Titans seal the deal
Brad Peterson is used to uphill struggles.
The 205-pound University High School senior would be a lightweight in the 215-pound weight class, making the fact that he wrestles in the 285-pound division all the more challenging.
Saturday, Peterson capped a strong showing by his U-Hi teammates by knocking off Gonzaga Prep’s Kevin Lynch to win the heavyweight championship at the District 8 4A wrestling tournament.
The Titans scored 360 team points, 85 more than second-place Central Valley. In the process, U-Hi qualified 16 wrestlers into next week’s 4A Eastern Regional tournament on their home mats. The top four placers in each weight division advance to next week’s state-qualifying tournament.
“That’s the second-most kids we’ve qualified,” U-Hi coach Don Owen said. “We qualified 20 the year we won the state championship.
“For what we had this season, for the kids we put out there on the mat, this was a good showing. We scored a lot of points with our second- and third-seed kids.”
Wrestlers like Peterson, who was seeded second to Lynch on the strength of a loss in a dual match. Or unseeded D.J. Daschbach, who upset top-seeded Billy Mulkin of Ferris to reach the 152 final, where he lost to Josh Renfro of CV.
“He pinned me when we wrestled in the dual,” Peterson said of Lynch. “I give up almost 80 pounds to him and I got myself into trouble by not being in the right position. This time I wrestled a smarter match against him.”
Giving up 80 pounds in a weight class makes Peterson’s task a bit like Sisyphus being condemned to pushing a rock up a hill throughout eternity.
“It helps that I have a teammate like Levi Wilson to work with every day in practice,” Peterson said. “Levi weighs in pretty close to 285. And we have (assistant) coach (Dave) Orndorff to practice against. He weighs pretty close to 350 and finished second in the NCAA tournament.”
Wilson qualified as the No. 3 seed at heavyweight, one of three weight class in which the Titans advanced two wrestlers.
“We have focused a lot of attention on how important it is for us to come together as a team,” Peterson said. “We knew we were going to have to do this as a team. Our junior varsity guys really came through and so did our young guys.”
In addition to Peterson, the Titans boast district champions in undefeated Brian Owen at 125 and Greg Mitchell at 171. U-Hi had finalists in all but three championship matches.
Junior Anthony Rivera, who missed the end of the Greater Spokane League season with an injury, reinjured himself in his semifinal win over CV’s Chase Ferrozzo at 119.
Rivera earned a takedown in the final minute to give himself the lead, but was penalized at the buzzer for stalling, allowing Ferrozzo to tie the match and force overtime.
“That was just a bad call,” Owen said. “He wasn’t stalling. He wasn’t backing up or anything like that. He was just protecting his lead.”
Rivera rallied in overtime, scoring a one-armed takedown to win the match and secure a regional berth. He then forfeited the title match to Philip Smith of Mead.
“We’re not sure he’s going to be able to go next weekend yet or not,” Owen said.
Owen’s win in the 125 final was thrilling. The junior was tied with Trevor Powell of Lewis and Clark going into the final minute. With a half-minute left, Powell shot in and got Owen off his feet and took him to the mat, but was unable to establish control to earn the takedown. Owen managed to regain his balance and scored a takedown, tripping Powell as he fell out of bounds to establish control with 14.3 seconds left.