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By PAUL DELANEY
Contributor 

Medical Lake wrestlers tops Deer Park

Cardinals hold off Stags in NEA opener

 

Last updated 5/27/2021 at 11:09am



MEDICAL LAKE — When it comes to wrestling in the Northeast A League the competition hardly gets bigger than those Goliaths from Deer Park.

When Medical Lake opened its spring 2021 season against the Stags and came away with a dramatic 33-30 win May 20 at home, they may have introduced a new “David?”

Gavin Chaffee from Medical Lake tied the match 6-6 with his win via a fall over an unknown opponent in 3 minutes, 33 seconds. After double forfeits at 106 and 113 pounds, Medical Lake went on to collect wins in the next four weights and led 30-6 at one point.

Ben Henry (120) won by a fall in just 1:10 to lead the surge. Isaac Kane (126) also won by a fall in 5:15 while Angel Mendez (132) and Aden Carl (138) had forfeit wins.

Deer Park’s Nathan Gregory (145) topped the Cards’ Vincent Long in a fall in 2:37 to signal a turning point for the Stags, but three seemingly little points by Christopher Garza in an 11-4 decision at 152 would prove to be the difference.

“It was a huge win from Chris Garza, he sealed it,” head coach Matt Leenhouts wrote in an email.

Garza’s win made it 33-12, just enough of a cushion to withstand a Deer Park rally where they won the evening’s final three weights, all by falls. Ethan Frank topped Eli Trout (160) in 5:19. The Cards’ Andrew Roberts (170) was dispatched in 1:23 by the Stags’ Adam Frank, while won over Elias Edmondson in 4:59.

Medical Lake wrestled without some key elements, including two-time 170-pound state champ Ethan Davis, Brent Keith, a two-time state qualifier at 195 and 138-pounder Skyler Peterson.

Still, Leenhouts said the team depth, despite its youth, gives it, “A great chance to win a league title.”

That quest was to have continued with an NEA match this week on Friday, May 28 at home against Riverside but that is now cancelled. On Saturday, May 29, ML will travel to Deer Park to once again face the Stags and Lakeside starting at noon.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at pauldelaney53@comcast.net.

 

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