Bears complete unbeaten GSL campaign
Central Valley wrestlers stormed out of the gates quickly in the second of back-to-back matches against their toughest Greater Spokane League opponents and reaped the reward.
The Bears beat University 37-29 to finish undefeated at 10-0, win their first GSL title in nearly a decade and the Battle of the Bone for the first time since 2001.
“When you get into this business it’s an individual sport,” CV coach John Owen had said on Wednesday following CV’s victory over league co-leader East Valley. “But it becomes a tremendous team sport at this time of year doesn’t it?”
So it was Thursday in the third of three barn-burners among the Spokane Valley trio this season, that went down to the final individual matches of each. The annual Battle of the Bone at CV attracted a crowd of 2,500 spirited fans.
The Bears tried to remove all suspense early, zooming to a 25-8 lead over U-Hi (8-2) midway through the contest with two of their best wrestlers waiting to close things out.
A pair of quick Titans pins, by Danny Jordan in just 20 seconds and Greg Mitchell in just under a minute, put the Titans in front 29-28, with CV’s Jake Neumann and Tyler Cochran up next.
“We had momentum going,” Owen said, “then really got rocked a couple of times.”
But Neumann’s pin at 189 put the Bears back on top and Cochran finished things off, rallying from a 1-0 deficit after two rounds for a 5-2 win at 215.
“This is great,” said Owen. “Last night we might have gotten a gift, but tonight we earned it.”
CV won 8 of 14 matches and had four pin victories to U-Hi’s three. Two of them were by the Neumann brothers, who had both lost the night before.
The Bears trailed 4-0 when Sam Neumann got them started, sticking fellow freshman Sean Mott in the second period.
CV won four of the next five, including pins by Chase Ferrozzo (119), who had clinched Wednesday’s EV victory and Jeff Croskrey (135).
U-Hi worked its way back in on a win by Elliott Nay and third-period pin by Nick Bickley.
Two other matches loomed large in the outcome. Both John Owen and U-Hi coach Don Owen, pointed to 130 pounds where CV’s Jeremy Savage beat freshman Ryan Zumwalt 4-3.
“We turned around a loss from the Pacific Tournament and Tri-State,” said John. “That was a big match.”
Said his brother, “I thought Ryan did a great job. I thought he wrestled hard, but just made a freshman mistake.”
Josh Renfro also won 4-3 for CV at 152 with a third-round escape in a penalty point-filled contest. Did he feel pressured?
“I try to zone all that stuff out and wrestle my own match,” Renfro said.
He added that CV’s first GSL title since 1998 was sweet.
“This is a big thing for Central Valley,” he said.
EV (9-1) won at Lewis and Clark (2-8) 60-15 in the other GSL final. Nick Weyrauch beat Andre Taylor 8-5 at 285, one of just three matches that didn’t end in pin or forfeit.