Terry Rogers has a Ketchikan wrester on his back
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The Sitka High Wolves wrestling team evened the score with Mt. Edgecumbe Friday night.
Sitka beat the Braves 32-30 in a back-and-forth dual that was won on the strength of the Wolves' light and middleweight wrestlers.
At this point in the season, Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe appear to be the top two 3A teams in the region. In fact, both local teams beat Ketchikan this weekend, so the 3A-4A classification might be moot in Southeast wrestling this season.
Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe have wrestled twice so far this season, with the matches decided by a total of 5 points. In 28 total bouts over the two matches, each team has won 14.
Edgecumbe took a 33-30 win last month, but Sitka got the best of the action Friday night at SHS.
The Braves and Wolves are scheduled to meet twice this month as the wrestling season winds its way toward the Region V tournament on Dec. 5.
Cameron O'Neill sealed the win for the Wolves Friday with a pin at 112.
The match started at 119, and Sitka jumped out to a big lead in the early going. But Edgecumbe once again stormed back on the Wolves and a pin by Jaylin Prince in the 285-pound match gave the Braves their first lead of the night at 27-26.
Fritz Guy won for Edgecumbe at 103, but the Braves' 30-26 lead was erased by O'Neill's pin.
The match came amidst a regional dual tournament hosted by SHS that saw Sitka and Edgecumbe face teams from around Southeast.
Craig looks like the third-best 3A team in Southeast, and Edgecumbe downed the Panthers 39-26.
Sitka topped Craig 38-29.
With wrestling under way on three mats Friday night, Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe met on the west side of the SHS gym.
Chris Clement (119) and William Patrick (125) got things started for the Wolves with pins and John Davis (130) followed with a 9-2 win over Nelson Kanuk that gave Sitka a 15-0 lead.
The Wolves went up 23-0 after V.J. Carlos beat Ian Sia 10-7 at 135 and Alex Kernin scored a late takedown on Michael Matthew that put the Sitka 140-pounder up 19-4. With a 15-point margin, Kernin earned a technical fall and added 5 points to the Sitka total.
The match between Carlos and Sia was back and forth for three periods, and the tide may have turned in Sitka's favor with the Wolves' taking 8 points in the 135 and 140 pounds matches.
Mt. Edgecumbe finally got on the scoreboard with a 7-3 win by Zach Ivaoff over David Erickson at 145.
Terry Rogers followed with a 9-3 win over Derek Jones at 152 that left the score at 23-6. But avoiding a pin at the hands of the talented Rogers was a victory for Jones, who saved Sitka three points.
SHS coach John Hedden called the tech fall by Kernin and the effort by Jones to avoid getting pinned the ``turning points in our victory.''
The margin between Sitka and Edgecumbe is razor thin at this juncture in the wrestling season, at least in duals.
It's hard to predict how it will all shake out in a bracketed tournament.
Conner Forrey won for Sitka at 160, beating Levi Kvasnikoff 13-9, but Edgecumbe followed with four straight wins to take the lead.
Stefan Weingarth and Donovan Phillip took forfeits at 171 and 189, and Adam Iyapana beat Robert Pountney 13-10 to pull Sitka within 5 at 26-21.
The wins by Prince and Guy put Edgecumbe ahead, but O'Neill sealed the match for Sitka with his pin at 112.
As was the case when the teams met last month, Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka each won seven bouts in the match.
Kimber will take a group of wrestlers to Wrangell for a regional tournament this weekend.
Match Results For Mt. Edgecumbe, four wrestlers qualified for the all-star dual: Terry Rogers (152), Jaylin Prince (215), Stefan Weingarth (171) and Adam Iyapana (189).
Rogers beat Haines' Jesse Piper in overtime and Iyapana won by a point at 189.
Weingarth lost 11-1 to a wrestler from Thunder Mountain that he had previously beaten, while Prince faced Tyler Thain at 215. Thain is the top-ranked 3A wrestler in the state at 189, but bumped to challenge Prince and end up winning 4-3 in what some called the match of the night.
MEHS coach Mike Kimber said it was the first time all year that Prince had been pushed.
``It could have gone either way,'' Kimber said.
Fritz Guy, Edgecumbe 103-pounder, was on the outside looking in during the all-star dual as Ian Rud of Kayhi and Tanner Thain of Craig battled it out.
Kimber said Guy easily could have been in the match. Earlier in the day he lost 14-7 to Thain, the fourth-ranked 3A wrestler in the state at 103 and the best in the region.
Kimber said Guy is ``catching up'' to Thain.