Check match, Chiefs take Panthers
Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Robert Leyva (top) of Moses Lake gave Wenatchee's Adam Tibb plenty to grimace about as the Chief rolled to a 17-2 win last night. The Chiefs clinched the Big 9 Columbia Division with a win over their rivals.
MOSES LAKE — Coming out on fire, the Moses Lake High School wrestling squad appeared to have its dual meet with Wenatchee Panthers in the bag on Thursday night.
Not so fast.
The visiting Panthers overcame an early 19-0 deficit to take a 24-22 lead before three consecutive Chiefs wins gave Moses Lake the 37-24 win and the Big Nine Columbia Division title.
At first it appeared the Chiefs would dominate after Robert Leyva’s resounding 17-2 win at 112-pounds and Andrew Valdez’s equally impressive 11-3 win at 119-pounds to stake the team to a 9-0 lead early.
“I wouldn’t call it gang busters but they did what they had to do,” Moses Lake coach Jamie Wise said. “They wrestled like I expected. I was hoping they would catch them and have a few more pins at the lower weights to get on a better roll but it didn’t work out that way.”
Omar Suarez captured a 12-7 win over Roberto Montes in a match that had the large crowd roaring with anticipation of every move as momentum swung back and forth in the 125-pounds match.
David Peralez jumped up in weight to 130-pounds but still escaped with a 10-4 win over Isaac Gates and Jordan Bishop’s 10-0 win at 135-pounds, gave Moses Lake the 19-0 lead.
Then things got interesting.
Wenatchee’s Hilario Farias defeated 3-2 Rico Moreno at 140 pounds in a tightly contested rematch of their encounter last week in Marysville.
“That was a great match,” Wise said. “It was 4-2 the first time and this time it was 3-2 and Ricco had a couple chances where he had him on his back but couldn’t do it. Ricco wrestled really well.”
The Chiefs’ Nicco Moreno toughed out 10-6 win over Justin Valdez at 145-pounds, and Moses Lake was now up 22-3.
Then Wenatchee ran off four straight wins of their own, including a first round pin, two second round pins, and a 11-6 decision victory by Brian Nygard over Moses Lake’s Chris Lacelle, to take the lead 24-22.
“I knew that was capable of happening because they have some really tough kids,” Wise said. “In the back of my mind I counted 15 points at the end so I knew it was going to be hard for them to have big enough of a lead. I was hoping matches like Logan’s win over Brian last weekend would carry over but Brian came out for revenge tonight.”
Yet, Chiefs Brian Chamberlain (8-4 win at 215-pounds) and Kabe Fluaitt (first round pin at 285-pounds) helped cement the win.
Beau Gleed would then put the cherry on top with a first round pin of Jeremiah Brown at 103-pounds
“They are a tough team and we did expect to beat them as they expected to beat us,” Wise said. “It’s always good to beat a tough team and as a team they wrestled very well. This put us up pretty well for seeding and that’s always nice.”
Moses Lake wraps up their season at the Dream Duals in Spokane this weekend and with a dual at Sunnyside on Thursday.
They host the Sub District tournament on Jan. 30.
The win was also special for 11 seniors who were honored during Senior Night including, Candice Vela, Jordan Bishop, James Fitting, Chris Lacelle, Robert Leyva, Ricco Moreno, David Peralez, Logan Phelps, Edwin Torres, Andrew Valdez, and Levi Walpole.