Huskies take second at Leonard Schutte Roundup
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Othello’s Miguel Amezola fights to break free from Devon Gantt of Naches Valley in the semifinal matchup of the 126 bracket on Saturday in Othello.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Jaxon Rocha stares down his opponent, Zeke Crockett, from Jackson (Chewelah) before their bout for a chance at a spot in the final round of the 145 division.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Jaxon Rocha looks to over power his oppponent in the ring on his way to a first-place finish in the 145 division on Saturday.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Othello's Arturo Solario gets set to begin his bout with Selah's Ethan Garza in the semifinals at 152 at the Leonard Schutte Roundup on Saturday.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Othello's Elijah Roylance waits for the bout to restart after taking a break to deal with a bloodied nose at Othello High School on Saturday.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Arturo Solario fights to keep his opponent down in the semifinal round on Saturday afternoon at Othello High School.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald Arturo Solario stares through his opponent from Selah, as both fight for postion at the Leonard Schutte Roundup on Saturday at Othello High School.
OTHELLO — Southridge claimed the overall top score at the Leonard Schutte Roundup over the weekend, while host Othello High School finished tied for a close second place.
The Huskies finished tied with Selah at 181.0, just six points off the lead. Royal finished in fourth, with a team score of 134.5.
For Othello, both Jaxon Rocha and Elijah Roylance nabbed the top place in their weight class in the tournament. Rocha’s first two matches of the day were over in less than a minute. A 5-3 decision over Jackson of Chewelah’s Zeke Crockett to arrive in the finals for the 145 class. The senior finished off Joseph Briskey of Naches Valley, with a fall at 1:44, to take first place.
A late pin by Roylance landed him in the semifinals, with a 6-2 decision over Richland’s Kaden James pushing him into the finals at 285. A 5-3 decision over Eduardo Mendez from Wapato garnered the top place for the Othello senior. Fellow Husky Adrian Deleon grabbed fourth in 285 after falling to Richland’s James.
At 152, Arturo Solorio took second place for the Huskies after a 6-4 decision against Reardan’s Rylan Anderson in the championship round. Andrew Velazquez fought his way back to a 6th place finish for Othello after defeat in his first bout.
Miguel Amezola finished in third in the 126 class, with a victory over Moses Lake’s Stephen Jackson, with a fall at 1:40. Freshman Forrest Roylance tackled his way to fifth place with a forfeit victory over Chiawana’s Marvin Aviles. Victorino De La Cruz finished fifth at 106, with a victory at 2:34 over Richland’s Anthony Barragan.
At 120, Juan Lauriano finished in sixth for Othello. Brandon Garza grabbed fifth place at 170 after a 4-1 decision. At 182, Alexis Espindola finished sixth. Eric Gomez took fifth at 195, while Josue Solorio grabbed top-six at 220.
While still early in the season, Othello head coach Rudy Ochoa was proud of the way his team performed, especially being without four State-level wrestlers for the tournament.
“For the guys we had there, I’m really happy with how they wrestled, how competitive they were, and trying the things we’ve been working on in practice,” Ochoa said.
The Othello coach said Roylance and Rocha both had a good weekend, again. Both took third last weekend before coming back to take first place in their respective classes on Saturday. Solario has found himself just shy of a top finish in each of the past weekends, but Ochoa said he’s been impressed with his performance early this year.
Ochoa feels like the Huskies have a good mix of veterans and underclassmen this season, and said he believes they are driven to bring home success.
“I think they’re hungry,” Ochoa said. “They want to get as many guys on the podium as possible, as many guys to state as possible, and see what that brings us. Hopefully, it’s some hardware to bring home at the end of the year.”
The Huskies coach said they’ll look to continue to improve, control what they can, and simply wait and see how the cards fall.
For the Knights, Mark Martinez fought his way to a top-finish at 160. A 10-3 decision over Pedro Garcia from Southridge placed him against Selah’s Alonzo Lopez in the final round. A 3-2 decision grabbed Martinez first place.
Isaac Toro came up just short of a top finish at 106, taking second after a fall at 1:47 against Selah’s Marcos Gonzalez. EJ Campos took sixth for Royal in the 113 division.
At 138, the Knights grabbed another second-place finish as Dominic Martinez lost a 5-4 decision to Selah’s Jesse Salinas in the finals at 138. Moses Lake’s Derek Grubb would grab fifth in the same class.
Royal’s Miguel Hernandez finished fifth in the 145 weight division. Benjamin Bustos defeated Chiawana’s Robert Perez to take third at 195, while Kevin Dominguez would nab fifth at 220 with a 6-1 decision.