Chiefs sweep home duals

MOSES LAKE — Thursday night’s home meet for the Moses Lake wrestling team was twice as nice as the Chiefs rolled past Eastmont and Richland to sweep the double dual meet.

Moses Lake dominated the Bombers 70-3 in the first meet of the night, beginning with Chiefs sophomore Kabe Fluiatt’s pin of Mitchell Atwell in 1:58. The Chiefs would never slow during their win over Richland — winning seven of 13 matches via pin.

Moses Lake head coach Jamie Wise said he was satisfied with Thursday’s performance.

“It was an OK night,” he said. “It wasn’t great, but it will work.”

The Chiefs dismantled the Bombers at 112 pounds as Andrew Valdez pinned Josh Andrews in 2:40 to give the Chiefs a commanding 12-3 lead over Richland. Moses Lake received a forfeit at 119 pounds and David Peralez pinned Nick Sargent right before the buzzer sounded at the end of the first period to push Moses Lake to an 24-3 advantage.

Moses Lake continued to roll when freshman Nicco Moreno defeated Dustin Utecht 15-7 to earn the decision. Moreno did not wrestle in Moses Lake’s second dual with Eastmont because of the amount of matches he has wrestled at this point in the season.

“We have to watch that match count,” Wise said. “He is getting close and we need him at (the) Dream Duals.”

The Chiefs wrapped up their win over Richland the same way they began it — with a Moses Lake pin. This time the pin coming when senior Spencer Fackrell pinned Brady Simpson at 215 pounds.

Following their win over Bombers, the Chiefs squared off with Eastmont and sent the Wildcats packing with a 56-14 Moses Lake victory.

The Chiefs got off to a fast start against Eastmont when freshman Hayden Wise pinned Courtney Abbott in 4:25 to give Moses Lake a 6-0 advantage after one match. Moses Lake won four straight matches to begin the contest with Eastmont.

Following Wise’s pin to start the match, Valdez pinned Eastmont’s Tanner Chausse and Omar Suarez pinned Francisco Renteria to give the Chiefs an 18-0 lead heading into Peralez’s match at 125 pounds.

After a few moments of acrobatic wrestling, Peralez settled down to dominate Treston Smothers for an 11-1 decision. The Chiefs lost their first match of the night at 130 pounds when Colton Hankins earned a technical fall 15-0 victory over Hunter Warkentin.

The Chiefs recovered at 135 pounds when Cameron Chlarson earned his second pin of the night when he defeated Luis Ramirez in 2:24. Moses Lake fell at 140 pounds before recovering to win six of the final seven matches.

With senior Thomas Pfeiffer out with an ankle injury, sophomore Cameron Alvarado stepped up to earn a pair of pins Thursday night. After wrestling a close match through the better part of two periods, Alvarado found himself entering the third period facing a 10-7 deficit.

Alvarado persevered and threw his Eastmont opponent to the mat. Following a short struggle, Alvarado pinned Joey Caron’s shoulders to the mat to earn his second victory of the evening for the Chiefs.

“I thought (Alvarado) really stepped it up and took care of business,” Wise said. “He came from behind … I was impressed with the way he (wrestled).”

Although he missed the first few weeks of the season, sophomore Brian Chamberlain is starting to come around in his second season wrestling for the Chiefs.

Chamberlain earned a pair of victories Thursday night. The first coming with a 7-0 decision over Nicholas Lee of Richland, the second coming in a 45 second pin of Albert Lucero of Eastmont.

Despite earning the win over Lee, Wise said Chamberlain is putting in more effort than is necessary to be successful.

“He was working a lot harder than he should be,” Wise said. “He was in bad position, but he is just so strong. If he would stay in better position he wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

Although Moses Lake rolled past Richland and Eastmont, the Chiefs are limping into the final stretch before heading into next month’s district tournament.

The Chiefs were without Mat Classic XX placer Pfeiffer, 2008 state champion Sammy Villegas and Tyler Vela Thursday night.

Despite missing key contributors to Moses Lake’s success this season, Wise said his team has responded well.

“As beat up and sick as we are right now, the kids did a pretty good job,” he said. “Everyone is doing everything they have to do to help keep our team successful.”