Chiefs manhandle competition at CBL districts

District wrestling recaps

RICHLAND - To call Moses Lake's performance at the Columbia Basin League district wrestling championships dominating might be slighting just what the Chiefs accomplished.

Moses Lake piled up 469 points - nearly twice what second-place Pasco managed - and qualified 16 individuals and three alternates for this weekend's 4A regional meet in Yakima. And, Chiefs head coach Jamie Wise counted 46 pins for his team among the 14 weight classes, an astonishing number.

"That's a boatload of points right there," Wise said. "But many of those were come-from-behind pins, pins from being in really tight matches.

"I think our kids have learned how to battle and fight no matter what the situation is."

Moses Lake totaled 10 individual champions at Richland High School. One of the more impressive performances came from Brian Chamberlain, who defeated Pasco's Frank Garza 6-4 in overtime of the 171-pound division.

"Brian Chamberlain had the toughest draw - he should've been a higher seed," Wise said. "It doesn't happen too many times for a freshman to come in at that weight and beat all those upperclassmen."

At 189, Spencer Fackrell knocked off a tough opponent as well, downing Pasco's Nick Smiley in a 4-2 overtime decision. At 130, Gabe Guzman used a pin and two technical falls to reach the finals, where he beat Wenatchee's Krayson Gates 6-5.

Tad Harman (285) also looked sharp in his three-match run, beating Jeff Cozzetto of Eisenhower 9-0 for the title.

"He really dominated everyone he wrestled, even though the scores don't show it as much," Wise said of Harman.

Cody Hoiness cruised the 140-pound bracket, pinning all four opponents and taking less than half a round on three of them. He downed Kido Espinoza of Davis at 43 seconds in the finals.

Josh Nielsen took the title at 160 and "wrestled probably better than he has for the rest of the year," according to Wise. Nielsen beat Tito Gonzales of Davis 6-3 in the finals.

At 119, sophomore David Peralez earned an 11-1 major decision over Zach Nalley of Davis, a feat made more remarkable by Nalley's 12-5 win over Peralez in their regular-season meeting.

"He's a junior, he's solid and he hasn't lost too many times," Wise said of Nalley. "David went out and took it to him. That was so exciting to watch."

Thomas Pfeiffer (145) pinned Walla Walla's David Marquez at 1:05 for his title. Seth Stones and Cameron Chlarson took the 135-pound bracket by storm and both reached the finals, with Stones getting the pin at 54 seconds. Stones has been recovering from mononucleosis and didn't have much practice time before districts.

"That showed a lot of character for him," Wise said of Stones. "They both knocked off Wenatchee kids to get into the finals."

Tyler Vela was the 125-pound champion, pinning Richland's Dustin Utecht at 3:26 in the finals. Vela had three pins and a technical fall at districts.

Along with Chlarson, the Chiefs had a pair of second-place efforts from Andrew Valdez (112) and Parker Byington (152). Valdez used two pins and a major decision to reach the finals before falling to Courtney Nalley of Davis in a 19-3 technical fall. Byington pinned his first three foes, but lost the championship to Walla Walla's Trey Haines, 7-3.

The Chiefs' three other regional qualifiers were John Silva (third at 140), Ricco Moreno (fourth at 125) and Alvin Suarez (fourth at 189).

Robert Leyva (112), Derrick Johnson (103) and Logan Phelps (160) were all fifth in their respective weights, meaning they'll be alternates at regionals. Levi Walpole (215) and Luciano Hernandez (152) were sixth in their weights, just missing an alternate's spot.

CWAC

WAPATO - Othello finished third at the 10-team Central Washington Athletic Conference tournament at Wapato High School, with Quincy taking fourth and Ephrata fifth.

Ellensburg dominated the meet with 316.5 points, qualifying a wrestler in 13 of 14 divisions. Othello compiled 211 points, 17 back of runner-up Toppenish, while Quincy scored 167.5 and Ephrata had 159.5. The top seven finishers at each weight are moving on to regionals at Spokane's West Valley High School this weekend.

Three Huskies won district titles, starting with 285-pounder Michael Carmona, who downed Blake Nichols of Ellensburg 3-1. Kevin Smith (152) pinned teammate Tyson Alvarez at 3:49, while Reuben Lopez (130) took out Selah's Carlos Torres 7-4.

Quincy's Dan Somers and Breck Webley also won their respective weights. Somers (135) defeated Wapato's Kenny Garza 10-4, while Webley took just 47 seconds to pin Ricardo Ayala of Toppenish.

Othello's Jake Smith, Ephrata's Brenton Beard and Quincy's Michael Reyes and Max Melburn all finished second in their divisions. Smith (112) fell in a hard-fought, 6-5 match to Isaiah Garza of Toppenish. Beard was a 9-6 loser to Julian Romero of Toppenish. Reyes was pinned at 54 secodns by Ellensburg's Joe Boisso, while Melburn defaulted his championship bout to Selah's Dan Escamilla.

Third-place efforts included Ephrata's Ryan Cross and Anthony Bush, Quincy's Manny Ybarra and Othello's Amando DeLeon.

