EVERETT — Which first is better, finally beating a team after years of trying or earning a league title?
That’s the question the Archbishop Murphy wrestling team is happily mulling over today after clinching the Cascade Conference title with a 57-21 victory over longtime rival South Whidbey on Thursday.
“This was a pretty significant meet,” Wildcats head coach Blaine Smith said. “We’ve never beaten South Whidbey and never won a conference championship.”
Smith estimated the Wildcats’ record against the Falcons over the past three seasons was 0-5 before Thursday’s meet, but didn’t hesitate when asked which milestone was more significant.
“Winning the title,” Smith said with a laugh. “It will be nice to get a banner up in the gym.”
Murphy won the opening match at 145 pounds by forfeit, but South Whidbey rallied to win the next three as the weight classes moved upward.
“They’re very strong in the upper weights,” Smith said of the Falcons. “They went on a little bit of a run … fortunately Brad (Gee) stepped up at 189 and stopped that.”
Gee pinned his opponent at 189 pounds in two minutes, 28 seconds and teammate Zeke Evers gave the Wildcats back-to-back victories with a pin at 1:51 in the 215-pound bout.
Murphy then won seven of the final eight matches to seal the historic victory.
Brett deChadenedes added a punctuation mark to the Wildcats’ night with a victory in the 119-pound match, pinning his opponent in the final seconds.
“That was a pretty good match, very close going into the last round,” Smith said. “We were up by a few points and … Brett ended up pinning him with a couple seconds left over.”
Many members of this season’s Murphy team also wrestled last year and Smith said those Wildcats needed no additional incentive to prepare hard for South Whidbey.
“They came really close (to beating the Falcons) last year,” Smith said. “This year they really wanted it. We set the goal high and it became reality tonight.
“Pretty neat.”
At Archbishop Murphy H.S.
145—Torres (ATM) won by forfeit; 152—Mannie (SW) dec. over Miller, 12-6; 160—Schorr (SW) won by forfeit; 171—Broyles (SW) pinned Martinez, 1:35; 189—Gee (ATM) pinned Romero, 2:28; 215—Evers (ATM) pinned Briton, 1:51; 285—Rawls (SW) pinned Kruse, 2:49; 103—Van Hollebeke (ATM) won by forfeit; 112—Wattam (ATM) pinned Vaughn, 2:30; 119—deChadenedes (ATM) pinned Morgan, 5:58; 125—Wade (ATM) pinned Ross, 1:00; 130—Marshbank (ATM) dec. over Riley, 11-4; 135—Baehm (ATM) won by forfeit; 140—Smith (ATM) won by forfeit. Records—S. Whidbey 3-1 league, 3-1 overall. A. Murphy 5-0, 9-2.
Granite Falls 45, Sultan 24: At Sultan, Granite Falls’ Zack Peter’s 6-5 decision over Abe Bray helped lead the Tigers to a Cascade Conference victory.
At Sultan H.S.
285—M. McKibben (GF) won by forfeit; 103—Leverett (S) won by forfeit; 112—G. Varnell (S) dec. against Senking, 12-9; 119—Gilbertson (GF) won by forfeit; 125—Hampton (GF) won by forfeit; 130—M. Varnell (S) major dec. against Lopez, 10-2; 135—Turner (S) tech. fall against Wilson, 16-1; 140—Kaminski (S) pinned Scheiene, 3:25; 145—Teter (GF) pinned Huckabone, 1:39; 152—Jo. Poyner (GF) won by forfeit; 160—Peter (GF) dec. against Bray, 6-5; 171—Ja. Poyner (GF) pinned Bigelow, 1:33; 189—Jones (GF) dec. against Estrella, 11-4 215—A. McKibben (GF) dec. against Henrickson, 11-5. Records—G. Falls 2-3 league, 6-4 overall. Sultan 1-4, 6-11.
Shorecrest 42, Mountlake Terrace 34: At Mountlake Terrace, Shorecrest won seven matches, earning six points in each, to take the Wesco South victory. The Scots received three forfeits and a disqualification and posted two pins.
At M. Terrace H.S.
