‘Cats humble Knights

Published 9:36 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mount Si once again took their opponent behind the

woodshed, defeating the Newport Knights in wrestling last week

51-16.

Leading off the impressive outing was freshman

Jason Rothgeb, who lost by major decision 12-3. In the 112-pound

class, the Wildcats’ Jordan Prior manhandled Newport’s Brian

Yeager, pinning him at the 3:49 mark of the second round. Kyle

Cunning-ham also recorded a pin after quickly dropping his

opponent, Josh Luttman, to the mat. The pin gave the Wildcats a 12-4 lead

going into the 125-pound class.

In the 125-pound class, Nick Martindale recorded a 14-8

decision. His opponent, Jimmy Akiyama, scored first with

a takedown early in the first round. Martindale, starting from

the down position in the second round, reversed Akiyama,

who then reversed Martindale late in the round. But in the third

round it was all Martindale, who racked up two three-point near falls,

two reversals and one two-point near fall.

In the 130-pound class the Wildcat’s Jon Emerson

faced Michael Bradley, eventually losing by pin in the second

round. Jeff Stone avenged Emerson’s loss in the 135-pound class by

pinning the Knight’s Brad Barton in the second round. Stone had

completely dominated the match in the first round.

Chad Mills won by a 10-3 decision over Adam Andrie in

the 140-pound class to make the team score 24-10. Hiram

Tame went with the trend and pinned the Knights’ Charlie Winger at

the 1:50 mark of the first round in the 145-pound class. David

Crotts faced a strong Jeremy Benezra in the 152-pound class but came

out on top 7-0. The match found both wrestlers doing rolling

reversals several times, trying to gain the advantage.

In the 160-pound class, Bobby Taylor wasted no time

pinning Newport’s Eric Gant at the 1:42 mark of the first round.

Jed McDaniels lost a 3-0 decision to Kasey Kilmer in the

171-pound class. Brad Davis faced Ed Sun in the 189-pound class and

pinned the big guy at the 3:55 mark of the second round. The pin

made the score 45-13, with only two matches left.

Last up for Newport was Josh Leapai. Leapai had wrestled in

the 275-pound class, but it was apparent he had slimmed down

and had not lost any muscle. He worked over the Wildcats’

Dylan Seubert with a 6-1 win, never allowing Seubert to gain an

advantage. Brad Connor took a forfeit for the `Cats in the

275-pound class to round out the match. The win puts the Wildcats clearly

in first place, with Cedarcrest nipping at their heels.

“We didn’t know where Leapai would fall,” said

coach Bruce Caldwell. “It made sense for him to wrestle at 215,

though,” he added.