New Faces, Same Goal For Knights

The cast has changed, but the show goes on for East Valley wrestling.

The Knights, with 10 new starters in the lineup, are seeking their fifth straight Frontier League championship and ninth in 10 years.

They open the season at home tonight at 7 against Clarkston.

So far, EV has won the Inland Empire Classic, placed third in the Deer Park Invitational, and last weekend finished fourth in the Lake Stevens Invitational behind host Moses Lake, the State 3A favorite and defending champion.

“I’m beyond stunned at this point,” said coach Craig Hanson of his new-look team’s strong performances. “That meet gave us a good indicator.”

Each week, said Hanson, his wrestlers have shown progress. At Lake Stevens, the Knights had two champions, Josh Birt and J.J. Honorof, among four finalists and had five third-placers.

“Little by little, the kids keep getting mat time,” said Hanson. “Each week, they’ve made progress.”

Lakeside learns lesson well

Lakeside wrestlers learned their lesson about tying up with throwers. The result was that the Eagles, second to Toppenish in the State 2A meet last year, placed ahead of that team at the Island Championships at Vashon High.

“You could tell Toppenish has the tournament lead on everybody,” said Lakeside coach Scott Jones. “But we’re more in the hunt than I thought we were.”

Toppenish, said Jones, has seven state placers in the lineup, five of them with top-three potential.

Lakeside was second, 3 points behind Mt. Baker and 21 ahead of Toppenish.

The Eagles had three champions - Kris Matthews, Matt Westenfelder and Chad Charbonneau - among five finalists. Two others placed third and they wrestled without two others, including injured state placer Adam Christen.

“Everyone from Toppenish can throw and for the first two periods we wouldn’t allow them to tie up,” said Jones. “In the third period, we went to an aggressive attack.”

PNW Classic at U-Hi this weekend

Lakeside will be one of 15 teams competing in the Pacific Northwest Classic this weekend at University HS.

First round is Friday at 6 p.m. The tourney continues at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with finals expected to begin between 4:30 and 5 p.m.

The field includes Gonzaga Prep, U-Hi, Mead, Central Valley and Ferris from the GSL, plus Lakeside, EV, St. Maries, Post Falls, Missoula Sentinel, Olympia, Othello, Ellensburg, Richland and Davis.

FRONTIER LEAGUE WRESTLING Projected order of finish: East Valley, Cheney, West Valley, Clarkston. Tonight’s league opener: Clarkston at East Valley. Defending league champion: East Valley (also second in sub-regional, regional and state). Returning sub-regional finalists: John Sommer, jr., East Valley. Matt Phillips, jr., Clarkston. Chris Dassow, sr., East Valley. Returning State placers: Sommer, 2nd, 101. Ty Roberts, WV, 5th, 141. Blake Falor, Cheney, 7th, 275. Notable: Five wrestlers per weight class qualify from Region IV to state this year… . Frontier League will once again participate in sub-regional with the Mid-Valley League and be joined by the Kingco League for regionals… . Eleven top six regional wrestlers return, including three Cheney state qualifiers and two each from EV and WV.