Enumclaw dominates Matmen Tourney; CK fourth

Central Kitsap’s Tyler Moyer emerged from the locker room with a new look.

“Nice shirt Tyler,” said teammate Jason Mendez.

“You too,” Moyer said.

They also were wearing smiles.

Both had just won individual titles at the 25th annual Central Kitsap Matmen Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 12, and they had championship, long-sleeved black T-shirts to prove it.

So did gritty teammate Mike Frerichs, whose 8-5 victory over Nate Peterson in the 140-pound finale denied Enumclaw a clean sweep in the finals.

The South Puget Sound League’s Hornets were a perfect 6-for-6 in championship matches until Frerichs rallied for six points in the final round to overcome a 3-2 deficit.

Enumclaw secured its third team title in four years with 252.5 points. Defending champion South Kitsap was a distant second (160). Tahoma (157) edged the host Cougars (146) for third. Olympic, which had won three straight tournaments, finished sixth with 104 points. Bremerton was (69) ninth in the 12-team tournament.

“They put on a show,” Tahoma coach Doug Pecha said of Enumclaw.

Pecha couldn’t remember a more dominating team performance in recent years at the Matmen Tournament. He was the head coach at Central Kitsap the previous four years and was at Central Kitsap Junior High before that.

Pecha and his wrestlers didn’t hide their joy after discovering they finished ahead of the Cougars.

“They got us earlier (at the Sedro-Woolley Invitational), so it’s nice to come back and even things up,” said Pecha.

He’s still fond of CK’s wrestlers.

“I’m proud of those kids,” he said. “As a coach, it was hard to leave that group. There’s a lot of talent here and things are looking pretty good for the future. But I’m happy with the kids I have at Tahoma. It’s been a good move.”

There were a lot of good moves on the mats Saturday night.

Tyler Moyer’s takedown on the edge of the mat at the end of the second round turned out to be the difference in a 3-1 win over Olympic’s Darrin Jones in the 189-pound finals. Moyer beat Jones 3-2 the previous week in the finals at the Panthers Classic in Snohomish and the two were expected to duel again on Tuesday, Jan. 15, when the schools met in a Narrows League Bridge Division match at Olympic High.

“He’s an upper body wrestler and I tried not to get tied up,” said Moyer, a sophomore who improved to 21-2.

“They’re pretty even, but Darrin needs to get some offense,” said Olympic coach Darryl Smith. “If you don’t score, you can’t win.”

Olympic’s other finalist, Alex Jaime (103), was pinned in the third round by Enumclaw’s Joel Anderson.

Central’s experienced and poised Mendez defended his title at 130, topping Auburn-Riverside’s Eric Jarad 13-7 in the finals while improving his record to 18-2.

Frerichs slipped past teammate Rusty Hedman 6-5 in the semifinals. The Cougars flexed their muscles at 140 as they moved three wrestlers into the semfinals. Jason Sencil was stopped 3-0 by Enumclaw’s Nate Peterson in the other half of the bracket. Frerichs beat Peterson 8-5 in the finals, improving to 13-3.

Sencil finished third and Hedman fifth.

CK’s other finalist, Chad Eickmeyer at 135, was taken apart, 14-2, by Tahoma’s Nick Tompkins, fifth at state a year ago. Tomplins is now 2-1 against Eickmeyer this year as they’ve traded beating up on each other.

CK’s Josh Martinelli recovered from an 8-7 loss against South Kitsap’s Kyle Caldon that went into two overtimes to get a share of third place.

And Central’s Austin Jennings (215), beaten 8-4 by SK’s Jon Potts, came back to beat Potts 8-4 in the match for third and fourth.

Enumclaw’s unbeaten 215-pounder Ty Watterson (27-0) and South Kitsap’s 119-pounder Derrick Kipperberg (15-1) were named the tournament’s outstanding wrestlers.

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