Hermiston nips University

Starting the championship round of the Inland Empire Classic on Saturday, University senior Jake Mason knew dethroning defending tournament champion Hermiston was going to be an uphill battle as his Titans trailed the defending 5A Oregon state champions.

Hermiston had built a 16.5-point lead with six wrestlers vying for a tournament crown.

The Titans brought six into the finals and despite Mason (160 pounds) and teammate Dustin Johnson (189) both defeating Hermiston wrestlers, the far-traveling Bulldogs outscored the Titans 231.5-222 and came away with their second straight IEC team title at Central Valley High School.

The Titans made some strides in their first tournament of the season, according to Mason, a senior and defending state champion at 160.

“This was a really good tournament,” he said. “It’s not the biggest in the world, but it has a lot of good competition. Hermiston is super tough, Coeur d’Alene is really tough and Moses Lake is pretty tough. Once you get in against those top competitors, it seems like almost every tournament the finalists are state champions or runners-up.”

Mason’s final match, against Hermiston junior Bryce McMahon, was an interstate battle between defending state champs, with Mason tallying a 9-0 major decision.

Johnson beat Hermiston’s Curtis Berger 3-2 and defending state runner-up Ryan Zumwalt (152) of U-Hi defeated Lakeland’s Brandon Richardson in a marathon match that went four overtimes before Zumwalt won 3-2 on an escape. The last clinched the U-Hi senior the most outstanding wrestler award for the tournament.

“Zum, my workout partner, was a state runner-up last year and we’re in there battling and it’s like a finals match every day in the practice room,” Mason said.

Needing to make up ground quickly, the Titans scored six quick points in the smallest weight classes when freshman Ryan Gabel (103) outlasted Beau Gleed of Moses Lake 2-0, and Brandon Matlock (112) scored three points in the third round on a near fall to upend ML’s Robert Leyva.

“Our lightweights are probably the toughest in the state right now,” Matlock said. “If we can win those first couple of matches, our upper weights will finish the rest for us.”

Hermiston countered with individual titles at 125, 140 and 145 to keep a firm grasp of its lead that held up the rest of the way.

“This is a tough tournament,” Hermiston coach Curt Berger said. “University is one of the toughest teams in Washington, Coeur d’Alene is one of the top teams in Idaho and we’re one of the best in Oregon – and it’s been one heck of a battle.”

Like Mason, one other Washington state champion was starting his quest for a repeat title – Jacob Trotter from Mead.

Trotter won last year’s 215-pound title, but in the championship bout almost got more than he bargained for in Moses Lake’s Brian Chamberlain.

“I’m not used to people taking me down,” Trotter said. “He actually sucked it in pretty good and took me down twice. … Overall, he was a real great wrestler, a lot better than I thought, surprisingly.”

Up 11-10 going into the final round, Trotter used one move to earn a takedown and a three-count near fall to put the match away 16-10.

The focus for many of the teams at the IEC turns to a bigger stage in the Tri-State tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Friday and Saturday.

“That’s a huge tournament, one of the toughest of the year,” Mason said. “Training for that you’re constantly in the room saying, ‘I want to be a Tri-State champ.’ We’re pushing extra hard, because that what it takes.”

•Elsewhere: Lewiston took fifth at the Buck’s Bags Duals in Boise, going 4-1 but losing to Borah 37-34 in its final dual. … Lake City had two champions at the St. Maries tournament: Marcus Banducci at 119 and Brian Griswold at 171.