Frontier Starts Season With Crucial Opener

The tenor of Frontier League wrestling is being set in the first week of the league season.

Clarkston is at East Valley tonight at 7:30, already having won a major 38-26 decision over Colville.

The winner between the Knights and Bantams will take an early step toward the Frontier title.

“Not to downplay our victory, but we didn’t wrestle extremely well,” Clarkston coach Dan Randles said.

Going into the season EV, Clarkston and Colville were the three teams considered most likely to contend for a league title.

East Valley has won six of the last seven league championships. Clarkston has never won one.

“EV’s just loaded,” said Randles. “Obviously the kids are very aware it is the team to beat. It’s still going to be a competitive match.”

No matter the outcome tonight, the Knights still must travel to Colville at the end of the season and wrestle against a team that has won the last three head-to-head meetings.

Two-thirds of last year’s district competitors are back in Frontier lineups to try for state again.

EV is one of four schools to return most of its roster. And the Knights have been further bolstered by three transfers. , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FRONTIER WRESTLING Projected finish: East Valley, Clarkston, Colville, Cheney, West Valley, Pullman, Riverside. Tonight’s matches: Clarkston at East Valley, West Valley at Riverside. Returning state veterans: Gabe Schaefer, sr., Cheney, 3rd, 135; Tyson Thivierge, jr., Clarkston, 4th, 158; Mike Reyes, sr., Clarkston, 6th, 101; Quinn Sharpe, sr., WV, 7th, 115. Also: Kevin Woolf, jr., EV, 108; Eric Seward, sr., Cheney, 122; Quinton Chapman, sr., EV, 129. Notable: The Knights’ roster features three transfers: Chris Duncan, last year’s State AAA runner-up for Richland at 178 pounds; Tristan Beeman, 190 pounds from Rogers; and Rob Gillespie, 178 pounds from Selah.