo