Zillah last step for Warden, Royal on road to Tacoma

ZILLAH — One more weekend stands between wrestlers of Warden and Royal High Schools who remain alive on the road to a Class 1A state tournament berth and a potential trip to the Tacoma Dome.

This weekend is the penultimate one prior to the 2010 Mat Classic and Warden and Royal are readying for battle at the South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) Regional Tournament in Zillah.

The tournament begins at 11 a.m. and by later that evening the top four finishers in each weight class advances to Tacoma and the state finals one week later at the 2010 Mat Classic.

Warden, a perennial district, regional, and state power enters the weekend as one of the favorites along with the hosts.

Royal, after a second-place finish at last week’s districts could be a surprise threat.

Both teams hope that when the dust clears plenty of the Warden Cougars and Royal Knights will be left standing with state glory awaiting in the distance.

Each weight class is broken up into eight wrestler brackets with four participants from both the East and West division represented.

The foursomes are seeded 1-4 and are drawn into the pairings of, East 1 vs. West 4, East 2 vs. West 3, East 3 vs. West 2, East 4 vs. West 1, in the opening matches.

WARDEN COUGARS

Regional Roster — Javier Tapia (Sophomore, 103-pounds, #2 East), J.P. Martinez (sophomore, 112-pounds, #1 East), Carlos Gomez (junior, 119-pounds, #4 East), Derek Pruneda (sophomore, 125-pounds, #3 East), Cesar Rangel (junior, 130-pounds, #3 East), Scott Henderson (junior, 135-pounds, #1 East), Sam Suarez (junior, 140-pounds, #2 East), Hector Camacho (sophomore, 145-pounds, #3 East), Kenny Sullivan (junior, 152-pounds, #2 East), Dakota Scott (senior, 171-pounds, #1 East), Johnny Pruneda (freshman, 171-pounds, #3 East), Adam Hansen (freshman, 189-pounds, #4 East), Matthew DeLeon (sophomore, 215-pounds, #2 East), and Gerino Luna (junior, 285-pounds, #1 East).

Outlook: The Cougars enter the regional tournament with four top seeds and all but one weight class represented and so they must be considered - once again - as one of the favorites.

With the book on Warden’s tenure as a 1A stalwart slowly closing before becoming a 2B school, coach Rick Bowers feels good about his crew going into Zillah. But before things get going tomorrow, he must deal with some last minutes injuries and ailments which could put a dent in their chances.

Also hosts Zillah could make things difficult for Warden with a half-dozen head-to-head matches set for the first round alone.

“The two-three matches are crucial because usually a one will beat a four unless something weird happens,” Bowers said. “I know Zillah’s tough, we’ve seen them. If we can get everybody healthy, we could be tough. There are a couple crucial matches that hopefully we can get through okay.”

ROYAL KNIGHTS

Regional Roster — Danny Barajas (sophomore, 119-pounds, #2 East), Hank Ellis (junior, 125-pounds, #2 East), Pedro Lopez (senior, 125-pounds, #4 East), Alex Myrick (freshman, 135-pounds, #2 East), Laddie Goroski (freshman, 135-pounds, #3 East), Kris Rice (senior, 140-pounds, #1 East), Omar Gomez (junior, 145-pounds, #2 East), Damien DeLaRosa (freshman, 152-pounds, #1 East), Christian Guerrero (freshman, 160-pounds, #2 East), Jake Thomas (senior, 171-pounds, #2 East), and Justin Kincade (senior, 189-pounds, #1 East).

Outlook: When all is said and done regarding the 2009-2010 season it can easily be told how Royal enjoyed a successful year regardless what happens this weekend.

A late coaching change and bumpy start ended up with 11 regional berths and some legitimate shots at appearances at the Mat Classic next week.

Not bad.

“As a team we should come out in the top two spots fighting for the title against Warden and Zillah,” Royal coach Seth Weeks. “I bet we will win it. We are working hard and our seniors are pumped, so that has improved the morale big time. We will be focusing on key things and our minds will be on the mat come Saturday.”

Royal’s late season charge has been sparked by a mix of youth and age - five freshman and sophomores and three seniors - and enter the regionals with nine of their wrestlers seeded higher in their quarterfinal openers.

“I really like the seeding for the most part,” Weeks said. “Obviously a first instead of a second in a couple of places would have been great, but I think that in most brackets we will face the same kid in the regional finals that we did in the districts just because our side is so much tougher.”