Moses Lake exerts dominance over Chiawana, 52-6
Moses Lake's Hudson Mauseth works to turn Chiawana's Cory Johnson onto his back Tuesday at Moses Lake High School. Mauseth won by fall in the second round.
MOSES LAKE — “On another level” is how Moses Lake head coach Jaime Garza described Hudson Mauseth’s wrestling.
Just three days removed from a championship at the Rollie Lane Invitational, Mauseth — ranked second at 170 pounds — faced off against sixth-ranked Cory Johnson of Chiawana. Mauseth dominated the match, opening up a 7-0 lead after the first round before winning by fall in the second, and Moses Lake dominated Chiawana.
In a dual Garza thought would be closer, Moses Lake won 12 of 14 matches en route to a 52-6 thumping.
“I was thinking it was going to be maybe a 10-4, maybe 9-5, because they have some tough kids,” he said. “(Nathan) Bengen at (1)26, their heavyweight, their (1)82 ... there was four of five key matches that I thought OK they can go either way. It depends on where we’re at and fortunately we were able to win a couple of those matches.”
The evening started with Christien Knopp (132) eking out a 4-2 win over Erick Lucero. Nursing a 3-0 lead in the third round, Knopp gave up a reversal but was later cut by Lucero with too little time left on the clock for an attempt at a match-tying take down.
Cooper McCullough (138) and Hunter Garland-Cruz (145) followed with two more wins. McCullough pinned Dante Sauceda in the third round and Garland-Cruz ground out a 4-0 decision against Bobby Kasma.
Down 3-0 in the third round, Cyrus Knoll (152) recorded two take downs to tie the match at 4-all and force overtime. In the extra session, a visibly tired Allan Cruz lunged forward and allowed Knoll to circle around for the deciding two points.
Chiawana picked up its first win of the night when Bryce Buckley edged Joel Torres (160), 3-0.
Moses Lake would go on to win the next five matches.
After Mauseth’s pin, Dylan Morris (182) earned a 5-1 win over Clayton Silvers and Daiman Vasquez (195) posted a 12-3 major decision against Mason Partlow.
The drama returned at 220 pounds.
Trailing Kameron Silvers in the third round, Payton Castro elected to start from the top position to try and turn Silvers. With time winding down, Castro was able to gain leverage and flip Silvers onto his back to win by fall with 11 seconds left.
“That was probably his biggest win of the season, I would say, so far,” Garza said. “Definitely proud of him. He’s showing growth, him and Daiman. They’re two sophomores that come in and I feel like when they step into that room it’s ‘let’s go out and get better.’”
After placing third in state at 195 pounds last season, Levi McBride has bounced back and forth from 220 and 285 pounds. Currently, McBride is ranked second at 220 pounds.
So it was to the delight of the home crowd when Chandler Fluaitt (285) was able to score a reversal and three near-fall points to close the second round of his match with McBride. Ahead 7-2 in the final round, Fluaitt was awarded one stall point and upended the state placer 8-2.
“I just knew not to give up anything dumb,” He said. “Any dumb take downs or anything so I just locked up over tie with him and wore him out until I got some stalling calls and then I just capitalized when he made a little mistake.”
Ahead 37-3 when the dual shifted down to the light weights, Moses Lake closed with wins in three out of the final four matches. Caleb Lawson (106) dropped a tight 4-2 contest before Jesus Cornejo (113) and August Gibson (120) won by fall.
Tri-State champion and Rollie Lane finalist Nick Hara closed the dual with a 9-4 win against Bengen.
In a preview of possible matches that could take place at the regional tournament next month, the wide margin of victory was a confidence builder.
“It showed us that we’re still a top tier team,” Fluaitt said.
Othello 56, Prosser 14
PROSSER — Othello won its dual with Prosser handily, 56-14.
Othello hosts Ephrata Thursday at 7 p.m.
Prep boys basketball
No. 10 Warden 59, Waterville 47
WARDEN — Warden outlasted Waterville 59-47.
The tenth-ranked Cougars travel to White Swan on Friday.
Kittitas 60, Soap Lake 55
KITTITAS — Trailing by 12 at halftime, Soap Lake was unable to rally against Kittitas and lost 60-55.
The Eagles cut the deficit down to five points entering the fourth quarter, but played even with the Coyotes over the final eight minutes.
Prep girls basketball
Grandview 72, Othello 32
GRANDVIEW — Othello dropped a road game to Grandview 72-32, its ninth loss in a row.
The Huskies will look to get back in the win column Friday at home against East Valley.
Waterville 43, Warden 31
WARDEN — Waterville handed Warden its second CW2B South loss, 43-31.
Kittitas 32, Soap Lake 24
KITTITAS — Soap Lake was outscored 26-9 in the second half and lost to Kittitas 32-24.
The Eagles couldn’t hang on to a 13-6 halftime lead.
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