Vikings pin Spartans

LAKE STEVENS – A lesser team might have made the mistake of looking ahead, of underestimating a young but dangerous opponent.

But the Lake Stevens Vikings didn’t become an incredibly dominant wrestling force through complacency or luck.

Demonstrating the focus of a ravenous-yet-methodical predator, Lake Stevens prolonged an astonishing streak Wednesday night with a commanding 40-18 victory over the Stanwood Spartans. Lake Stevens won nine of 14 matches, including three by pin, in the Western Conference North Division meet at the Lake Stevens High gym.

Lake Stevens (3-0 Wesco South, 3-0 overall) hasn’t lost a league dual meet since it fell against Lynnwood in early 1993. Vikings coach Brent Barnes told his athletes earlier this week to concentrate on The Streak, but they didn’t need much of a reminder.

“They know that it’s been a long time since we’ve lost a league match. Guys that have been here before them put in a lot of effort to (start and continue) that streak,” said Barnes, who guided Lake Stevens to a runnerup finish at the 2004-05 4A state meet and the 4A state title in ‘03-04.

Josh Eacrett (119 pounds), Mitch Tipton (125) and Kelly Kubec (135) had pins for Lake Stevens, which took a key step toward winning its 17th-consecutive league title. The Vikings’ toughest remaining Wesco North tests are Jan. 11 against Snohomish (3-0, 5-0) and Jan. 19 versus Cascade (2-0, 2-1).

Kubec, who last season won a state title at 112, needed just one minute, six seconds to record his pin.

This is quite a week for Lake Stevens. In addition to its crucial battle against Stanwood, the Vikings host to Sedro-Woolley in a highly anticipated non-conference showdown at 7 p.m. Friday night. S-W, coached by Jay Breckenridge, has won the past four 3A state titles, boasts three individual state champs and is among Washington’s most storied programs.

Wednesday’s meet was largely a learning experience for Stanwood (2-1, 3-1), which placed 10th at state last season but graduated several experienced grapplers.

“We were happy with the way the kids wrestled,” Stanwood coach Tom Wilfong said. “We didn’t give up as many pins as I thought we would.”

Carter Mann had a pin for Stanwood at 275 and his older brother, Taylor Mann, earned a 7-4 decision in the night’s final bout.

The match of the night was at 189. Stanwood’s Jake Allen rallied from a 4-2 third-period deficit to take a 6-4 decision against Jon Wilbourne. Allen, who placed third in the state last season at 171, tallied four points in the final 15 seconds to upend Wilbourne, the ‘04-05 state runnerup at 189.

“It was exciting,” Barnes said. “They’re both good kids and they both work real hard.”

“He just kept working and trying to move,” Wilfong said of Allen, who performed a reversal and a near fall to win.

In last year’s meet Stanwood led Lake Stevens 23-20 with four matches to go but the Vikings rallied for a 34-26 victory. It was Stanwood’s only league loss of the year as the Spartans went 7-1 to place second behind Lake Stevens (8-0).

Carter Mann’s meet-opening, first-round pin at 275 got Stanwood off to a promising 6-0 start, but Lake Stevens won the next four matches to take a 21-6 lead. Stanwood never got closer than 11 points (21-9) the rest of the night.

Zack Zweifel ignited the Vikings’ run with a 13-1 major decision at 103, good for four points. Later, Eacrett (119) and Tipton (125) had back-to-back pins (worth six points apiece) for Lake Stevens.

At Lake Stevens

275-C. Mann (S) pinned Shwartzmiller 1:05; 103-Zweifel (LS) major dec. Duran 13-1; 112-Alewine (LS) technical fall over Bascom 16-0; 119-Eacrett (LS) pinned Seegmiller 3:41; 125-Tipton (LS) pinned Colson 1:30; 130-Mather (S) dec. Monson 3-1; 135-Kubec (LS) pinned Finn 1:06; 140-Br. Austin (LS) dec. White 6-1; 145-VanLeuven (LS) major dec. Hartzell 13-5; 152-Hughes (LS) dec. Floyd 4-3; 160-Smith (S) dec. Moehrle 2-1; 171-Burnett (LS) dec. Stewart 5-0; 189-Allen (S) dec. Wilbourne 6-4; 215-McGuire T. Mann. Records-Stanwood 2-1 in division, 3-1 overall. Lake Stevens 3-0, 3-0.