HOQUIAM — Hoquiam won seven of the eight matches in its home duel meet against Aberdeen on Thursday, but a small roster and six forfeits allowed the Bobcats to come away with the 42-36 win.
The Bobcats got their lone match victory from Jaden Hosney, who pinned Noah Sudderth in the 220-pound weight division at 3:19.
The victory in the 220-pound weight class tied the team scores at 36 a piece, but with Hoquiam having to forfeit the match in the 285-pound weight classes, the Grizzlies ended up with the loss.
Aberdeen head coach Jimmy Martin wasn’t putting too much stock in the final score.
“I’m not too happy about tonight,” he said. “We won less matches then a they did, all we did was fill out a full line up. We have to focus a little more in the mat room.”
Hoquiam’s Cosmo Palmgren, top, looks for the pin against Aberdeen’s Patrick Hunt in a 138-pound match. Palmgren won the match, 8-6. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Hoquiam coach Terry Helland also wasn’t paying too much attention to the final score and was feeling good about his team after seeing his wrestlers win seven straight matches, including five victories via pinfall.
Helland said the near victory helped make up for 66-18 duel loss to the Bobcats in Aberdeen earlier in the season.
“It was nice turn around from when we went up to their building earlier in the year. That wasn’t a very fun night,” he said. “We’ve been slowly piecing together the small team that we have. I thought our kids wrestled well and I thought our seniors went out on a high note.”
Both teams will be looking forward to their respective postseason meets. Helland plans on taking the Grizzlies to a tournament on Saturday in Ilwaco at 10 a.m.
Helland said nearly coming up with a victory against a rival while conceding 36 points in forfeited matches will be a big confidence booster as his wrestlers prepare for sub-districts.
“As far as a regular season duel goes, it doesn’t get much bigger than your crosstown rival. They put one on us earlier in the season. We took a whipping over there,” he said. “There’s a lot of positive things coming out of this even though the score didn’t go our way. If we carry that over, we’ll have some fun over the next few weeks.”
Aberdeen’s Jaden Hosney faces off with Hoquiam’s Noah Sudderth at the start of their 195-pound match. Hosney won the match with a pin at 3:19. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Aberdeen will also be back in action on Saturday when the Bobcats head to Yakima for a tournament at Klahowya High School at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Aberdeen has been bitten by the injury bug lately and went to some less experienced wrestlers to fill out the lineup.
Martin plans to have his best wrestlers back on the mat before districts and is also hoping his younger grapplers can learn from the losses they took in Hoquiam.
“Every kid you saw out there was new, so it was good to see them getting better,” he said. “We’re injured right now. We had two or three guys not in the lineup, but we’ll be better by next weekend.”
106 pounds – Aberdeen via forfeit; 113 – Aberdeen via forfeit; 120 – Aberdeen via forfeit; 126 – Xavier Garcia (Hoquiam) defeated. Shane Raybrakk, fall, 1:09; 132 – Alex Houbregs (H) def. Ashton Goins, fall, 2:49; 138 – Cosmo Palmgren (H) def. Patrick Hunt 8-6; 145 – Malaki Eaton (H) def. Kaden Hunt, fall, 3:03; 152 – Antonio Garcia (H) def. Bodie Wharton, fall, 3:50; 160 – Duncan Palmgren (H) def. Koby Fall, fall, 5:30; 170 – Brady Cummings (H) def. Seth Brown 10-4; 182 – Aberdeen via forfeit; 195 – Aberdeen via forfeit; 220 – Hosney (A) def. Noah Sudderth, fall ,3:19; 285 – Aberdeen via forfeit
BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
Willapa Valley 68, Ocosta 54
Strong play in the first half helped the Vikings survive a second-half comeback attempt in a 68-54 road win over Ocosta on Thursday.
Willapa Valley (15-2, 13-2 Pacific 2B) started off hot and had a 38-21 lead over the Wildcats by halftime. Logan Walker was a big part of the Vikings offensive output and lead his team with 23 points.
Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson liked how his team started, but was less enthused with how things went in the second half.
“We set the tone in the first quarter, but in the second half we lost our focused,” he said. “We stopped playing defense and rebounding for a quarter-and-a-half. I’m still waiting for us to play a full four quarters.”
Ocosta (7-8, 7-10) found more success after halftime and outscored the Vikings 16-12 in the third quarter.
The Wildcats almost got the deficit down to single digits at different points in the second half, but the comeback attempt ultimately fell short
“Once we decided to match their physicality, we actually competed very well, cutting the deficit to 10 a few different times, but we couldn’t quite get over the hump,” Ocosta head coach Jason Quinby said.
Ocosta remains in the fifth seed after the loss and is a half-game up on sixth-place North Beach.
The Wildcats will be looking to hold on to their spot in the standings when they head to Puyallup to face Chief Leschi at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Willapa Valley and Life Christian Academy are tied for first in the league standings and will face each other on Saturday in Menlo at 7 p.m. in a game that could decide who takes home the league title.
Willapa Valley 22 16 12 18 — 68
Ocosta 8 13 17 16 — 54
Top Players: Ocosta — Kobe Beck (21 pts.), Cole Hatton (10 pts.); Willapa Valley — Walker (23 pts., 5 reb.), Matt Pearson (16 pts., 4 ast.) Peter Hamilton (8 pts., 10 reb.). Beau Buchanan (7 pts., 13 reb.)
Life Christian Academy 97, Raymond 47
Raymond hung tough with Life Christian for one quarter, but it was all Eagles after that as the Seagulls dropped Thursday’s 2B Pacific League contest 97-47 in Tacoma.
“We had a tough evening,” Raymond head coach Derek Rask said. “The first quarter was respectable, but the rest of the contest was all Life Christian. They got fabulous guard play out of their starting guards, and they were too much for us to cover and keep up with. They are a tremendous team at home.”
The Seagulls (5-11, 5-9 Pacific 2B) trailed by five at the end of the first half but were outscored by at least 13 points in each of the following three quarters to earn the victory.
Four LCA players scored in double figures, led by Bradley Swillie, who led all scorers with 16 points.
Tre Seydel and Cole Enslow reached double digits for Raymond, scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Jose Delgado added nine points for Raymond, which sits in eighth place in the league standings.
The Seagulls host Ilwaco at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Raymond 17 11 10 9 — 47
Life Christian Academy 22 25 23 27 — 97
Top Players: Raymond — Seydel (14 pts.), Enslow (10 pts.), J. Delgado (9 pts.); LCA — Swillie (16 pts.), Noah Robinson (14 pts.), Joseph Hall (11 pts.), Dai’Shaun Nichols (11 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL
Elma 49, Tenino 48
With a week remaining in the regular season, the 1A Evergreen League is now a two-team race.
With the Elma Eagles (16-1, 5-1 Evergreen 1A) emerging victorious with a 49-48 victory over the Tenino Beavers (13-6, 4-3) on Thursday in Tenino, Elma is now tied with the Montesano Bulldogs for first place in the league with two league games left on the schedule.
Elma got big performances from three of its top players on Thursday. Quin Mikel led the way for the Eagles, recording a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Jalyn Sackrider and Kali Rambo each scored in double figures for Elma. Sackrider tied Mikel as the game’s leading scorer with 15 points while Rambo chipped in 10 points for the Eagles.
Tenino stayed in the game by hitting 14-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter.
Fifth-ranked Elma has a back-to-back scheduled early next week. The Eagles have a non-league contest against WF West at 7 p.m. on Monday in Elma followed by a game on the road against Forks on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m.
They close out the regular season at home against No. 15 Monte at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1, which could be for the league title.
No further information was provided for this game.
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
