PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles’ lighter wrestlers carried much of the weight for the Roughriders in a 46-34 dual meet victory over Olympic with the Olympic League title on the line Thursday night.
Up six points entering the final weight class of the night, Port Angeles senior Daniel Basden dominated his 120-pound match from the start, earning a pin at 3:17 to seal the Riders first league championship since the 2014-15 season and end the Trojans’ (5-1) three-season reign atop the league standings.
Daniel Basden gets the pin at 120 pounds in the final match of the night as Port Angeles beats Olympic 46-34 to earn its first Olympic League title since 2014. pic.twitter.com/cdt4swSNKW
— Michael Carman (@MikeCarmanPDN) January 25, 2019
Basden, ranked fourth in Class 2A at 126 pounds by Washington Wrestling Report, cut down to 120 pounds for Thursday night’s meet, sacrificing himself for the betterment of the team to fill an open weight class.
“Daniel wrestled 120 tonight and he had to lose 1.5 pounds [Thursday] to get there and if he didn’t make it, we would have had to forfeit that weight,” head coach Rob Gale said. “He’s a captain, he knew what it was going to take. So thanks to Daniel they are sitting where they are.”
It was the first championship as head coach for Gale, in his second season in charge of the program after serving as an assistant for previous coaches Brent Wasche and Erik Gonzalez.
“It means a lot, it really does,” Gale said of the senior night victory. “It’s something that I’ve been dreaming about. We knew it was going to come down to this and these kids have shown their heart. I’ve loved the focus these kids have shown. They are giving us coaches [hard work with] every second of our time and that’s what it is.”
Josh Boe opened the meet trailing Olympic’s Tayden Toledo 7-2 in the 126-pound weight class but changed the momentum of the bout by regaining his feet, getting a hold on Toledo’s leg and sending him to the mat in the second period. Boe followed by gaining control of Toledo’s right arm, turning him, and picking up the pin at 3:03.
“It did give us some momentum at the start,” Gale said. “Josh Boe was probably wrestler of the match. Experience-wise, that kid [Toledo] had a little more mat time. Josh came out from behind and did a tremendous job to get us off to a good start.”
Adam Borde followed by thoroughly controlling his 132-pound match to earn a 10-0 major decision win and stake the Riders to a 10-0 lead.
“He rode him tough,” Gale said. “Adam didn’t give him any space and he just grinded that match out.”
A major decision win by Olympic at 138 pounds closed the gap to 10-4, and despite wrestling the most entertaining and high scoring match of the evening, Port Angeles freshman Gavin DeVore was pinned at 3:17 to knot the score at 10-all.
“Every time he wrestles he throws points up on the board,” Gale said of DeVore. “There were 20-something points up there after the first period. He’s young, he’s a freshman and its hard to ask a lot from him, but he’s going to be a good one for us.”
Olympic took the lead, 16-10, with a pin at 152-pounds, but forfeit victories for Jackson Larsen (160) and Riley Gale (170) put Port Angeles back in front, 22-16.
A Trojan win by pin at 182 had the match tied up once again, but an Olympic forfeit at 195 gave Dom Timperio six points.
The Riders picked up four wins by forfeit to one forfeit win for the Trojans for a net gain of 18 points. At this point in the season, however, nearly every team is dealing with losses due to injury or academics.
In contested matches, the Trojans did edge the Riders by a count of five wins to four.
And senior Trevor Shumway stepped up a weight class or two to easily win with a pin at 53 seconds of his 220-pound match for a 34-22 Port Angeles advantage.
Shumway answered the call (actually a text), from his coach.
“I texted him earlier [Thursday] and told him I might need to bump him up to 220. We were low on kids also and at the risk of forfeiting that weight. “He texted back and said ‘Yes, coach.’ I want to repeat exactly what he said but I can’t. Hats off to Trevor. We’ve had him at 220, 195, 182 and he’s planning on dropping some weight and wrestling at 170 next week. He weighed in at 178 tonight and got a pin at 220.”
Port Angeles will host the Class 2A District 2 Sub Regional Meet at Port Angeles High School featuring Olympic League teams joined by Liberty (Renton) and Sammamish on Saturday, Feb. 2.
The Roughriders also will host the Girls Sub Regional Meet next Friday and Saturday.
