By AL STOVER
Staff Reporter 

Cheney defeats West Valley in Great Northern match

 

Last updated 1/19/2017 at 9:37am



The Cheney High wrestling team continued to roll through Great Northern League competition with a 37-33 win over West Valley, Jan. 12.

“We knew we were going to be in a battle,” head coach Brad Rasmussen said. “Before the match, we (also) knew we had to have a full team effort from top to bottom.”

Josh Baker, who moved up from 220 pounds to 285, got things going for his team after he pinned Spencer Spittler in the second round. After the Blackhawks forfeited the 106 match, Jeremy Blom (113) pinned Kegan Ritcher in the third round of their match to put Cheney up 12-6.

Saul Bautista, Michael Bozeman, Teagan Simon, Zack Nguyen and Josh Corean picked up wins to give Cheney enough of a lead to finish the night.

“Teagan Simon came back from 12-1 to get a big pin for us and we had Nick Morgan, in his first match on varsity, not get pinned,” head coach Brad Rasmussen said. “That could have been the decider for us. It was so cool to have freshmen come in and battle for us.”

The Blackhawks had some success at the Jan. 14 Ray Westberg Invite in Ellensburg.

Boedy Taylor finished second in the 182 bracket, pinning Selah’s John Ray, Ellensburg’s Jake Zempel and Sunnyside’s Steven Estrada before losing a 16-3 decision to Kittitas’ Luke Pebbles in the finals.

Baker took second in the 220 bracket. He pinned Othello’s Elijah Roylance, Ellensburg’s Corbin Coates and W.F. West’s Tyler Pallas. Pallas’ teammate, Braydon Bostwick defeated Baker, 6-1 in the finals.

Nguyen (138) took fifth in his bracket after Southridge’s Ryan Nett pinned him in their final match.

Alan Coumbs (170) went 2-2 in his bracket before he was eliminated in the consolation round while Bozeman (126) Corean (160) and Jack Knutzen (195) went 1-2. Cheney finished 10th out of 15 teams with 75 points.

“It’s a tough tournament and we faced a lot of talent from some of those bigger 4A schools,” Rasmussen said. “We definitely had some bright spots as well.”

The Blackhawks (3-0 GNL, 5-1 overall) hosted East Valley (2-0, 2-0) in the final meet of the season, Jan. 18. If Cheney won, they would claim the GNL championship.

“It’s a big match for us and we are battling for the (GNL) title,” Rasmussen said. “No one thought we were going to win a single league match this year, and proving people wrong has been a theme for us.”

Before the match, the following seniors were honored on senior night: Baker, Bautista, Corean, Francisco Martinez, Brenden Miller, Taylor Nguyen and Kyle Perrine.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

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