Knights rule night

The Greater Spokane League wrestling match Thursday between East Valley and Central Valley wasn’t decided until the next-to-last contest of the night.

But in truth, the Knights’ 29-28 victory was settled much earlier.

Coach Craig Hanson chose to pit his two-time state-placing son Clete against Bears state veteran Jake Neumann in the fourth of 14 weight contests.

Clete Hanson responded with a 4-2 overtime decision.

The victory followed a 7-4 decision by his 189-pound replacement Jordan Berezay over CV junior Andy Wickstrom. The Knights had picked up six vital points that forced the Bears to rally from an 11-4 deficit.

With two state-placing wrestlers out of the lineup for disciplinary reasons, regular 215-pounder Tyler Cochran and 119-pounder Tanner Teeples, coming from behind wasn’t in the cards for CV.

EV’s victory wasn’t the only second-night match that turned the GSL on its ear.

Mead defeated University 35-29, leaving the Knights atop the league at 2-0 along with Mt. Spokane. Six other teams are 1-1.

“We had talked about that early on,” said Craig Hanson of his decision. “We knew Neumann was real tough, but we thought Clete and Neumann was a good match and we could come out on top of that.”

He said he figured the Knights were underdogs against the defending league champions though he wasn’t sure about the Berezay-Wickstrom matchup.

“Usually when you’re the underdog, you have to take a risk to make it work,” he said.

Hanson and Neumann were tied at 1 after two rounds. Neumann escaped to start the third period but was docked a stalling point, although it appeared he was shooting for a takedown when the call was made.

Once into the 1-minute overtime, Hanson got the takedown with 10 seconds left for the win.

“It was a good idea by our coaches,” said Clete of the move. “But I thought I was going to win.”

The rest of the night went back and forth. CV closed within 16-13 on freshman Jared Maynes’ pin at 112. Knights regional veteran Matt Mehlbrech answered right back.

Then, in the pivotal contest of the night, Sean Biltoft scored four points in the final seconds of his 125-pound contest against fellow sophomore Trevor Demedico for a major decision that proved to be the point that won it for EV.

Both Biltoft and 103-pounder Keith Babington reversed losses to foes in a season-opening jamboree.

“Those were good wins,” said Craig Hanson. “I realize the dual could have turned at any time. We could have won a few matches to stretch it out, but that was the same for both of us.”

The teams split easy wins in the early stages, then there were three straight that went down to the wire.

There was a second Knights technical fall before the two teams traded pins and Biltoft came up big to make the score 26-13 in favor of EV.

CV won three in a row to get back into it before EV state veteran Nic Price beat sophomore David Borgman 7-0 to clinch the victory and render Jordan Choate’s last-match pin meaningless, other than to make the Bears’ loss agonizingly close.

Mead 35, U-Hi 29: In a pivotal match between two state placers, Philip Smith beat Anthony Rivera 3-1 with an overtime takedown to propel Mead (1-1) to victory over the visiting Titans (1-1). The Panthers won eight of 14 matches.

Mt. Spokane 49, Gonzaga Prep 19: The Wildcats (2-0) had little trouble with the visiting Bullpups (0-1), building a 15-0 lead and winning 10 of 14 matches. In the feature at 135, G-Prep’s Kevin Healy outlasted Justin Scott 15-12 in a battle of state placers.

Ferris 53, Rogers 24: The Saxons (1-1) rebounded from their tough loss the night before to beat the host Pirates (1-1). Ferris won six straight between 130 and 160 pounds and nine of the last 10 matches. Max Coulson’s takedown with 10 seconds left earned him a 4-3 win over Lance Smith.

Shadle Park 48, Lewis and Clark 21: The Tigers (0-2) took a 21-6 lead after five matches, but the visiting Highlanders (1-1) won the next 10, four by pin. LC’s Peter Van Voorhis beat Bo Schuetzle with an overtime takedown in the night’s closest match.