Wildcats stop Spartans on mat

The Oak Harbor High School wrestling team is on a roll these days.

After beating previously undefeated Everett in a tight 36-35 match Jan. 3, the Wildcats hosted Stanwood Jan. 9 and lowered the boom on the Spartans.

Chris Reilly set the tone for the evening kicking off 42-18 victory with a pin fall win over Loren Johnson in the 160-pound bout.

After his victory, the senior was nearly speechless.

“This is my first time wrestling a varsity match and I’m pretty excited,” he said.

Following Reilly’s win, Tyler Elliot scored a major decision, 15-1, at 189 pounds and Chris Neumiller pinned Kasey Pedroza in the 215-pound bout and just like that, the Wildcats were off and running with a 17-0 lead.

“He was a lot stronger than I thought he’d be so I just stuck with it,” Neumiller said about his opponent. “Then I came with the butcher and got him down.”

Freshman Josh Martinez recorded the fastest pin of the match in the 103-pound bout, dropping Dustin Gentry in 14 seconds.

“I’ve wrestled that kid before and I just wanted to fine-tune my technique on him,” Martinez said. “Practice this week paid off for me and I was able to pin him in 14 seconds.”

The pins just kept on coming, and Royce Cardwell at 119, and

John Tuttle at 140 pounds earned six points each for the Wildcats.

Tuttle’s bout was one of the more exciting ones of the match.

Trailing 7-6 early in the second period, the senior worked a reversal to take the lead and then pinned Bobby Warton’s shoulders to the mat at the 3:49 mark for a six-point victory.

“We’ve made a lot of improvement on our intensity this season,” coach Mike Crebbin said. “Tonight, we didn’t give up any pins or major decisions and every match we lost was hard fought.”

Oak Harbor 42, Stanwood 18

171 — Chris Reilly (OH) pinned Loren Johnson, 3:52; 189 — Tyler Elliot (OH) major decision over Vince Kingman 15-1; 215 — Chris Neumiller (OH) pinned Kasey Pedroza 3:14; 285 — Bret Sams (S) dec. Brian Howard 7-3; 103 — Josh Martinez (OH) pinned Dustin Gentry, 14 sec; 112 — Joey Duran (S) dec. Connar Zimmerman, 9-8; 119 — Royce Cardwell (OH) pinned Trent Larsen, 4:30; 125 — Colton Eliot (OH) dec. Derek Kinsman, 15-5; 130 — Jared Studley (S) def. Ian Cardwell, 12-6; 135 — Erik Fina (S) dec. Ben Page, 10-5; 140 — John Tuttle (OH) pinned Bobby Warton, 3:49; 145 — Billy Hale (OH) dec. Drew Barquist, 5-0; 152 — Joe Eidsness (S) dec. Josh Thornton, 9-2; 160 — Hans Stargeland (S) dec. Kyle Magana, 12-8.

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