Huskies capture CWAC regular season crown

OTHELLO — Four successful steps must be taken for the Othello Huskies wrestling team to cap off what could be a highly rewarding season.

Step one came Friday night when Othello played host to fellow Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) stalwarts Selah for a winner-take-all matchup.

To the victor would go the CWAC regular season championships.

So went Othello.

Sparked by three pins and a late string of wins the Huskies pulled away from Selah en route to a 38-24 win and the first of four potential milestones and their first CWAC title in four seasons.

“This win elevated us to the next level to get us ready for the district tournament,” Othello coach Ruben Martinez said. “I was happy that they were able to keep it together and wrestle as well as they did Friday night.  We are wrestling our best right now.”

With the district tournament — and second milestone — coming up this weekend in X, the Huskies’ performance against Selah could also loom as signs that the squad may be a threat at regionals and the state wrestling meet in coming weeks.

Joey Gomez got festivities going with a pin of Ryan McClain in the first round of their 189-pound match to take the early 6-0 lead.

Selah would respond with a pin at 215-pounds and a forfeit win at 285-pounds to take a lead at 12-6.

Othello battled back as Gilbert Villa (103-pounds) pinned Kyle Anson in the third round and Lucas Garza grabbed a tough 6-4 win over Nikko Rodriguez at 112-pounds to put the Huskies back on top 15-12.

I felt that if Lucas could beat a state placer like Nikko that it would give him and the team a big lift,” Martinez said. “He kept the match close like I asked him to do and it came down to getting a takedown late into the third period to secure a huge win.”

But Selah moved ahead 18-15 on a pin at 119-pounds before Othello wrestlers began to assert themselves.

Joseph Gonzales took a 11-3 major decision at 125-pounds and Matt Jordan’s second round pin at 130-pounds upped Othello’s lead to 25-18 before Selah’s Jon Cruz take a decision at 135-pounds to move his squad within 25-21.

From there it was all Othello as Matthew Mello (140-pounds) won 8-3 over Demetrius Anaya, Reuben Lopez (145-pounds) nailed down a 10-1 major decision over Jeremy Standfill, Amando DeLeon (152-pounds) defeated Chris Rowe 13-7, and Eddie Garza (160-pounds) held on for a 9-7 win over Zach Goodpastor to seal the dual win.

“We put the kids through some grueling weeks starting the second week of December and right through into the third week in January,” Martinez said. “The kids responded very well even though they looked tired in the early part of January.  I am very proud of how they worked hard through those weeks.”

So now by sweeping their CWAC slate in front of rowdy Othello crowd, Martinez has seen his team just begin to fulfill its potential this season.

“We became a better team during the stretch,” Martinez said.  “Every coach wants to see hard work payoff and I would say that this team deserved going undefeated in league and winning our first league title since 2005-06. We will take this win and use it to benefit us as we go into Friday night’s first day of district competition.”