160—Officer (S) won by forfeit, 171—Wright (MT) pinned Cook 3:30, 189—Casarez (S) won by disqualification, 215—Red Cloud (MT) pinned Loeza, 285—Donohue (MT) won by forfeit, 103—Dimaano (MT) won by forfeit, 112—Quinteiro (MT) dec. Salmon 13-1, 119—Nguyen (S) won by forfeit, 125—King (MT) pinned Arbanasin 1:33, 130—McCue (S) won by forfeit, 135—Kelly (S) pinned Leonard 1:01, 140—Dabling (MT) pinned Abranasin, 145—Edwards-Hoff (S) pinned Collins, 152—Call (MT) dec. Martynovych 8-1. Records—Shorecrest 2-6 league, 4-9 overall. M. Terrace 0-8, 0-11.
Edmonds-Woodway 46, Jackson 15: At Edmonds, Rudy Johanson kicked off the Warriors’ Wesco South victory with an opening-round victory at 189 pounds.
At Edmonds-Woodway H.S.
189—Johanson (EW) pinned Hering 2:29, 215—Rutledge (EW) dec. Hudson 7-1, 285—St. Marie (J) dec. Cutek 7-2, 103— Vulliet (EW) pinned Davis 3:37, 112—Warren (EW) dec. Nijem 4-3, 119— Mead (J) maj. dec. Carlson 13-1, 125— Deweese (EW) won by Tech fall Cosgrove 16-0, 130— Haberman (EW) pinned Noorbakhsh 2:54, 135— Alfi (EW) dec. Shapiro 6-2, 140—Martin (J) dec. Primacio 14-9, 145— McAllister (EW) won by tech fall Mead 19-2, 152— Asefaw (EW) dec. Feiock 5-1, 160—Cranny (EW) won by forfeit, 171—Bitternger (J) won by tech fall over Murphy 17-0. Records—Jackson 4-4 league, 6-5 overall. E-W 6-2, 9-4.
Meadowdale 54, Shorewood 19: At Shoreline, Meadowdale’s Matt Jensen improved his season record to 21-1 with a pin in one minute, 25 seconds in the Wesco South meet.
At Shorewood H.S.
152—Jensen (S) pinned Smith, 1:25; 160—Stevenson (M) pinned Smith, 1:50; 171—Benda (M) pinned Pfandler, 1:29; 189—Montanari (M) won by forfeit; 215—Lovesis (M) pinned Kelly, 1:21; 285—Palomino (M) won by forfeit; 103—Yun (S) tech. fall against Wilkinson, 17-2; 112—Floresca (S) won by forfeit; 119—McKeegan (M) pinned Ramsden, 5:10; 125—Adams (M) pinned Hobbs, 4:23; 130—Berensen (S) dec. against Parana, 8-2; 135—Sanchez (M) pinned Lopez, 1:22; 140—Petrone (M) dec. Nitta, 8-3; 145—Neville (M) won by forfeit. Records—Meadowdale 5-3 league, 6-7 overall. Shorewood 3-5, 8-13.
Oak Harbor 39, Marysville-Pilchuck 24: At Marysville, Tyler Elliott moved up from 189 pounds to win the 215-pound bout, capping Oak Harbor’s 4-0 run to start the Wesco North meet.
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
160—Martin (OH) dec. over Mead, 7-5; 171—Reilly (OH) technical fall over Roan, 15-0; 189—Neumiller (OH) dec. over Mathis, 14-7; 215—T. Elliott (OH) major dec. over Hillis, 10-2; 285—Pfeiff (MP) pinned Howard, 1:24; 103—Martinez (OH) pinned Daurie, 2:47; 112—Zimmerman (OH) won by injury default; 119—R. Cardwell (OH) dec. over Blevins, 6-0; 125—Burns (MP) dec. C. Elliot, 10-4; 130—Shumaker (MP) dec. over I. Cardwell, 5-0; 135—Page (OH) dec. McChesney, 12-8; 140—Brown (MP) pinned Gary, 3:40; 145—Tuttle (OH) pinned Madonia, 3:35; 152—Johnson (MP) pinned Hubner, 1:17. Records—Oak Harbor 5-3 league, 8-6 overall. M-P 3-5, 13-6.
