Ephrata, Othello battle in dual meet

Tigers defeat Huskies 49-30

OTHELLO — The first four matches of the night were split with two pins for each team but the night changed during the sixth match.

In the 171-pound bout between Ephrata's Scott Henson and Othello's Jusdin Lynch a battle brewed from the beginning.

Henson took a first round lead with a takedown, holding Lynch scoreless.

In the second period it was Lynch's turn. He earned a reversal to tie the match and held Henson scoreless.

Both wrestlers struggled for supremecy in the third round and as the buzzer sounded it looked as though Henson had won when the official signaled a 2-point near fall. After some discussion with both coaches, the near fall was waved off due to lack of a full two-count.

Henson chose to be down for the first overtime period and nearly earned an escape but could not manage to get free from Lynch's grip. In the second overtime the wrestlers traded positions, with Lynch on bottom, and again the up wrestler rode out the period. The battle continued in the third overtime.

The fourth, and final, overtime began with Lynch trying to ride out another 30-second period but as time wound down Henson was able to earn an escape for the 3-2 win.

"That kid (Henson) sucked it up and did a nice job," said Ephrata head coach Dave Laird.

The only other face-off not decided by a fall was the 112-pound bout between Othello's David Ochoa and Ephrata's Mitchel Friend.

Friend opened the match with a shot for a takedown and followed it up with a 2-point near fall to take a 4-0 lead. In the second round, Friend extended his lead with another 2-point near fall. The third round featured another takedown and a final 2-point near fall to cap off Friend's dominant 10-0 victory over Ochoa.

"Our youth is still showing but we're trying to get better," said Othello head coach Ruben Martinez.

Ephrata opened up the dual with a pin in the 135-pound bout between Tyson Hubbard of Ephrata and Chris Gifford of Othello. Hubbard earned a quick takedown and finished out the matchup with 41 seconds remaining in the first period.

Kevin Smith of Othello answered by pinning Erich Sonnabend of Ephrata in the 140-pound bout. Smith took an early 5-0 lead with a takedown and 3-point near fall before Sonnabend retaliated with a reversal in the first period. As the second period opened, Smith earned a reversal and from the top engineered a fall with 1:17 on the clock.

At 145 Chris Davidson of Ephrata pinned Tyson Alvarez of Othello in 1:16 after earning a takedown.

Jack Calvert of Othello finished off the four match split pinning Tony Louden of Ephrata with 42 seconds remaining in the first period in the 152-pound bout.

In the 160-pound matchup Dallas Hintz of Ephrata and Lukas Vetter of Othello squared off. In the first seconds of the match the Othello gym erupted as Vetter picked Hintz up off the mat and tried to dump him over for a takedown. Hintz was able to avoid the situation and earn the points for himself to take a 2-0 lead. As the first round continued, Hintz turned Vetter loose before taking him down again and ended the period with a 12-2 lead. In the second round Hintz finished Vetter off with a pin in just 8 seconds.

"Tonight is the best we've competed all year," said Laird.

Ephrata began to pull away with another pin in the 189-pound bout between David Repp of Ephrata and Seth Olson of Othello. Repp stuck Olson with 43 seconds remaining in the second period after establishing a 2-0 lead in the first round.

At 215 Othello's Jacob Johnston pinned Ephrata's Anthony Johnson in 1:41. Michael Carmona also earned a pin for Othello, defeating Mike Beck of Ephrata in 1:42 in the 285-pound bout.

Ephrata's Anthony Bush swung momentum back toward the Tigers with a pin in 1:05 against Jake Smith of Othello at 103 pounds.

At 119 pounds, Kurt Nygard of Ephrata pinned Josh Perez of Othello with 13 seconds remaining in the first period.

Othello's Derek Stelter earned the final win for the Huskies with a pin against Brandon Butcher with 30 seconds remaining in the first period of the 125-pound bout.

"They (Ephrata) wrestled to win tonight and from what I saw at the Sundome their young kids have improved," said Martinez.

Jake Horn of Ephrata finished out the night with a pin for the Tigers against Roy Rodriguez of Othello. Horn took an early 4-0 lead with a takedown and a 2-point near fall in the first period and extended his lead to 9-0 in the second period. With 56 seconds remaining in the second round, Horn pinned Rodriguez.