2A Wrestling Title Returns To Eagles’ Nest

The hunted became the hunter and Lakeside High School is, once again, the state 2A wrestling champion.

This second one, earned last weekend, was different from the first and maybe even sweeter.

“It seems to me there’s more joy in this one,” said Eagles coach Scott Jones, whose teams have been in the top two four years running.

“As much as wrestling is a team sport and we’re so proud to bring back a title to our town and school, it’s still about individuals fighting for individual titles.”

That’s what set this title apart from the first one in 1997. It was about the individuals. Five finalists and two other placers who conquered personal demons produced an afternoon swagger that rendered the team race anticlimactic before the championship matches.

“I’d never had more than two finalists in the past,” said Jones.

A controversial ending to the tourney’s final match at 275 pounds, costing Chad Charbonneau a championship, was the only blight on Lakeside’s exceptional day.

“I hated having it soured like that,” said Jones.

When Lakeside won its first title, with 96 points, the team did so with only one finalist. Last year the Eagles piled up a whopping 150.5 points but lost the championship by 33.

This year was different. The Eagles won by 42.5 points while scoring 148.

“This team got on a roll and kept going,” said two-time state 168-pound champion Matt Westenfelder. “It was awesome.”

Last year, Lakeside lost three overtime semifinal matches while falling prey to Toppenish’s unheard of 183.5 point total.

“They attacked us from the bushes. We didn’t see it coming,” said Jones.

Thus, this year’s symbolism was about hunting - wrestlers wearing hunter orange, coach with a bird dog tie - believing they’d hunt down the title.

Because of last year, Jones prepared his wrestlers mentally for the semifinals, treating them more important than the finals.

Sophomore 101-pounder Kris Matthews started things by winning his morning test, and one by one his teammates followed suit.

Matthews was Lakeside’s first champion with two technical falls and two easy wins.

“For a sophomore, he had confidence,” said Jones. “He didn’t feel the pressure.”

Westenfelder repeated at 168 pounds by a 19-5 score after pinning or teching his way to the finals.

“I think it’s a lot better this time because I had something to prove,” he said. “Last year I wasn’t expected to win.”

Veteran senior Adam Christen and junior Charbonneau, a pair of returning placers, improved to second place. Jason Cummings was Lakeside’s finals surprise, finishing second at 215 pounds.

Cummings has had four knee surgeries and wrestled this year with another knee injury. He has had two shoulder surgeries with screws inserted to hold both together. Hence, Jones called him a bionic man.

In the consolations, 178-pound Adrian Laughery finished third by beating the wrestler who had earlier knocked him into the consolation rounds by a 14-6 score.

Sophomore Justin Belyea added a seventh-place finish at 115, the first for a family long in the program. Jones called it, breaking the “Belyea Curse.”

“Those things made it a great tournament,” said Jones.

What didn’t was the tourney-ending controversy in which Charbonneau was denied a point on an overruled locking hands call that may have cost him a state title. It precipitated a negative reaction from coach and team.

“I had to pull my guys together to knock it off. They all hurt so bad for Chad,” said Jones, “and for me to knock it off.”

To have everything else fall in place the way it did en route to a state title, he said, was too gratifying for it to end on such a note.

“As a coach I can’t be more satisfied,” said Jones. “This one meant a lot more.”