SK extends dual-meet streak with 63-10 laugher over CK

If the South Kitsap wrestling team needed something to help inspire it on Tuesday night, it needed to look no farther than its own bench. And Dylan Watkins in particular.

With its Narrows League Bridge Division opening match against Central Kitsap essentially over before it began, it was Watkins who fought off a near-pin and came back to win and lifted the Wolves to a 63-10 win.

The Cougars, usually one of the better wrestling teams in the division, put on a rather sad display, showing up with just eight varsity wrestlers and bringing none of its junior varsity. South ended up winning 12 of the 14 matches to increase its state-record dual meet winning streak to 124.

“I thought we wrestled really, really well (at Olympic) and there was definitely a letdown (Tuesday) in our intensity,” South coach Chad Nass said. “I don’t think we wrestled extraordinarily well as a team but we had some good individual performances.”

While the win was an easy one, it was Watkins’ 7-5 win over Chad Messidi at 160 pounds that highlighted the night.

After a close first round, Watkins suddenly found himself on his back for much of the second and had to fight to keep from being pinned.

But he did just that and ended up getting a reversal late in the final period to ice the win.

“Oh man, it’s so tough,” Watkins said of being in a pinning position. “That’s where you use the most energy, when you’re on your back. You never want to get on your back.

“It makes you fight even harder,” Watkins said. “At first it’s like, ‘Oh crap, how do I get out, how do I get out?’ But you have to work as hard as you can. No matter what.”

Watkins said he has been wrestling well of late, including four wins last week at the Olympic Dream Duals. He said he made one mistake against Messidi and it cost him, but he was fortunate to get away with it.

“That was a nice win for him,” Nass said. “I didn’t know if he was going to make it out of that. He was in the center of the mat and that kid had a death-grip on him. To fight out of that takes a lot of character.”

South was solid in most of the matches that were contested, including strong performances by Orry Perez at 171 pounds, Josiah Kipperberg at 112, Javan Miner at 130 and Brady Winslow at 152.

“We wrestled all right. We definitely could have done better,” Kipperberg said. “There were a couple guys out here that we (beat by technical fall) last year and tonight we beat them by just a couple of points. And I don’t think it’s because their program got better. It’s just that our guys didn’t wrestle to their potential today.”

Minor and Kipperberg made short work of their opponents, getting pins in the first round. Perez was pushed just a bit harder, ending his match just before the end of the second frame.

While the team as a whole didn’t show the intensity Nass wanted, he said he was really pleased with the performance of some of the younger wrestlers like Jim Villars, Quincy Lyman and Kyle Bamonte. Villars won a close match filling in at 140 pounds for Jesse Barich.

Even though Bamonte and Lyman lost, Bamonte was slammed very hard to the mat and couldn’t continue his match, Nass said he liked what he saw out of them.

The match was a final tune-up before the Wolves hit the road for a pair of pretty tough tournaments.

South heads to Sedro-Wooley today for the Skagit Valley Invitational and will take part in the two-day Pacific Coast Invitational Dec. 29-20 in Battleground.

South Kitsap 63, Central Kitsap 10

103 — Kurtis Fenton (SK) won by forfeit. 112 — Josiah Kipperburg (SK) p. Bradley Cruz 1:34. 119 — Kent Manalo (CK) won by injury default over Kyle Bamonte. 125 — Chris Sharp (SK) won by forfeit. 130 — Javan Miner (SK) p. Danial Johnson 1:06. 135 — Tyler Crittenden (CK) md. Quincy Lyman 12-4. 140 —Jim Villars (SK) d. Juan Galvan 6-3. 145 — Chris Hogan (SK) won by forfeit. 152 — Brady Winslow (SK) d. Jojo Lancaster 9-6. 160 — Dylan Watkins (SK) d. Chad Messidi 7-5. 171 — Orry Perez (SK) p. Brian Ruloda 3:58. 189 — Brent Chriswell (SK) won by forfeit. 215 — Matt Foxworthy (SK) won by forfeit. 275 — Ryan Sparber (SK) won by forfeit.

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