East Valley settles for second
TACOMA – All that has gone before or follows pales in comparison to the state wrestling semifinal round, as East Valley was made all too painfully aware at Mat Classic XVII.
The Knights had a brilliant State 3A tournament, scoring a school-record 138 points with nine medal winners, including 112-pound champion Joey Plumb, only to finish second to the Sedro Woolley dynasty, which piled up 173.
EV sent two of seven semifinalists into the Saturday night championships. But the Knights suffered the agony of three one-point losses in the semis and had another semifinal within reach.
Sedro Woolley, by contrast, put five of its six semifinalists into the finals in the morning round, including at 135 pounds, where Patrick O’Neal trailed Matt Hanson before earning a pin with 4 seconds left.
By 11:30 a.m., the Cubs had a 41-point lead and the 2005 State 3A team outcome was already determined.
The state title was the fourth straight for Sedro Woolley. Saturday night’s finals were gravy. The Cubs won three titles for icing and broke its previous 3A tournament scoring-best of 160.
The Knights were not disappointed, even though coaches and wrestlers had believed they could win.
“I tell you what, though,” said coach EV coach Craig Hanson. “I figured out we had to have 140-some points and we were tight to the prediction.”
First-day success led to dreams. The Cubs reduced the dreams to reality.
“Sedro Woolley, I really believe, is the best team in the whole state,” said Hanson. “They’ve got ‘nails’ kids.”
It showed in the semifinals, where the team competition was settled. First three Cubs excited their fans with pins and two others pulled out close competitions to reach the title bouts.
By contrast, the Knights couldn’t win the close ones. Sophomore Shelby Lawson rallied at 103 to tie 6-6 only to lose 7-6. Jared Imes gave up a second-period near fall to Greater Spokane League foe Blake Risk of Cheney and was beaten 3-2 – the same score Tyler Jolley lost by in his 215-pound semifinal. EV’s other semifinal loss, by sophomore Bryce Fisher, came against a defending state champion.
Plumb, a senior, was one of five GSL 3A finalists and one of two champions.
The other, North Central’s Derek Brown, rallied in dramatic fashion to win the 189-pound title. He beat Max Newberry of Aberdeen in overtime for the second straight week.
Plumb also beat a regional foe for the second straight week, using a first-period takedown and reversal during a 5-2 win over Devon Stelter-Moorman of West Valley-Yakima.
“I just had it in my mindset that I wasn’t going to lose it,” he said. “It’s good to end on such a high note, even though our team didn’t win state.”
Brown trailed Newberry 8-2, but in the final 40 seconds recorded two takedowns to tie and got another takedown to win in OT.
“I didn’t want to accept defeat,” he said. “I knew I had to keep wrestling.”
He is NC’s fifth state champ and the Indians had two other placers to finish ninth as a team. EV’s Chris Helm (275), Cheney’s Risk and Clarkston’s Jason Fairley were other 3A GSL finalist.
There were 10 returning 3A champions. Four repeated, including Sedro Woolley’s O’Neil and three-time winners Brandon Sitch of Kelso and Kyle Bounds of Columbia River.
The Knights finished the tournament with a third, two fourths, two fifths, a sixth and a seventh place.
Hanson said he felt the team achieved beyond what he could have anticipated before the start of the year.
“If you score what you think you can score at state, you’re a good team,” Hanson said.