EVERETT — The fledging Archbishop Thomas Murphy wrestling team sure didn’t look like a program with mostly first-year wrestlers at last week’s Northwest 1A League dual meet against Friday Harbor.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 36-9 lead early on before the Wolverines came roaring back with five straight pins in the heavier weight classes to rally for a 39-36 victory Jan. 23 at Archbishop Murphy High School.
Wildcats coach Blaine Gilchrist-Smith viewed the close loss as a sign his team is continuing to improve during its inaugural season.
Archbishop Murphy wrestled Friday Harbor earlier in the season in a non-league triple dual meet at Bellevue Christian and lost rather handily.
“One of our goals is to get better every time out,” Gilchrist-Smith said. “It’s easy to see that you’re getting better when you wrestle somebody twice and you do better against them the second time.”
With the exception of one team, the Wildcats have accomplished that goal this season.
Five Wildcats — Jack Reeves (119 pounds), Josh Wattam (125), Matt Darnell (140), Jerrik Shaw (152) and Tony Gillan (160) — recorded pins in what was the team’s second-to-last league match of the season.
“I guess we were a little tougher in the lighter weights,” said Gilchrist-Smith, who also noted that Archbishop Murphy had to forfeit the 103- and 130-pound classifications and was missing its 145-pounder due to an illnesses.
“That’s part of it in this league. The teams are smaller,” said Gilchrist-Smith, who used to coach at 4A Jackson. “If you can get a full lineup, your odds of winning a match go up.”
Reeves was one of the few individuals who brought any wrestling experience to the team. The Wildcat freshman wrestled in middle school.
The progress of his teammates is quite apparent to Reeves, though it may not show up in the standings. Archbishop Murphy is 2-5 in the league and 3-11 overall.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” Reeves said. “But I knew we’d get better and better every match … We last a lot longer during rounds.”
The Wildcats’ first matches often lasted just a matter of seconds.
“As they learn what to do and learn what to do in different situations, we’ve come a long way,” Reeves said. “We’re winning matches.”
Darnell is a first-year participant and is enjoying his first year of wrestling. He recorded a pin over Friday Harbor’s Paul Espinoza at the 2:34 mark to improve his overall record to 11-13.
“I just fought a little harder than usual,” Darnell said. “It’s a lot of fun … I’m just trying to improve. The team’s goal is to improve over the season. I think we’ve all definitely done pretty good.”
For senior captain Joe Suchan, the season has been an eye-opening experience in many ways. Suchan, who wrestled for three years at 4A Cascade, focused most of his efforts during the first few weeks of the season on helping out his teammates, who had no knowledge of the sport.
“The first few weeks I sort of did more coaching,” said Suchan, who won his match by forfeit. “I was sort of like an assistant coach and helped them learn the basic moves … We’ve improved a lot. It’s been pretty impressive and fun to watch also.
“When you have a bunch of new guys, you can help them learn a lot. That’s pretty fulfilling.”
Gilchrist-Smith still relies on his senior captain.
“He’s just a great leader. He does a wonderful job,” Gilchrist-Smith said. “The kids really respect him. He’s a good communicator and a good wrestler and that helps.”
Suchan and Reeves were the only Wildcats with a wrestling background and the two have provided the bulk of the victories for Archbishop Murphy.
“But there are others that are slowly starting to figure it out right at the end of the year,” Gilchrist-Smith said.
The Wildcats wrap up the regular season on the road at Friday Harbor in a 5 p.m. match Feb. 2 and then head to Concrete for the league tournament on Feb. 7.
“I’d like to make it to state,” Suchan said. “If I can wrestle smart and keep doing what I’m doing, keep in good shape, anything can happen.”
Next season, the Wildcats will have a year’s experience but will be moving up a classification to 2A and a new seven-team league. Suchan expects his teammates will do all right.
“It’ll be a challenge,” he said. “They’ll continue to improve. We’ve been wrestling in tournaments with 2 and 3A people already. Just last week, a few of us took fifth and third place … we’ll do fine. I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Suchan and four other seniors will be gone but the Wildcats have a strong sophomore class coming back.
“Another two years we’ll be competitive in that 2A league,” Gilchrist-Smith said. “It’ll be another rough season for us. There are some pretty good schools in that 2A league. I’m glad we were able to go single A this year and have a little success.”
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