Cross (145) blanked Selah's Chris Rowe 7-0 in his last match, while teammate Bush (112) was a 9-0 winner over Ellensburg's Liston Idler. Ybarra defeated Ephrata's Kurt Nygard 9-6, and DeLeon was a 3-1 victor over Grandview's Dalton Walker.

Quincy's Colby Melburn, Ephrtaa's Brady Beard and Othello's Matt Jordan all lost their last match, but finished fourth in their respective weights.

Melburn (152) fell 6-3 to Greg Gonzalez of Grandview. Beard (171) dropped a 3-1 decision to Ellensburg's Thomas Parmerlee, while Jordan (119) lost 5-2 to Isaac Gutierrez of Toppenish.

Other Ephrata regional qualifiers included Deion Ducksworth (215), who pinned Ellensburg's Justin Dellinger at 2:35 to place fifth. Robert Motzkus (160) and Tyson Hubbard (135) both defaulted their final matches to place sixth.

The Tigers had four wrestlers claim the seventh and final berth to regionals, beginning with Brandon Butcher's 8-1 win over teammate Preston Hendrickson at 125 pounds. Anthony Johnson (285) qualified with a first-period pin of Othello's Mark DeLaRosa, Seth Kulakoski (103) took a 13-1 major decision over Quincy's Johnny Navarro, and Quinton Hendrickson (140) pinned East Valley's Doug Chartier at 4:49.

Quincy's Armando Herrera (125) downed Othello's Nicoh Montemayor 9-7 for fifth place, though both are headed to regionals. Quincy's Tony Lee and Carlos Magana took fifth and sixth spots at 112, with the duo defaulting their final match.

Othello's Kiki Rebuelta was fifth at 135 with a default victory. Jusdin Lynch (189), Chris Gifford (135) and Daniel Walker (145) claimed final seeds to regionals for the Huskies. Lynch pinned East Valley's Nick Hernandez at 3:00, Walker beat Wapato's Jaymar Imperial 16-3, and Gifford downed Grandview's Eddie Galindo 10-5.

Othello's Eddie Morales and Alberto Vargas lost seventh/eighth-place matches to end their season. Morales (215) was pinned at 2:24 by Grandview's Michael Hendrickson, and Vargas (171) lost a 15-2 decision to East Valley's Nick Brindamour.

SCAC East

WARDEN - Warden's depth was just enough to upset Royal for the South Central Athletic Conference East Division district title, with the Cougars outpointing the Knights 340-331.

Royal had eight individual champions to Warden's one, but the Cougars had at least one man in the top six of every weight class. The top four from each weight are going to this weekend's SCAC regional event in Zillah.

Royal's champions included Hernan Cortez (112), an 11-1 winner over Warden's Franky Jimenez; Juan Esquivel (119), a winner by pin over Columbia-Burbank's Earl Moody; Sam Villegas (145), a default winner over River View's Kyle Buck; Angel Ledezma (152), a 3-0 winner over Warden's Arturo Martinez; Mitch Christensen (171), who pinned Warden's Dakota Scott; Hector Ledezma (189), a default winner over teammate Jacob Christensen; T.J. Hunt (215), a 5-0 victor over Kiona-Benton's Britt Samsel; and Edgar Montoya (285), a winner by pin against Warden's Tony Martinez.

Warden's lone champion was 130-pounder Robert Pruneda, who pinned Royal's Omar Avelar in the finals.

In addition to Jimenez, Scott, Arturo Martinez and Tony Martinez, two other Cougars finished second in their classes. Chris Kalous (135) reached the finals with a 13-2 win over River View's Scott Sullivan, but lost 7-4 to Connell's Jacob Rae. Scott Phillips (160) had a 14-4 decision over Burbank's Zac Reisenauer in the semfinals, but was pinned by River View's Chris Strawn.

Warden's Carlos Gomez (103), Jesse Guerra (125), Jose Gonzalez (171) and Joey Massa (215) each took third. Gomez had a 10-4 decision over Royal's Hank Ellis to end the tournament. Guerra downed Burbank's Trevor Morrison 8-5, Gonzalez pinned Wahluke's Chris Culverwell, and Massa took a decision over Royal's Lucas Warren.

Jonny Guerra, Kameron Tamayo, Lupe Landeros, Kevin Tursio and Isaac DeLeon all earned fourth and final regional berths for the Cougars.

Guerra (112) was pinned in his last match by Royal's Ethan Tonnemaker and Tamayo (135) dropped a 6-4 decision to River View's Scott Sullivan. Landeros (140) lost 6-0 to Royal's Luke Tonnemaker, Tursio (145) lost 3-1 to Kiona-Benton's Sam Landoe, and DeLeon (189) lost 4-2 to Connell's Nato Orozco.

The Knights' other regional qualifiers included Ethan Tonnemaker (third at 112), Luke Tonnemaker (third at 140), Warren (fourth at 215) and Ellis (fourth at 103).

Warden is sending 16 wrestlers to the regionals in Zillah, while defending 1A state champion Royal qualified 14.