Medical Lake topples No. 5 Freeman, win Blackhawk Invite
Medical Lake wrestlers celebrate their upset victory over a field of 15 teams at last Saturday's Blackhawk Invite at Cheney High School. That win followed another notable victory in Northeast A League competition on Jan. 4 when they traveled to beat the state's No. 5-ranked 1A team, Freeman, 40-36.
Medical Lake's Ethan Davis was the lone Medical Lake champ with a 6-0 win at 132 pounds in the Blackhawk. "(He) beat a quality kid in the finals, that was good for us," his coach, Matt Leenhouts said.
Medical Lake wrestlers certainly surpassed all expectations last week.
In the span of three days the Cardinals scored their biggest win in years, edging the Freeman Scotties 40-36 on Jan. 4. Then last Saturday came a bigger surprise when Medical Lake finished tops among 15 teams to win the Blackhawk Invite in Cheney. They edged runner-up Quincy 161–149.
"Not bad, not a bad week," head coach Matt Leenhouts said.
Freeman was ranked No. 5 among 1A teams in the state and Leenhouts approached the road match with caution.
"We were just hoping to compete when we went in there," Leenhouts said. "Then a couple of things shook out and (we thought) we might be able to win, and we actually did."
The Cardinals got wins in their first three matches and seven of the first nine. Two came by forfeit with 106-pounder, Skyler Peterson and Jun Figueredo (113) getting easy points. Weston Thomas at 120 pounds pinned Freeman's Justin Werner in 1 minute, 2 seconds.
Following Hunter Nees' pin of ML's Alex Gonzalez at 126, Ethan Davis scored a 13-1 major decision over Fabian Vargas, starting a run where the Cardinals would score wins in three of their next four. Josh Figueredo (145) and Brayden Peterson (152) each won close decisions and Sam Griffey (160) caped the run with a forfeit giving the Cardinals a 34-12 lead.
"Josh Figueredo at 145 won a huge match for us, it won us the dual, really," Leenhouts said.
With that big lead and five weight classes remaining, it was hold on for the finish as Freeman won three straight bouts by pins, bringing the Scotties to within 34-30. But Izaiah Schlosser's pin at 220 over Tyson Delcour in 1:06 clinched it.
The Cardinals rode high into Saturday's tournament.
The Blackhawk win was "A lot more surprising, I was shocked," Leenhouts said, noting they were even missing some key wrestlers.
"We only had 11 kids there, we were missing three of our varsity guys," Leenhouts said. Medical Lake was in fourth place going into the final two rounds but only lost twice, once when two Cardinals, Brayden Peterson topped teammate Sam Griffey at 152.
Ethan Davis (132) was the lone Medical Lake champ with a 6-0 win. "(He) beat a quality kid in the finals, that was good for us," Leenhouts said.
The Cardinals had five consolation bracket wins that pushed them to the title. "Weston (Thomas) had a huge win against the Cheney kid (Teagan Simon) for third (at 120), that was a big win," Leenhouts said.
Other consolation victories came from Jun Figueredo (113), Josh Figueredo (145) and Hurt-Moran (195). Skyler Peterson collected a forfeit win for fifth place and Schlosser took a lightning-quick victory, a 16-second pin at 220.
Medical Lake returned to Northeast A League competition this week where they faced powerhouse Colville on Jan. 9 and Newport tonight (Jan. 11) at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday they return to tournament competition at the River City Duals in Post Falls in what will be both another test, and opportunity.
As a first-year head coach, Leenhouts came into this season with the idea in mind to "Ramp it up," schedule-wise. "That way when we go into districts we've seen tougher tournaments, so we're kind of ready to go," he explained.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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