SK sweeps into post-season

Micah Kipperberg got exactly what he wanted. So did Pat Kelly. And Brandon Kelly. And Jon Potts. And Jeff Cink. And Craig Senter, to a certain extent. And so did eight other members of the South Kitsap wrestling team.

The Wolves turned the Narrows League Wrestling Championships into their own showcase Saturday, winning six individual titles while sending 13 to this week’s regional meet in Bremerton and ultimately giving one more league title to retiring coach Ron Hudiburg.

“We got out of it what we wanted,” Hudiburg said. “We wanted to win it, and we got some kids on to regionals and they’re in good positions. This one is over and now we have to go back and start working harder.”

The Wolves ran away with the team title, posting a score of 336 points. Henry Foss took second at 277 while host Olympia was third with 214.5. Olympic, Central Kitsap and Shelton rounded out the top six.

The top eight finishers in each weight class advance to the regional meet. The top from that meet advance to the state tournament Feb. 20-21.

“Thirteen is a really good number,” Senter said after the meet. “I was hoping for more, but 13 is a lot.”

And while Saturday was about getting the team title and advancing as many individuals on to regionals as possible, the Wolves also had a little business to take care of.

“Getting more guys through was important, but also to beat Foss after they were mouthing off and saying they should have beat us (after a 40-21 win by South at Foss on Jan. 22) and that we weren’t that good,” senior Pat Kelly said. “It feels good to put them down.”

That feeling was not lost on any of the Wolves.

“They’d been talking about how they’re a better tournament team and they’ll win and after the first day. They were up by like 20 points or something,” said Senter, a senior. “We knew we’d come back and get them. We knew we’d push past them.”

“Everybody talks trash about us because they’re all jealous that they can’t beat us,” said Potts, also a senior. “What happened here? We beat them. I’ll let the scores speak for me.”

Pat Kelly won the 152-pound division over Foss’s Steven Diaz in the day’s most entertaining match. Tied at 1-1 after three rounds, the pair went two more rounds before Kelly won it by escaping a hold as time expired.

“I don’t think it should have gone into overtime. I thought I might have had a takedown and a few stalls that weren’t called,” Kelly said. “Oh well, I guess I just have to be better for next time.”

Kelly had beaten Diaz a few weeks earlier in the Wolves’ dual meet with Foss, 6-3. So he knew what to expect.

“He stalls out a lot. He’s never on the offensive,” Kelly said. “Next time I’ll know to just be patient with him again and hopefully it comes out the same way.”

South’s Micah Kipperberg had been waiting three years for his chance to get Foss’ Jamie Shrader back on the mat and took advantage of his opportunity Saturday, winning the 135-pound division, 5-3.

“It was pretty exciting because it was his first loss of the season,” Kipperberg said. “And since he pinned me in 32 seconds the last time I faced him, that made it more exciting. “

Shrader beat Kipperberg three years ago and the wait for revenge has been a long one.

“A little payback right there,” Kipperberg said. “I actually didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to wrestle him again, so it was exciting to know that I could wrestle him. And I wrestled my best and came out on top.”

Potts, who has not lost since December, wrapped up the 189-pound title with a 9-2 win over Central’s Daniel Mayfield, a very familiar opponent.

“This is the fourth time I’ve wrestled him and the fourth time I’ve beat him,” Potts said. “He wrestled tough. I knew he was out to get me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like a good, tough match as much as the next guy does. I like to have a guy that’s pretty close to me and you can roll around with and both of you come out of it feeling like a better wrestler for it.”

But the bottom line for Potts, as well as the rest of the team, was getting through to the regional tournament.

“It’s awesome, absolutely cool,” Potts said. “We had about the same amount last year but we have more quality this year and we’re definitely going for it.”

Others advancing for South included Cink, who won the 171 title, sophomore Brent Chriswell, who took his first league title at 160, junior Brandon Kelly, who won the 130 title, Senter, who placed second at 145, Steve Razey and Kyle Saltsgaver, second and third, respectively, in the 215 division, Josiah Kipperberg, who was second at 103, Kyle Coppinger, third at 140, Chris Hogan and Brady Winslow.

“There were no surprises, but you wondered when some of them were going to (step it up), and they started to,” Hudiburg said. “I think Brandon Kelly wrestled his best of the year and Potts and Cink. Some of those kids have really started to come on. That’s pretty nice to see.”

Since Hudiburg announced his retirement at the beginning of the school year, the team has said it wants to send him out on top.

Olympic is trying to do the same for its retiring coach, Darrell Smith. Smith is leaving coaching after 32 years — 24 at Olympic — and will take nine wrestlers to his final regional, led by Cody Gapp who won the 140-pound title by beating Dustin Heistand of Bremerton, 10-6.

