We can only hope Moses Lake-Othello wrestling history continues to repeat itself

Sometimes it drives the locals crazy when I show up at some hated rivalry that dates back to before man discovered fire and tell 'em I don’t have a preference to the outcome.

“I don’t care nothin’ about these teams, I’m just here to write the story.”

In fact I had about half of that statement out when some guy in a bar in Lincoln, Neb., had me by the throat and pressed up against the rail. I’d just covered the Oklahoma-Nebraska game at War Memorial Stadium, filed my story and stopped by for a beer. Danny Bradley, Spencer Tillman and the boys had just beaten the Cornhuskers in Lincoln. Sooner fans were feelin’ it and more than happy to drive a stake through the heart of the locals. That was Brian Bosworth’s freshman season and lo and behold Troy Aikman was a freshman that year before transferring to UCLA.

I don’t even know where the conversation was going when this clown with 2-or-11 Falstaff’s under his belt grabs ahold of me.

“Dude, I’m from Colorado. I really don’t give a (bleep) who won,” I sputtered, hoping those weren’t my last words before I saw stars.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you were from Oklahoma.”

Yep, rivalries are what makes sports go round.

I had a nice little history lesson Wednesday night at the Moses Lake-Othello wrestling match, getting the skinny on a friendly Columbia Basin contest that dates back a bit.

I got to the gym early so I didn’t have to park down on Broadway and take a cab because the parking lot was too full, walked in the gym and pulled up a spot next to Rudy Ochoa Sr. sitting in the stands munching popcorn.

Rudy “The Uno” I call him was part of the Othello back-to-back state wrestling teams in 1968-69 and won the 106-pound state championship in 1968. These days, Rudy sits back, puts in his two cents worth, and watches his son Rudy “The Dos” run around doing all the heavy lifting. Rudy Ochoa II is in his third season as the Huskies head coach. He and Moses Lake head coach Jamie Garza are doing a great job keeping this tradition of Columbia Basin wrestling powerhouses squaring off alive.

“I remember once, Moses Lake came down to Othello,” Rudy “The Uno” said. “What a night of wrestling that was.”

That’s the beauty of wrestling, 4A vs. 2A, it doesn’t much matter. The No. 5 Huskies (2A) wrestled well in spots Wednesday night, but No. 3 Moses Lake (4A) won the close matches and flexed a little muscle in the end, winning the last four matches of the night to pull away. But the competition was good and this confrontation of Columbia Basin titans is alive and well.

“Rudy II and I go back. I have a lot of respect for Othello,” said Garza, who was a part of three state championship teams for Moses Lake and won an individual championship in 1998. “My old man’s from Othello. Wayne Schutte is a legend out there. And you also have the likes of Ruben Martinez. Mark Schutte was my first loss playing sports when I was five or six years old. So we go way back.

"Rudy is doing everything he can to get his team prepared for the state tournament, and matches like this only make both of us better.”

Unlike the hated rivalries we've seen in other sports over the years, Moses Lake-Othello wrestling is a thing of beauty and I hope goes on for as long guys walk into the circle looking to test themselves against the best competition around.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com