PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles remained undefeated after winning its own eighth annual Battle for the Axe wrestling tournament Saturday.
The Roughriders captured their third Olympic Shootout team championship in a row and fourth of the tourney’s eight-year history.
Port Angeles dominated the dual-meet formatted tourney by winning all four of its matches by at least 33 points each.
The Riders went 3-0 in pool play, beating River Ridge 64-11, Bainbridge 54-21 and archrival Sequim 59-18.
Port Angeles now is 6-0 on the year, 2-0 in Olympic League action.
In the championship crossover match from the second pool, the Riders pinned Eatonville 58-18 to win it all with a perfect 4-0 record.
Eatonville tied with Forks in Pool 2 for first with a 2-1 record but earned the top place because it won the head-to-head match with the Spartans.
“We should have won that match,” Forks coach Bob Wheeler said about his 36-34 dual-meet loss to Eatonville.
There was a mix-up because of a couple of mistakes and Forks ended up sending out the wrong wrestler for the 113-pound match.
“It was an accident,” Wheeler said about the misunderstanding.
One of three undefeated Forks wrestlers, 106-pounder Sebastion Morales (4-0) wrestled at 113 pounds against Eatonville and won.
But at the time Forks coaches assumed Morales, ranked No. 6 in the state in the 1A 106 poll, was wrestling at his true weight, 106.
What it meant was that the Spartans had to juggle their lineup to get back in sync with the correct weight classes and had to give up a double forfeit.
Otherwise, Forks would have given up just a single forfeit and would have been able to make up the final two-point deficit, Wheeler said.
As it was, the Spartans could not crawl out of the double-forfeit hole.
In team results, the Riders took first with their 4-0 record while Eatonville claimed runner-up honors at 2-2 and Forks captured third place 3-1 after beating Bainbridge 42-37 in the final crossover match.
Bainbridge was fourth at 2-2, followed by the JV Dream Team (2-2) in fifth, River Ridge sixth at 1-3, Bremerton seventh at 2-2 and Sequim eighth at 0-4.
Despite going winless in team competition, the Wolves featured the outstanding wrestler in Pool 1 with Luke Mooney at 138 pounds.
Mooney, ranked No. 11 in the 2A state poll, easily won all four of his matches to take top individual honors in his pool.
Eatonville’s Luke McNeley won outstanding wrestler accolades in Pool 2.
This is the second consecutive year that Eatonville has had one of the tourney’s two outstanding wrestlers. Freddie Bauman earned it last year at 182 pounds.
Sparking the Riders to the team title were seven wrestlers who went a perfect 4-0 in the tourney.
Winning out for Port Angeles were Tyler Gale at 106 pounds, Brady Anderson at 113, Josh Basden at 120, Ozzy Swagerty at 126, Brian Cristion at 170, Roberto Coronel at 220 and heavyweight Michael Myers.
In addition, Kyle La Fritz of Port Angeles went 4-0 as a member of the Dream Team at 220 pounds.
Cristion is ranked No. 1 in state in 2A while Gale, Anderson, Basden, Swagerty and Myers all have top-10 rankings.
Swagerty has the next best overall ranking for Port Angeles at No. 4.
Forks had two other wrestlers who went 4-0 in the tourney.
Javier Contreras was perfect at 132 pounds and Sebastion Barragan went undefeated at 126.
The Riders are now off until Jan, 5 when they travel to the Bonney Lake Classic tournament.
Forks, meanwhile, next wrestles at the Vashon Island tournament Friday.
Coronel, a sophomore, was picked as the Roughrider Wrestler of the Week for Dec. 17-22.
Coronel followed up his one-point finals loss a week ago by going 5-0 this week with five pins.
“He continues to improve each and every week, and has only lost twice so far this season,” Port Angeles coach Erik Gonzalez said.
“Roberto is also a strong student in the classroom.”
Gold Wrestler of the Week for Port Angeles is sophomore La Fritz while sophomore Andrew Harrelson was picked as the Silver Wrestler of the Week.
Boys Basketball
Neah Bay 91, Oakville 68
NEAH BAY — Leyton Doherty led five players in double figures with 17 as the Red Devils improved to 4-1 on the year with the nonleague victory Saturday.
Joining Doherty in double figures were Abraham Venske and Josiah Greene with 14 each, Tyler McCaulley with 12 and Jongi Claplanhoo with 10.
Ryan Moss led on the boards with seven while Venske and McCaulley hauled down six each.
The Red Devils won the turnover war as Zeke Greene had a game-high seven steals while Josiah Greene and Venske had five each.
Venske also dished out four assists.
Oakville’s Gary Ortivez led everybody with 22 points on 6 of 11 3-pointers while teammate Geo Jack had 19 points on 4 of 8 long-distance shots.
In addition, Neah Bay won its third game of the season by pounding Mary M. Knight 71-49 at home Friday night.
Moss led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points while Venske swished in 12 and Doherty had 11.
Neah Bay 91, Oakville 68
Oakville 15 14 14 25— 68
Neah Bay 27 28 19 17— 91
Individual scoring
Oakville (68)
Ortivez 22, Jack 19, M. Youckton 10, Bliss 2, Trott 6, Lopez 5, S. Youckton 4.
Neah Bay (91)
Doherty 17, Venske 14, J. Greene 14, McCaulley 12, Claplanhoo 10, McGee 2, Z. Greene 4, Moss 8, Buttram 2, Reamer 8.
Neah Bay 71, Mary Knight 49
Mary Knight 7 14 13 15— 49
Neah Bay 12 25 18 16— 71
Individual scoring
Mary M. Knight (49)
O’Neil 5, Willey 8, C. Thompson 7, Jimenez 4, A. Thompson 7, Robeeker 7, Dierkop 7, Adsero 4.
Neah Bay (71)
Doherty 11, Venske 12, J. Greene 5, McCaulley 6, Z. Greene 9, Moss 15, Reamer 3, Royster 2, Halttunen 7.
Girls Basketball
Neah Bay 66, Oakville 39
NEAH BAY — The Red Devils remained perfect on the year at 5-0 with the nonleague win Saturday.
Cierra Moss sparked Neah Bay with 19 points while Faye Chartraw added 10.
Neah Bay jumped out to a 26-10 first-quarter lead and never looked back.
Chartraw led with 11 rebounds while Blaire Hill brought down 10.
Moss had a team-high four steals.
Earlier in the weekend, the Red Devils ripped Mary M. Knight 71-39 in nonleague competition Friday night.
Moss scorched the nets for 22 points while Chartraw netted 14 and Merrissa Murner added 11.
Kaela Tyler wasn’t far behind with nine points.
Neah Bay 66, Oakville 39
Oakville 10 7 8 14— 39
Neah Bay 26 6 19 15— 66
Individual scoring
Oakville (39)
Moore 2, Arrequin 4, Hawkes 7, Starr 2, Daniels 7, Maass 7.
Neah Bay (66)
Moss 19, Chartraw 10, Hill 6, Haily Greene 7, Tyler 4, Holly Greene 7, Murner 8, Jimmicum 5.
Neah Bay 73, Mary Knight 39
Mary Knight 10 7 8 14— 39
Neah Bay 19 15 25 14— 73
Individual scoring
Mary M. Knight (39)
Valley 3, Sowle 12, Adsero 9, Dierkop 5, Frost 10.
Neah Bay (73)
Moss 22, Chartraw 14, Doherty 5, Hill 2, Haily Greene 3, Tyler 9, Holly Greene 4, Murner 11, McCary-Corpuz 3.