LAKE STEVENS — With two weeks remaining until district weekend and four weeks to go until Mat Classic, Lake Stevens and Sedro-Woolley, contenders for the Class 4A and Class 2A team titles, respectively, are looking for as many quality matches as possible while also recuperating and fine-tuning weak points.
Both teams got what they came for as the Vikings defeated the visiting Cubs 44-30 on Thursday night in a raucous Lake Stevens gym.
Lake Stevens (11-4) welcomed co-captain Alex Rodorigo back to the mat after the senior missed a month with a sprained pectoral and sprained rotator cuff.
The 126-pounder’s second-period pin of Sedro-Woolley’s Dawson Biddix began a run of four consecutive pinfalls by Viking stalwarts Michael Soler, Jake Douglas and Trysten Perales that effectively put the match out of reach for the Cubs, especially with defending state champion Cody Vigoren looming in the final bout of the evening.
“It was like riding a bike,” Rodorigo said of his first match back, adding that the home crowd gave him a boost and helped to negate any mat rust.
“I felt really good,” he said. “I was fired up, and I got more fired up when I got the pin, which we needed.”
Sedro-Woolley led 15-4 when Rodorigo took the mat, thanks to two early pins and an unlikely decision victory by Cubs 120-pounder Adam Adkinson, who entered the match ranked second in Class 2A by Washington Wrestling Report.
Adkinson opened up a 4-1 lead on Lake Stevens’ Noah Gershmel after two periods, but Gershmel caught Adkinson in a cradle early in the third period.
Gershmel had it cinched in for over half of the third period, but Adkinson somehow managed to avoid the pinfall. Instead, Gershmel received three near-fall points and the match was tied at four.
Adkinson jumped completely out of the fire in the waning seconds, securing a reversal to win the match 6-4.
“He’s vulnerable from the bottom, being a small guy,” Sedro-Woolley coach Jay Breckenridge said of Adkinson. “We’re going to have to make some changes there.”
Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes said Gershmel will learn from the defeat.
“I thought we’d give (Adkinson) a good match, and Gershmel is starting to come along,” he said. “We can go back and tweak some things so that next time we can put that match away.”
The Cubs went from being ahead 15-4 to behind 38-15 following Danny Sagiao’s major decision over Riley Schwartz at 160 pounds, but Sedro-Woolley wasn’t officially defeated until third-ranked Quinton Roeppel was only able to secure an overtime decision over Lake Stevens’ Mason Beaver at 182. A pin would have kept the Cubs mathematically alive.
Roeppel, who was clearly running out of gas in the extra periods, is one of several Sedro-Woolley wrestlers that helped the Cubs football team to a Class 2A state championship in the fall.
Unfortunately for Breckenridge, the football season dipped so far into the winter that the Cubs have had a tough time getting their football guys healthy, in shape and down to wrestling weight.
“We’re still trying to get our lineup straightened out,” he said. “We have two other guys not in the lineup right now and we’re just trying to get the team together. It took a long time for us to get our guys certified under the WIAA’s new program. We’ve only wrestled three dual meets and one tournament, and we didn’t do anything until after Christmas. But it’s OK. We’re hungry, and our goal is to be the first team to win football and wrestling titles in the same season. Tonight was good for us.”
Lake Stevens will have another very stern test Friday, as the third-ranked Vikings will travel to Orting to wrestle a double dual against the Cardinals, the top-ranked Class 2A team, and Yelm, the No. 4 Class 4A squad.
“It’s a little bit of tournament simulation to have matches like that back-to-back, and it’s a great way to end a period of time where we’ve been really grinding in the (practice) room,” Barnes said. “We’re certainly not taking it easy with qualifiers coming up.”
At Lake Stevens H.S.
106—Jordan Berrey (S-W) pinned Jacob Bennett (LS) 5:56; 113—Nathan Scilley (LS) maj. dec. Eli Chevez (S-W) 11-0; 120—Adam Adkinson (S-W) def. Noah Gershmel (LS) 6-4; 126—Alex Rodorigo (LS) pinned Dawson Biddix (S-W) 2:35; 132—Michael Soler (LS) pinned Johnny Butte (S-W) :42; 138—Jake Douglas (LS) pinned Colton Schwetz (S-W) 1:28; 145—Trysten Perales (LS) pinned Noah Stroosma (S-W) 1:58; 152—Malachi Lawrence (LS) won by forfeit; 160—Danny Sagiao (LS) maj. dec. Riley Schwartz (S-W) 12-0; 170—Jacob Farrell (S-W) pinned Boddy Scott (LS) :43; 182—Mason Beaver (LS) def. Quinton Roeppel (S-W) 3-2, 2OT: 195—Quin Carpenter (S-W) pinned Marquize Postlewait (LS) 1:02; 220—Cody Vigoren (LS) pinned Gabe Torgerson (S-W) 1:54; 285—Erik Lukner (S-W) pinned Dylan Hutchinson (LS) 1:20. Records—Sedro-Woolley 2-1 overall. Lake Stevens 11-4.
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