SHORELINE — Glacier Peak jumped out to an early 21-0 lead and by the time Shorewood started winning it was too late to catch up. The Grizzlies opened Wesco 3A South league with a 48-21 win in a meet that featured a number of exciting matchups. The theme that ran through all of the these was defense, and both teams thought they had a chance to come out on top.
“It was a pretty big match because I think we were both expecting to win,” said Shorewood head coach Derek Norton.
At 132, Matthew Floresca, ranked No. 2 in the Washignton Wrestling Report’s latest rankings, got a win over John Kim, who is No. 4. Though the match ended 6-0 it was a defensive battle, according to Norton.
“Both wrestlers countered each other’s moves pretty well,” said Norton. “Matthew is pretty good on his feet. John was able to stymie his offense. Both wrestlers were constantly moving the whole match.”
The heavyweight match also had the potential for fireworks. Last year, according to Norton, Erca Erdenebayer beat Mosese Fifita during the season. Then Fifita won their match at districts and moved on to state while Erdenbayer stayed home.
“It was kind of a sore spot,” said Norton.
Thursday night’s match started with a 0-0 draw in the first round and was 1-0 going into the third due to a Fifita escape. In the final round, “We chose down, and Fifita road Erca out,” Norton said. “Both wrestlers were testing each other. (Erdenebayer) started working really hard for an escape. Fifita got a quick two count, which kind of put the match away for them. We’re looking forward to the rematch at districts.”
In the end, Shorewood didn’t win all the matches they were expecting, and needed, to win.
Norton said he is used to getting pins out of Braden Kalloway lately, but tonight at 160 he wasn’t able to get it done. “They were able to take us out of our game plan by attacking our legs, getting in on shots, and getting really defensive. We went for a bad move at the end and he took advantage of us and pinned us. It was a little bit of inexperience, a little bit of christmas break hangover. …
“We start out 18 in the hole. If our kids don’t show up and wrestle their A game, we aren’t going to win. We took a step back when we were expecting to take a step forward,” said Norton.
At Shorewood H.S.
103—Jamir Mahmoud (GP) forfeit; 113—Mats Hanaburg (GP) pinned Abiel Tesfamarian 3:55; 120—Cameron Schloss (GP) forfeit; 126—Edom Tesfaye (SW) pinned Caleb Schloss 1:04; 132—Matthew Floresca (SW) dec. John Kim 6-0; 138—Rikio Campbell (SW) dec. Ethan Barr 10-4; 145—Erik Harris-Uldall (SW) dec. Michael Matwitchuk 6-3; 152—Daniel Bastian (GP) pinned Dawda Dibba 5:28; 160—Logan Coleman (GP) pinned Braden Kalloway 5:00; 170—Tyler Sabin (GP) dec. Sam Jang 6-1; 182—Sean Elledge (GP) forfeit; 195—Konnor Carpenter (SW) pinned Brock Just 2:52; 220—Noah Palmaffey (GP) pinned Coby Lapinski 1:29; 285—Mosese Fifita (GP) dec. Erca Erdenebayer 3-0. Records—Glacier Peak 1-0 league, 5-0 overall. Shorewood 0-1, 4-3.
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