EDMONDS — Don Tiongco knew he had to stop the bleeding.
He and his Mariner teammates had jumped out to an early 27-0 lead over host Edmonds-Woodway only to watch the Warriors win three straight matches to climb back to within 10 at 31-21 with three matches remaining.
And put a stop to it he did, pinning Edmonds-Woodway’s Ryan Deweese with five seconds to go in the second period and clinching what eventually proved to be a 44-21 Mariner victory.
“I just come in there, just go hard and look for the win for my team,” Tiongco said. “I like the pressure a lot … Pressure is good for me because it gives me more intensity, more motive to beat the other guy.”
In the early going it didn’t look like Tiongco’s match would be particularly important in the final tally.
The evening began with the 140-pound match, as Mariner’s Van Hoang and Edmonds-Woodway’s Steven Alfi battled through a scoreless first two periods before Hoang recorded an escape and a takedown and held on for the 3-0 win.
The Marauders’ two state placers from the 2007 4A state wrestling tournament followed Hoang. Karl Bush, who finished seventh at state last season, recorded an 11-3 major decision over Edmonds-Woodway’s Ryan McAllister at 145 pounds and Daniel Link, who placed eighth, recorded a 21-6 technical fall victory over Ryan Sims.
Mariner continued to add to their lead, with pins from Bernard Do (160 pounds), Ryan Coffman (171 pounds) and a 2-1 decision from Adam Nelson at 189 pounds, making it 27-0 before Edmonds-Woodway’s Alex Rutledge halted the onslaught by pinning Edwin Ferguson at 215 pounds.
“We knew going in that we had some guys missing out of the lineup and we had to shift some guys up from JV just to fill in some gaps,” Edmonds-Woodway coach Mike Hanchett said, adding that about “a half-dozen” varsity Warrior grapplers are out with the flu. “You have to come at (Mariner) with a full lineup.”
But just when it seemed Edmonds-Woodway was completely out of the match, they got pins from Andrew Vulliet and Sam Warren, and a 7-2 decision from Stefan Johnson to climb back into contention at 31-21.
“We knew that’s right where (Edmonds-Woodway) is tough,” Mariner coach Otto Olson said. “I knew they were going to pin out at the bottom weights.”
Enter Tiongco, who was shifted down from 130 to 125 to “ice the deal,” according to Olson.
At Edmonds-Woodway H.S.
103—Vulliet (EW) pinned Parker, 1:09; 112—Warren (EW) pinned Nguyen, 5:43; 119—Carlson (EW) 7-2 decision over Johnson; 125—Tiongco (M) pinned Deweese, 3:55; 130—N. Johnson (M) 9-0 maj. dec. Fuell; 135—A. Coffman 8-3 dec. Haberman; 140—Hoang (M) 3-0 dec. Alfi; 145—Bush (M) 11-3 maj. dec. McAllister; 152—Link (M) technical fall Sims 21-6; 160—Do (M) pinned Asefaw 4:54; 171—R. Coffman (M) pinned Cranny, 0:53; 189—Nelson (M) 2-1 decision over Murphy; 215—Rutledge (EW) pinned Fergeson, 4:20; 275—Ratuniyauravu (M) 13-2 maj. dec. Cutuk. Records—Edmonds-Woodway 1-1 league, 3-1 overall. Mariner 1-1, 4-1.
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