Chiefs impressive in win over Eastmont

MOSES LAKE - The color black carries with it a certain symbolism.

Most notably, those attending a funeral wear black.

Moses Lake wrestling, fresh in new black singlets, buried the Eastmont Wildcats 67-9 Thursday evening in front of a packed gym.

All but two Chiefs walked away from the mat with a victory.

"This is pretty much what I expected for the most part," head coach Jaime Garza said. "The kids came out there, they wrestled, they were intense... they were ready to go out there and wrestle."

Dylan Morris (285 lbs.) set the tone for the evening by pinning his matchup Dylan Fechner in the third round. Fechner defeating Morris in the regional tournament last season.

"Dylan did a great job," Garza said. "Obviously it was a slow start to that match. He got that take down, went ahead and then he was able to pin that guy. The one thing about Dylan is that Dylan... he's your blue collar type of guy. He's a hard working guy, doesn't give up."

In the second match, Justin Sainsbury (285 lbs.) returned to the mat after missing most of last season with a broken leg. Although he lost to Eastmont's Carlos Chavolla-Garibay 3-0 Garza knows that he has the potential to excel.

"It's going to come with some time," he said. "This was his first match and he's got to move and he'll get there."

The Chiefs continued their dominance with a pair of first round pins by Cooper McCullough (106 lbs.) and Trey Long (113 lbs.). Long, who took third place in state last season, was able to pin his man in just 25 seconds.

In the most highly contested match of the evening, Easton Castro (182 lbs.) faced Eastmont's Curtis Miller. Castro was able to escape with a 10-6 win, but was close to being pinned after finding himself on his back at the edge of the mat. Fortunately for the Chiefs, Castro was out of bounds so Miller was unable to score any points.

"He pulled out a good win there," Garza said. "The kid was strong, that was evident. He stuck with him, he was able to take advantage of the neutral position and take the guy down twice."

Moses Lake will travel to Central Valley High School over the weekend to compete in the Inland Empire Wrestling Tournament and the Inland Empire Invitational. The tournaments will feature team from eastern Washington as well as Idaho.

"We're going to face some stiff competition out there," Garza said. "Definitely excited to see several guys in certain weights throughout our lineup and see how we match up with them. There's some tough kids coming from that Spokane and Idaho area."