Chiefs make holiday sweep

MOSES LAKE — The Chiefs hosted several teams to kick off winter break, defeating Walla Walla 66-13 and Skyview High School of Billings, Mont. 43-18.

The second dual of the day, against Skyview was tougher than the score made it appear.

"I think that was the toughest of the day," said Moses Lake head coach Jamie Wise. "They are a well coached team. We wrestled them at camp and knew they were a cradling team."

Four pins solidified Moses Lake's win against the Montana team.

Tom Pfiffer earned the Chiefs' first pin of the dual at 140 pounds against Cory Champhey — sticking Champhey with 44 seconds remaining in the bout. John Silva of Moses Lake recorded the next pin in the 145-pound bout against Garrett Bergum. Silva's pin came with 33 seconds remaining in the match.

"The pins by Tom (Pfiffer) and John (Silva) really opened it up for us," said Wise.

There was a one bout break in the pinning action that resumed in the 160-pound bout between Josh Nielsen of Moses Lake and Joe Mancuse. Nielsen earned the win with 37 seconds remaining in the first round. John Fackrell recorded the last pin of the day for the Chiefs. He defeated Chris Molen 45 seconds into the second round of their 189-pound bout.

Matt Palmer of Moses Lake defeated Seth Goodell in the 125-pound bout. Palmer gained a 2-0 lead in the first round and extended it with a take-down, reversal and 3-point near fall in the second round. The Moses Lake wrestler finished out the 11-2 win with a reversal in the final period of the bout.

Ty Sainsbury recorded the only other win on the mat for the Chiefs, defeating Preston Banderob 4-3 in the 171-pound match. The low-scoring bout featured a take-down from each wrestler to show a 2-2 tie going into the third round. Sainsbury earned a 4-2 lead with a reversal in the early going of the final round and was penalized with a stall to give Banderob his final point of the bout.

Brett Frederickson and Tad Harman were given forfeits in the 215- and 285-pound matches.

At 103 pounds, Andrew Valdez of Moses Lake was pinned by Brice Gretch. Tyler Vela lost 8-4 to Brennan Barta in the 112-pound bout. Jordan Bishop was pinned at 119 by Kooper Bond. Seth Stones fell 7-2 to Tyler Elm at 130. At 135, Jordan Hill lost a tough 8-7 bout to Jeff Jones. Travis Cannon was pinned by Casey Malia at 152 pounds.

"We had a great matchup at 135," said Wise.

Moses Lake began the dual meet with WaHi, dominating the Blue Devils in most of the bouts and earning eight pins.

Vela started the matchup off right for the Chiefs, defeating Justin Guzman at 112 pounds with a pin at 1:03. At 125 pounds, Palmer of Moses Lake pinned Dustin Taylor with 11 seconds remaining in the first round. Stones of Moses Lake stuck Noel Perez with 57 seconds left in the first round of the 130-pound bout. Pfiffer earned another pin for Moses Lake at 1:14 against Joseph Butenhoff at 140 pounds. Moses Lake's next pin came from Nielsen in the 160-pound weight class when he stuck Caleb Rude with 56 seconds remaining in the third round. Fackrell of Moses Lake pinned Jose Ramirez at 3:09 in the 189-pound bout. Frederickson wrestling at 215 pounds for the Chiefs pinned Nathan McClure with 29 seconds left in the first round of the matchup. Harman earned Moses Lake's final pin of the dual in the 285-pound weight class, sticking Bryan Keith.

Sainsbury of Moses Lake won a hard-fought bout at 171 pounds against Holden Wade; taking the WaHi wrestler down 10-0 after three rounds and two 3-point near falls.

Valdez and Hill both of Moses Lake won the 103 and 135-pound weight classes respectively by forfeit.

Bishop of Moses Lake lost his first varsity bout 10-1 to Ryan Harmon. Silva of Moses Lake was defeated by David Marquez 13-9. Cannon of Moses Lake lost his first bout of the season by fall against Ian Smith.