Royal's reign ends as Lakeside takes charge

1A Mat Classic recap

TACOMA - The Royal Knights were very good at Mat Classic XX. Problem is, the Lakeside Eagles were very, very good.

Two-time defending 1A champion Royal had five finalists and two individual champions to score 139.5 points, but the Eagles had nine finalists and five champs en route to 233 points. The Knights took third behind Orting (146 points).

Still, there was plenty for the Knights and their fans to celebrate. Juniors Omar Avelar and Sam Villegas were rewarded with their first state titles, an especially sweet accomplishment for Villegas, who had to settle for second in the past two years.

"The feeling I'm feeling right now is so great, you just kind of forget about the past failures," said Villegas, who beat Orting's John Thompson 6-4. "I've been thinking about it so long and just haven't been able to get the job done these last couple years. I'm a champ."

Villegas had a 4-2 lead entering the fourth period, but Thompson - who beat Villegas in last year's state finals - tied it with 25 seconds left on a reverse. Villegas then earned a reversal of his own in the final 10 seconds.

"I felt that down hip and I just attacked it," Villegas said of the move. "I could feel him fighting just as hard as I was. I got the height and was able to get the two (points)."

Villegas and Thompson are very familiar with each other, having wrestled four times. Their last meeting was at December's Tri-State Tournament, where Villegas notched a 9-4 win.

"John's a real classy guy, so I hope we can both win one next year."

Avelar didn't wait until the last moment to win his title at 130 pounds. He pounded Brewster's Chris Pena from the opening whistle, polishing off a 19-4 technical fall with 58 seconds remaining.

Avelar, who was a runner-up two years ago and seventh last season, reached the finals by downing top-ranked Daniel Swain of Newport 15-13. He also beat Lakeside's Tylor Labelle 13-7 and Lake Roosevelt's Kasey Green 6-4.

Three other Knights reached the finals but wound up second. Unlike Villegas, 152-pounder Angel Ledezma wasn't able to shake his finals jinx and was second for the third straight year, falling 13-7 to Adam Thalhofer of Vashon Island.

His older brother, 189-pounder Hector Ledezma, had a similar curse with his finals opponent, Reid Chivers of Lakeside. Ledezma ended the year with a 37-3 mark, but all three losses came to the Lakeside junior, who is now a three-time state medalist and finished 33-1.

Hernan Cortez had a solid run through the 112-pound division, beating Vashon's Eddie Protzeller, Lakeside's Ryan Norstadt and Tenino's Justin Hernandez. His first Mat Classic appearance ended with a 13-4 defeat to Zillah's Skylor Davis, a third-place finisher at 103 in 2007.

Royal had two other medalists in 119-pounder Juan Esquivel and 140-pounder Luke Tonnemaker.

Esquivel was fourth in his bracket, pinning Winlock's A.J. McKnight and Newport's Corbin Chitwood on his way to the semifinals. But he lost by pin to eventual champion Jacob Lauderdale of Lakeside and ended the year with an 11-6 defeat to Orting's Garrett Mann.

Tonnemaker started slowly, getting pinned in 68 seconds by Tanner Bolt of Kettle Falls. He earned decisions over Cashmere's Tyler McCord and Chewelah's Ethan Fulbright, but lost his last two matches to Chelan's Gage Schmidt and Connell's Wes Jenks.

The other six members of Royal's 13-member state squad were eliminated on Friday. All of them won a match, except for 215-pounder Lucas Warren.

At 103, Hank Ellis lost 13-2 to Kevin Schernitzhi of Kettle Falls. He beat Rey Howard of Castle Rock 4-3, but lost 8-4 to Chewelah's Daniel Trudeau.

At 171, Mitch Christensen dropped a third-period pin to Stevenson's Jesse Brown. He knocked off Rainer's Sinclair Ballmes 12-5, then was eliminated by Montesano's Brent Phillips, 10-4.

At 189, Jake Christensen reached the quarterfinals with a 5-1 win over Castle Rock's Dane Williams. But he sustained back-to-back losses to Chivers of Lakeside and Vashon Island's Geran Webb.

At 215, TJ Hunt was pinned by finalist Zack Sowards of Orting. He beat Warren in a loser-out battle of teammates, but was eliminated in a 6-3 loss to Naches Valley's Bryan Jones.

At 285, Edgar Montoya opened with a pin of Castle Rock's Beau Radach. He lost 6-1 to runner-up Ben Fuson of Lakeside and by pin to Josh Brazil of Tonasket.

Warden qualified 12 for state, but the Cougars only placed five and wound up sixth in the team standings with 72 points.

Franky Jimenez, a state runner-up at 103 last year, finished fourth at 112. He was the No. 5 seed out of regionals, but handily won his first two matches in Tacoma - 8-2 over Cashmere's Randall Chapman and 10-2 over Parker Williamson of Castle Rock.

But Jimenez met Zillah's Davis in the semis and was blanked 8-0 by the eventual champ. The Warden junior rebounded with a pin of Lakeside's Norstadt and an 8-2 decision over Tenino's Hernandez.

Robert Pruneda also earned a fourth-place medal, winning three straight consolation matches at 130 pounds. He downed Cashmere's Josh Van Hoven, Lake Roosevelt's Green and Granger's Sammy Salcedo before Newport's Swain beat him 9-5 for third.

At 160, senior Scott Phillips took fifth. He opened with a third-period pin of Forks' Brien Jashka before Cashmere's Tanner Wood sent him to the consolations with a 7-1 win.

Phillips got to the medal round with a pin of Mabton's Angelo Salinas, and also beat River View's Chris Strawn and Tonasket's Keegan McCormick.

Isaac DeLeon reached the semis at 171 pounds before Royal's Hector Ledezma got the best of him.

Two of DeLeon's three state wins came against Granger's Guillermo Galeno, and the other was a pin of Montesano's Ira Alefteras.

First-time state participant Dakota Scott was eighth at 171. He beat Russell Aarts of Rochester and Rowdy Payne of Castle Rock to reach the medal round, but fell to Zillah's Kane Koerner and Montesano's Brent Phillips to end the tournament.

Jesse Guerra (125), Chris Kalous (135), Lupe Landeros (140), Kevin Tursio (145), Arturo Martinez (152), Joey Massa (215) and Tony Martinez (285) were all knocked out on Friday.