South Kitsap’s boys wrestling squad attempted to stay atop the South Puget Sound League – North standings, but to no avail, as the Curtis Vikings beat the Wolves 36 to 31 Jan. 8 in Port Orchard.
SK (2-1) is now one game back of first place Sumner (3-0) in the division.
14 members of SK’s wrestling team took to the mats, with each match having its own weight class ranging from 106 pounds to 285 pounds. SK coach Conner Hartmann noted the importance of getting his wrestlers to put forth a strong effort ahead of the matchup. “My expectation is to just have kids wrestle hard and the kids are getting after it and putting forth a good effort,” he said. “If we’re winning, great, but if we’re not, we’re learning.”
While Curtis was in control of the meet early winning the majority of matches, South Kitsap began to steal momentum back from Curtis with consecutive wins, narrowing the overall score down to 32 to 27 by the end of the 190-pound match between Wolve Caleb Strobel Fox and Viking Eli Calderon.
The 215-pound match between Brendan David of SK and Moses Longoria of Curtis proved to be the most pivotal match of the night with both teams in contention to win the overall meet. David was able to attain the upper hand for the first round of the match, but could not hold on as Longoria was able to steal the last two rounds from his grasp through multiple pins and takedowns.
The matches began with the 285-pound matchup between Jimmy Cox of SK and Noah Sledge of Curtis. The match proved to be highly contested, with both athletes competing for an edge until the end. Cox came out with a last-second win off a pin with ten seconds remaining in the match, winning 11-8.
Nonetheless, the Vikings stole momentum back by winning the next two matches over SK and taking an overall lead at 16-3 by the end of the third match.
The 120-pound match between Wolve Quincy Willson and Viking Koa Fetters continued the trend of Curtis’ winning ways, not allowing Willson to score a single point throughout the bout.
However, the following match proved to be contentious up until the end of the bout when Viking Kamuela Kalilikane landed a pin. Curtis continued to grow their lead over SK, putting up a score of 25-9 by the beginning of the 138-pound match.
Viking Micquel Wilson landed a takedown early and would go on to win the match. SK managed to get a win in the 157-pound match with Braden Shook proving to be victorious over Viking Nolan Eastwood by takedown.
“There are certain positions we did really well in [tonight] and certain positions we haven’t covered as much yet,” Hartmann said. “I thought that there were some things we usually wait too late in the season to cover [because] we want it to be fresh in the postseason. Overall, I’m really proud of how these kids [performed].”
