Wolves win own wrestling invite, crown three champs

Editor’s note: Results from the dual meet of the year between South Kitsap and Central Kitsap, held last night, were not available at press time. A story on last night’s match will appear in Saturday’s issue.

The Central Kitsap Cougars won their own tournament 10 days ago, while South Kitsap placed third.

But the Wolves came back to win their own tournament Saturday with 231 points, compared to CK’s 165 points.

SK’s Jacob Coppinger (119 pounds), Dustin Johnson (125), and Micah Kipperberg (130) earned individual titles, while second-place finishes went to Brandon Kelly (112), Pat Kelly (145), John Cisney (152), Jon Potts (171), Devin Spencer (215), and Clayton Hutchins (275).

Coppinger provided the most dramatic SK win.

Facing Devin Bunnell of Evergreen (Vancouver), Coppinger held a 13-11 lead with 30 seconds to go.

Bunnell needed a takedown to even the score, but Coppinger blocked him and scored two takedown points and three near-fall points in the last 10 seconds of the match to solidify the win.

Johnson (23-2) easily handled Peninsula’s Tony Underwood in a 12-5 win.

Kipperberg had a big matchup with CK’s Donny DeRusha.

Up 6-1, Kipperberg nearly lost the match when DeRusha had him nearly pinned.

But Kipperberg escaped the near fall and went on to score 11 more points for a 17-8 win.

The Wolves watched two apparent victories snuffed out in the waning seconds.

Trailing 6-5, Cisney looked to have Olympia’s Desmond Davis where he wanted him. Cisney nearly had Davis pinned, but Davis escaped the near fall, pulled a reversal, and pinned Cisney to win the match.

Potts held a 9-4 lead against A.J. Weber with 30 seconds to go in the match.

But Weber scored a reversal and three near-fall points to tie the score and force an overtime.

Clearly fatigued, both wrestlers briefly circled waiting for the right moment. Both came at each other at the same time and had each other in a 50-50 hold.

Potts looked to have a shot at the takedown, but Weber eluded it and scored the winning takedown.

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