“Going into the tournament, I was hoping to get nine or 10 into regionals,” Smith said. “And we’re taking nine so I’m pleased with that. All in all, I thought we had a real good day. We’re alive for another week.”

Also going for Olympic is Matt Gipson, second at 130, Jacob Switzer, third at 171, and Paul Kogut, third at 275.

“Cody wrestled extremely well today,” Smith said. “He had a couple of really good matches early on and in the finals match, he faced a guy he’s already wrestled twice and it was kind of a typical match between two guys that have seen each other a couple times before. Fortunate for Cody, he won.”

Central Kitsap will send a group of 10 to Bremerton this week, led by Scott Jennings who won the 215 class by pinning Razey. Mayfield joins John Winsper, who was third at 171 and Jomer Calma, who took third at 125.

North Kitsap, which finished ninth as a team with 128 points, will send six wrestlers to the regional tournament, led by Matt Grimes, who was third in the 112 class, Kyle Cetnarowski who placed third at 119 and Doug Piehl who took fourth in the 152 division.

“I’m going on (to regionals) but I would have liked to place higher,” Piehl said. “Considering on how my season’s been, this is an improvement.”

Piehl was pinned by SK’s Pat Kelly in the semifinals but rebounded to take fourth.

“I was wanting to take out Pat Kelly,” Piehl said. “Beyond that, I wanted to be in the top three or four seeds. Team wise, we did pretty well. I think we might have surprised a few people, nothing huge, but I think we came out a little better than to be expected.”

Bremerton has seven moving on led by Heistand and Danny Smith who took third at 145.

Team scores

1. South Kitsap 336; 2. Foss 277; 3. Olympia 214.5; 4. Olympic 206; 5. Central Kitsap 167.5; 6. Shelton 161; 7. Bellarmine 134.5; 8. Port Angeles 128.5; 9. North Kitsap 128; 10. Stadium 126; 11. Bremerton 123.5; 12. Capital 89; 13. Gig Harbor 30; 14. Wilson 27; 15. Mount Tahoma 19; 16. Lincoln 11.

Championship results

103 - Josh Brodie (Olya) dec. Josiah Kipperberg (SK) 7-2. 112 - Shane Martin (Olya) dec. Kyle Brown (Foss) 11-4. 119 - Cody White (Stad) dec. Mark Perez (Bell) 7-6. 125 - Sophath Heang (Olya) p. Aaron Cunningham (Stad) 3:30. 130 - Brandon Kelly (SK) dec. Matt Gipson (Olyc) 8-2. 135 - Micah Kipperberg (SK) dec. Jamie Shrader (Foss) 5-3. 140 - Cody Gapp (Olyc) dec. Dustin Heistand (Brem) 10-6. 145 - Robert Davis (Foss) dec. Craig Senter (SK) 6-1. 152 - Pat Kelly (SK) dec. Steven Diaz (Foss) 2-1, 2OT. 160 - Brent Chriswell (SK) won by inj. def. over David Maybury (Bell). 171 - Jeff Cink (SK) dec. Cameron Soran (Bell) 5-3. 189 - Jon Potts (SK) dec. Daniel Mayfield (CK) 9-2. 215 - Scott Jennings (CK) p. Steve Razey (SK) 1:36. 275 - Cory Looney (PA) dec. Mikel Camas (Cap) 3-1.

Consolation round

103 - Andrew Brown (Olyc) dec. James Zyski (Shel) 17-9. 112 - Matt Grimes (NK) p. Tommy Barnett (Olyc) 3:06. 119 - Kyle Cetnarowski (NK) dec. Corey Brown (Foss) 8-4. 125 ñ Jomer Calma (CK) won by inj. def. over Ryan Nunez (CK). 130 - Bryan Dukes (Foss) dec. Keith Richstad (Bell) 7-0. 135 - Nick Haffner (PA) dec. Jarrell Smith (NK) 7-1. 140 - Kyle Coppinger (SK) dec. Kameron Harmon (Cap) 6-1. 145 - Danny Smith (Brem) dec. Paul DeTray (Olya) 11-4. 152 - Adam Macomber (PA) dec. Doug Piehl (NK) 4-1. 160 - Chris Segawa (Olya) dec. Bill DuCharme (Foss) 11-3. 171 - John Winsper (CK) dec. Jake Switzer 7-1. 189 - Joseph Silverman (Olya) p. Michael Langley (Shel) 2:59. 215 - Kyle Saltsgaver (SK) p. Paden McCormick (Cap) 2:02. 275 - Paul Kogut (Olyc) p. Dylan Dixon (Olya) 4:58.

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