Valley wrestlers take down Sea-King
Published 2:59 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Wrestlers from both Mount Si and Cedarcrest traveled to Kennedy
High School this past weekend to participate in the Region 2, Sea-King
3A Wrestling Tournament. By the end of the meet two Red Wolves and
one Wildcat had walked away with district championships.
Again at the top of the heap for Mount Si was Blake Moore,
defeating his old KingCo nemesis Truong Luu in the finals to win the
championship. In addition, Cedarcrest’s Aaron and Eric Pedeferri made
history as the first two brothers to win a district championship in the same
season.
But the excitement wasn’t done there as Mount Si also won the
district team championship over league rival Liberty, 193 ½ team points to
the Patriots’ 176. As a result, 10 Wildcat wrestlers and three Red Wolf
wrestlers will get to strut their stuff at state,
next weekend in the Tacoma Dome.
Two Valley wrestlers competed in the 103-pound class, with
Aaron Pedeferri eventually winning the weight class and Mount Si’s
Jordan Prior taking seventh. Pedeferri worked his way through the first two
opponents, O’Dea’s Jeremy Burdett and Marko Oblak with pins, both under
a minute. He then faced Renton’s Greg Abe whom he also pinned, but it
took a little longer at the 5:05 mark.
In the finals, Tyee’s Peter Yiap was his opponent. Aaron scored first
with a takedown in the first round. In the second, starting from the down
position, the young Pedeferri found himself with shoulders on the mat,
Yiap scoring a three-point nearfall. In the third, both wrestlers started from
neutral positions and Pedeferri took Yiap to the mat. With 55 seconds left
on the clock, he pinned the young Tyee wrestler for the championship.
“He was hard to turn and hard to take down,” said Aaron after
the match. “After I took him down, I knew I could do it again so I let him up
towards the end.” But the young Pedeferri had a close call when
Yiap worked towards a pin.
“I could feel one shoulder wasn’t touching and sat their and waited
for time to run out. I knew I wasn’t going to get pinned so I waited for time
to run out,” Pedeferri added.
Two Valley wrestlers also competed in the 112-pound class,
Mount Si’s Andrew Ahmadi and Cedarcrest’s Darren DeBoer. DeBoer had a
tough road after losing in the second round to Mount Rainier’s Chris
Wheaton. Ultimately DeBoer finished fifth, defeating Wheaton his second
time around with a 2:57 pin. The fifth-place finish advances him to the state
tournament. Ahmadi also lost his second round match and moved through
the consolation bracket to take fourth, losing to Skyline’s Ricky Chun, 7-6.
In the 119-pound class it was all Eric Pedeferri as he clobbered his
opponents with three pins to get to the finals. In the finals he faced
Liberty’s Mark Rowe and relentlessly racked up points, winning 9-2. Pedeferri is
showing a pose and determination that should carry him all the way to a
state championship next weekend.
“It was actually kind of weird, the regional tournament seemed
easier than the KingCo tournament,” said the senior Pedeferri. “They’ll definitely
be gunning for me at state.”
Mount Si’s Kyle Cunningham also will travel to state in the
119-pound class after finishing a respectable sixth.
The Wildcat’s Jason Moe took seventh in the 125-pound class,
having lost his second round match and losing one consolation round match.
Jeff Stone and Chad Mills will also be traveling to state for the
Wildcats. Stone placed a respectable fourth after working his way through the
consolation bracket in the 130-pound class. Mills made it to the finals in
the same weight class, losing to Tyee’s Kasey White by pin at the 5:31
mark. The loss gave him a better-than-last- year showing at second place.
It was all Blake Moore in the 135-pound class as last week’s
KingCo champ repeated to become this year’s Region 2 champ. He pinned his
first two opponents to make it into the semi-finals. There he faced
Sealth’s Anthony McRae, pasting him with a 10-3 decision. In the finals he
again faced Truong Luu, whom he had defeated for the KingCo title one
week earlier.
The first round was uneventful and neither wrestler gained an upper
hand. In the second, Luu scored first with a reversal but Moore escaped and
took Luu to the mat. Late in the round, Luu reversed again, giving him the 4-3
lead after two rounds. In the third, starting from the down position, Moore
maneuvered a reversal but Luu quickly escaped to tie the score, sending
the match into overtime. Both wrestlers, exhausted from the prior
rounds, looked for the opening. Finally, as seconds ticked away, Moore made
the shot and slowly worked his way behind Luu for the takedown and
the win.
“I couldn’t get deep enough to take him down,” said Moore after
the match. “It’s exciting going to state but now they will be gunning for me.”
In the 140-pound class, Hiram Tame finished seventh, winning
his last match against Mount Rainer’s John Luckson, 13-2, while
teammate David Crotts took eighth in the 145-pound class.
Senior Ryan Smith took fourth in the 152-pound class after losing in
the second round. The loss moved him to the consolation bracket where he
won two decisions before losing to Highline’s Jason Deslongchamp in
the finals.
The bruiser, Brad Davis, earned a respectable fourth-place finish in
the 189-pound class. After a third-round loss to Liberty’s Brian
Anderson, Davis had one pin in the consolation bracket. He then lost to
Bellevue’s Josh Phillips for fourth place.
The Wildcats’ Dylan Seubert and Brandon Prior placed fifth and
seventh respectively in the 215-pound class with Seubert earning a trip to state.
It was Prior’s last match in a Wildcat uniform but he leaves with the
respect of his teammates, coaches and a certain newspaper publisher.
Finally, in the 275-pound class, two Wildcat wrestlers earned a trip
to state. Sean Sexton made it to the finals after pinning his first two
opponents then winning a 4-3 decision against teammate Brad Connor. In
the finals he faced Newport’s Josh Leapai, whom he had defeated during
the regular season. Leapai gained several critical takedowns during the
championship match and Sexton couldn’t recover. The loss gave him
second place and a trip to the state tournament.
Teammate Brad Connor also will travel to state after taking third in
the 275-pound class. Losing to Sexton in the semifinals, Connor
trashed O’Dea’s Mike Mallory and Lindbergh’s Mike Nagai for the
third place finish.
The Wildcats’ team effort resulted in their first-ever regional title.
“We came close back when Josh (Josh Garcia, Cedarcrest coach) was
wrestling for us,” said coach Bruce Caldwell.
“We had six champs that year and came in second I think, back in
the Seamount days. This is probably the best team we have ever had,” a
flagrantly beaming Caldwell added.
The result of the weekend’s efforts will be put to the true test when
the state tournament gets underway at the Tacoma Dome on Friday and
continues Saturday.
