Central Valley breezes past Mead
Having the Beard brothers as your opening and closing acts isn’t a bad way to avoid wrestling drama.
But the suspense of Central Valley’s 38-22 victory over visiting Mead was pretty much over by the time Bryson Beard brought the curtain down with his second period technical fall.
The Bears ended the first part of the Greater Spokane League wrestling season with a 4-0 record under first-year coach Shaun Williams, joined by undefeated University and Shadle Park.
League competition resumes Jan. 6 when the Highlanders travel to the Titans and the Bears are at once-beaten Mt. Spokane.
Bridger Beard began the night with an 11-3 major decision, but CV and Mead were tied 22-22 with four matches remaining. Pivotal early was the 160-pound weight class where freshman Zach Stratton worked over last year’s regional qualifier Christian Hunter, 13-5.
“When you’ve been all around the country all your life naturally you’re going to be good,” Williams said of his rookie. “So I think that’s a motivating factor for him. But you can definitely tell he’s a freshman.”
His major decision put the Bears ahead 12-3 and a stunning throw by Dmitri Sims with fewer than 30 seconds left in the first round two matches later made the score 18-7.
Mead won three of the next four matches including a first-round pin by freshman Chase Tebbets, also in the first round. That tied the match. CV won the final four to win pulling away.
“Well you know a couple of matches went our way,” said Williams, pointing out it’s where you finish at the end of the season that matters. “On paper we didn’t have it planned that way. But I thought my kids went out there and competed and the coaching staff did a good job of putting the right team on the mat.
“We have to quickly celebrate and move on.”
University 42, NC 27: The Titans survived an early gantlet with matches a week apart against perennial contenders, somehow surviving preseason favorite Mt. Spokane by two points despite losing eight of 14 matches and beating Mead 37-30 on Wednesday.
Besides the upcoming match with Shadle in January, they’ll end the season against the Bears.
Thursday night six of the Titans’ wins at NC (1-3) came by pin including key victories by Caleb Thomas in 21 seconds during a run of six falls from 170- through 220-pound weight classes. Terrell Sanders had a 46-second pin at 120.
Shadle Park 43, Ferris 25: For every Saxon victory the Highlanders seemed to answer with two while remaining undefeated. The Saxons (0-4) led 6-0 and 10-9 but Shadle won five of the next six for a 30-13 lead that wouldn’t be overcome.
LC 66, Gonzaga 15: The Bullpups’ (0-4) Tyler Brooking won the only decision of the night, 4-0 over Francho Fichero. The rest of the matches were decided either by pin or forfeit. Tigers (1-3) freshmen Kyler Hillman and Patrick Cody had two of the pins during the team’s first victory.