As the final week of regular season wrestling closes, all thoughts

go back to the first meet of the season: It was a close loss to league-leading

Liberty. Were it not for that loss, Mount Si would have been repeat

champs. Now all eyes are focused on the league tournament happening this

coming weekend at Liberty.

First up for the `Cats last week was Bellevue, who put up a fight but

fell hard, 34-21. Then it was back home for a meet against Sammamish

that saw only one match win against the focused Mount Si team.

The following results were posted by Mount Si against Bellevue: At

103 pounds, Jordan Prior won by forfeit. 112 – Mount Si’s Andrew Ahmadi

lost by decision to Jenkins Chan, 1-7. 119 – Kyle Cunningham lost to

Bellevue’s Justin Siems, 0-6. 125 – the Wildcats’ Jason Moe won a 4-3 decision

over Jeff Smith. 130 – Chad Mills lost a 6-13 decision to the Wolverines’

Zach Hyatt. 135 – Blake Moore lost a decision to Bellevue’s Truang Luu,

4-11. 140 – the Wildcats’ Hiram Tame won by a 12-11 decision over

Jon Katayama. 145 – David Crotts lost a 3-5 decision to the Wolverines’

Chris Long. 152 – Mount Si’s Ryan Smith pinned Micah Byersdorfer at the

3:05 mark of the second round.

At 160 pounds, the Wildcats’ Kasey Robinson lost a 4-11

decision to Scott Brennan. 171 – Jed McDaniels lost a 5-9 decision to Bellevue’s

Levi Miller. 189 – Brad Davis won a major decision, 12-3 over Bellevue’s

Lowell Parker. 215 – the Wildcats’ Dylan Seubert pinned Kevin Mitchell at

the 3:28 mark of the second round. 275 – Sean Sexton won by forfeit.

The second meet of the week was against a struggling Sammamish

Totem team. The Wildcats came out focused and together from the start.

Jordan Prior wasted no time gaining an advantage over the Totems’

Clayton Cuttitte, scoring an initial takedown and two three-point nearfalls in

the first round before pinning the struggling Totem with 1:07 left in the

second round.

Andrew Ahmadi followed suit and pinned the Totems’ Daniel

Peterson with 27 seconds left in the first round. Kyle Cunningham also took his

place in the queue and pinned Sammamish’s Aash Gorma with 1:17 left in the

first round. Three matches, three pins, all in front of a loud home crowd.

Jason Moe continued his reign at the 125-pound class for Mount Si

and his match against the Totems’ Joe Hatcher was one of the most

exciting of the night. Moe scored the first points of the match with a

takedown in the first round. Hatcher chose the down position to start the

second round and midway through, reversed Moe for two points. With the

score even going into the third, Moe selected the down position. He battled

tirelessly through most of the round until

finally, with seconds to spare, he escaped from the grasp of Hatcher. The one

point was enough for the decision.

Sammamish posted a forfeit at the 130-pound class in order for

Tuan Nguyen to take on Blake Moore at 135 pounds. But strategy

sometimes doesn’t work the way a coach intends and this case was no exception.

Moore pinned Nguyen with 1:03 left on the clock in the first round.

Hiram Tame showed his wrestling maturity in a match against the

Totems’ Alan Itkin. Itkin scored the initial takedown late in the first round

but Tame escaped. In the second round, Itkin deferred on choice to Tame

who chose the down position. He then scored a quick escape and

another point because of an illegal hold by Itkin.

In the third, Tame deferred and Itkin chose down. He escaped

midway through the round to even the score. Looking like a tie was imminent,

Tame struggled to take Itkin to the mat. With under a minute to go, he found

an opening and maneuvered behind Itkin for the score. As the buzzer

sounded, Tame had the decision, 5-3.

David Crotts dominated the Totems’ Terry Wong in the

145-pound class, winning a major decision 11-1. Ryan Smith followed suit but

pinned the Totem’s Ryan Nordeck with 53 seconds left in the first round. The

pin gave Mount Si a commanding 46-0 lead.

In the only loss of the night, Kasey Robinson battled tough against a

determined Aaron Mercier. The Totem is a veteran on the mat and took

advantage of every situation he could. The match was long and arduous;

both wrestlers appeared exhausted. Robinson could never quite get

the turn for the score, finally losing by decision, 9-2.

In the 171-pound class the youngster, Jed McDaniels, took on a

visibly stronger Aaron Peterson. Peterson scored first but McDaniels was

determined and stayed close. In the second round McDaniels scored a point on

an illegal start by Peterson. He then reversed Peterson who slipped away

for an escape. Late in the round, McDaniels found another

takedown for the score.

In the third, Peterson chose the down position and quickly

reversed McDaniels. After nearly a minute of struggling, McDaniels scored the

escape for the tie then took Peterson to the mat for two more points and

the win.

Brad Davis had a forfeit in the 189-pound class as did Dylan Seubert

at 215. Last up for the night was the big man, Sean Sexton, wrestling the

Totems’ Dave Estrella. Sexton went to work on points, scoring a

takedown in the first round. In the second, he deferred position to Estrella

who chose down. Estrella escaped early in the round then took Sexton to the

mat and the three-point nearfall, but Sexton waited patiently for the right

time then flipped Estrella over for the reverse and pinned him with 35

seconds left in the round. The pin gave Mount Si a commanding 65-3 victory.

“Jed did great despite a hurt shoulder,” commented Coach

Bruce Caldwell. “He protected when he had to and stayed close. Moe also did

a great job; he knew that kid was tough and pushed himself all week.”

The big man, Sexton also came from behind for the win. “I was

patient and set him up,” he said. “I wrestled defensively today, but

sometimes go offensively.”

Mount Si heads to the league tournament to be held at Liberty

High School on Friday and Saturday. Seeding for the regional tournament, to

be held at Kennedy High School, will be up for grabs.