Zack Nguyen gives his teammates a reassuring look during his quarterfinal match against Medical Lake's Victor Long at the Blackhawk Invite. Nguyen defeated Long via a 17-2 technical fall.
During their Jan. 5 Great Northern League match against Clarkston, the Cheney High wrestling team was down 21-0 when Zack Nguyen stepped on the mat to wrestle Jake Freeman.
After he was down 6-1, Nguyen pinned Freeman in the second round to give his team their first win of the night. Francisco Martinez followed it up with a first-round pin of his own.
This set the momentum for the Blackhawks to come back and defeat the Bantams, 42-39 - marking Cheney's first wrestling win over Clarkston in several years.
"From the beginning, we knew if we were going to be successful, then every kid had to do their jobs," head coach Brad Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen noted efforts of team veterans Josh Corean and Alan Coumbs, who pinned their opponents, as well as younger wrestlers like Teagan Simon and Jeremy Blom, who lost by points.
Josh Baker, who transferred to Cheney this year, pinned his opponent to give the Blackhawks the win.
"If there's a situation where the match is on the line, Baker is the guy you want in there," Rasmussen said. "Before he went out, he said 'I'll get the win.' It was huge for us."
The Clarkston match was the start of a busy week for the Blackhawks, who lost to Reardan, 49-21, Jan. 6 and then hosted the Blackhawk Invite, Jan. 7 where they finished fourth out of 12 teams with 140 points.
Individual results from the Reardan match were not available as of press time.
"They've got some good guys," Rasmussen said of Reardan's team. "It was also a chance for the younger guys to get some experience."
At the Blackhawk tournament, Boedy Taylor (182 pounds) and Baker (220) won their brackets.
Taylor pinned Clarkston's Brandon Bell and Reardan's Mason Payne, then defeated West Valley's Logan Reser, via a 16-1 technical fall in the finals.
"Reser is a tough guy who can give Boedy a run for his money," Rasmussen said. "But Boedy dominated him."
Baker tore through his bracket, pinning Rogers' Jordan Sweeney, Reardan's JW Merriott and Omak's Walker Osborne in the championship round.
Nguyen (138) finished second after he lost to Clarkston's Freeman in a close 2-1 decision. Rasmussen said the tournament was "The best I've ever seen Zack wrestle."
Saul Bautista (120) took third in his bracket after he defeated Lewis and Clark's Devrin Chullanandana, 6-2 in their final match.
Simon (126) and Corean (160) took fourth in their divisions while Andrew Rushing (170) was fifth in his.
Michael Bozeman (126) went 2-2 and Kyle Perrine (182) was 1-2 before they were eliminated in the consolation finals of their brackets. Martinez and Nick Morgan, who both competed at 145, went 1-2 in the tournament as did Blom (113), Brenden Miller (152) and Alex Wilson (220).
"We had a lot of kids make it to the podium," Rasmussen said. "It was a long, but good day for us."
The Blackhawks' Jan. 9 nonleague match against Northeast A League's Medical Lake was rescheduled to a later date because of road conditions.
Cheney (2-0 GNL, 4-1 overall) traveled to West Valley Jan. 11. to face the Eagles in a league match. They'll drive to Ellensburg Jan. 14 to compete in the Ray Westberg Invite.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
See a photo gallery from the event here.
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