Arlington 74, Cascade 3: At Everett, second-year wrestler Joel Case of Cascade closed to with 8-4 against Arlington’s Mark Davis, who is ranked in the top five among heavyweights in Class 3A, before falling in the 285-pound match in the Wesco North meet.
At Cascade H.S.
103—Arlington won by forfeit; 112—Goheen (A) won by forfeit; 119—Haynes (A) pinned Oonlamon 3:48; 125—Berg (A) dec. Hu 15-1; 130—Duncan (C) dec. White 8-3; 135—Short (A) pinned Nguyen :21; 140—Hale (A) dec. Seal 13-3; 145—Mangini (A) pinned Sands 2:53; 152—Bosley (A) pinned Hjort 3:26; 160—Myers (A) pinned Ahmad 1:13; 171—Huber (A) pinned Marks 3:20; 189—Anderson (A) pinned Cole :37; 215—Pierce (A) pinned Aus 1:27; 285—Davis (A) pinned Case 5:27. Records—Arlington 6-2 league, 14-3 overall. Cascade 0-8, 3-10.
Lake Stevens 55, Everett 12: At Lake Stevens, Vikings seniors Zach Zweifel (112 pounds), Brandon Austin (130), Josh Monson (140) and Josh Eacrett (145) all won on senior parents night to lead Lake Stevens to the Wesco North victory.
At Lake Stevens H.S.
160—Welch (LS) pinned Husman 5:36, 171—Boyce (E) dec. LeHuquet 10-3, 189—Grow (LS) dec. Burns 5-2, 215— Lopez (E) pinned Brown 3:40, 285—Anstaad (E) dec. Teuber 1-0, 103—Rodrigo (LS) won by tech fall Smith 17-1, 112—Zweifel (LS) pinned Lucero 0.59, 119—Stilwell (LS) won by tech fall Bear 15-0, 125— Anderson (LS) won by forfeit, 130—Austin (LS) pinned Straitos 1:35, 135—Alewine (LS) pinned Head 4:32, 140— Monson (LS) maj. dec. Pound 20-7; 145— Eacrett (LS) pinned Jacobson 5:28, 152— King (LS) dec. Irwin 6-1. Records—Everett 4-4 league, 5-7 overall. Lake Stevens 7-1, 10-1.
Snohomish 53, Monroe 25: At Monroe, Sam Kenagy of Monroe recorded a last-second takedown to beat Spencer Caraballo 6-4 in the 189-pound match, but division champion Snohomish rebounded to win the Wesco North dual meet.
At Monroe H.S.
103—Lucey (S) pinned R. Perry, 1:34; 112—Johnson (M) pinned Kalmey, 3:54; 119—Van Wyhe (S) pinned C. Curnut, no time reported; 125—Ottow (S) pinned J. Curnut, 3:07; 130—L. Perry (S) pinned Detwiler, 1:28; 135—St. Marie (S) pinned FOster, 3:24; 140—B. Perry (S) pinned Stocker, 2:42; 145—Garcia (S) pinned DiMaggio, 1:57; 152—Murry (M) dec. Dellino, 14-3; 160—Vasquez (M) pinned Birkland, 2:43; 171—Elledge (M) pinned Dmochowsky, 5:50; 189—Kenagy (M) dec. Caraballo, 6-4; 215—Britton (S) won by forfeit; 285—Reinhard (S) pinned Dane, 0:50. Records—Snohomish 8-0 league, 15-0 overall. Monroe 1-7, 6-8.
Boys basketball
King’s 88, Granite Falls 60: At Shoreline, the Knights had five players in double figures to take the Cascade Conference victory. Jacob Howard had 19 and Brad Beard scored 17 to pace the Tigers.
At King’s H.S.
GF8131227—60
King’s19212424—88
Granite Falls — Beard 17, Campbell 2, Hereth, Hillery 1, Howard 19, Knudson 8, Ogren 6, Walker 3, Whitt 4. King’s — Ayers 14, Brugger, Clocksin 2, Farid 2, Fuhlendorf 21, Hardy 10, Hoff 6, McCutchen 2, Mar 6, McDonald 10, O’Neil 11, Talbot 4. 3-point goals — Howard, Knudson, Hardy 2, Hoff, Fuhlendorf, McDonald. Records — GF 2-6 league, 5-9 overall. King’s 9-0, 11-4.
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