FORKS — It was senior night, but by no means did the Forks wrestling team schedule an easy opponent in order to stoke the celebration.
Instead, the Spartans invited the burly Montesano Bulldogs to town and dared them to ruin their party.
Recently ranked as high as second in the state, Montesano represented top-tier competition but was nonetheless dispatched by the hometown squad by a team score of 43-28 in Thursday’s Evergreen League meet.
“They have a lot of really tough kids,” Forks coach Robert Wheeler said of the Bulldogs. “But so do we.”
Still, Wheeler had to admit that, “They beat some of our best ones.”
Despite the quality of competition, there were aspects of the team’s effort that did not sit well with the Spartan’s coach.
“Overall, yes, there were some problems,” Wheeler said.
“The biggest thing I’m seeing is we haven’t really had the consistency that we need. We have a lot of very talented wrestlers. We cover for each other well, but we still haven’t had everybody put it together on the same night.”
The night certainly started off slowly for the Spartans, as they lost their first two matches and went down 6-0 to the Bulldogs before a forfeit at 182 pounds handed Jack Dahlgren a victory and Forks tits first six points of the night.
Forks followed that with a forfeit of its own in the next weight class, but Dahlgren issued a challenge to Montesano’s 195-pounder, Aavin Howell.
Challenge sets tone
In a low-scoring but exhilarating exhibition match with no official bearing on the meet’s outcome, Dahlgren defeated his larger opponent in three overtime rounds with a skillful two-point escape that secured a 3-1 victory.
That fierce match and underdog victory seemed to set a new tone for the Spartans, who consistently bloodied their opponent’s noses all evening.
Miguel Morales claimed a decisive 10-1 victory over Taylor Runez at 220 pounds, while Marianna Gomez notched a second-round pin over Shyylah Heisen in the second round of their 106-pound bout.
Alvaro Ortiz mustered a 4-1 decision over Tyler Izatt at 113 pounds and Saul Olivio claimed a second-round pin in the 126-pound heat, putting the team score at 25-24 in favor of Forks.
What followed next was the most dramatic match of the night, featuring Garrison Schumack and Jacob Izatt at 138 pounds.
Izatt took an early two-point lead on a takedown, but Garrison countered shortly thereafter with a spectacular flip out of an escape that likely would have scored a near fall or pin had his opponent not landed out of the ring.
On the flip side, Izatt made a steady run of his own, but after lagging behind 5-1, Schumack went on the attack.
With 45 seconds left in the second frame, Schumack engineered a nifty near fall takedown that netted him five points and his first lead.
An illegal hands penalty on Schumack at the end of the second round proved his peaking intensity but also handed Izatt a point to even the match at 6-all.
Undeterred, Schumack pulled off a three-point take down reversal for a 9-6 lead to begin what would have been the final frame, but Izatt clawed his way back to even with an escape and a desperate reversal with 20 seconds left to knot the contest at 9-9 and force overtime.
Acting as if the first three rounds were a mere warm up, Schumack promptly pinned his Bulldog of an opponent in the first overtime jostle.
Javier Contreras then scored a second round pin over Carson Klinger and Kenny Gale put a bow on the festivities with a first round pin over Caylebb Heisen.
After the team victory, Wheeler was happy to recollect on his senior class.
“These seniors we have are the same ones we have been counting on since they were freshman,” he said.
Wheeler then had to correct himself, “Well, besides Miguel [Morales], who just started wrestling three years ago. What he’s been able to do is basically unheard of.”
Mysterious Morales
Morales, for his part, was keen to play coy about his weight classification going forward. This season he has been fluctuating match to match between the heavyweight and 220-pound class.
“It’s an unknown so far,” Morales said. “Keep ’em guessing.”
In spite of his senior big man’s razor sharp mental games, Wheeler was adamant that his team could improve its overall mental toughness.
“We’ve got to get there for state,” Wheeler said.
Last year the Spartans took second at the Mat Classic.
Forks’ senior wrestlers honored before the match include Morales, Contreras, Sebastian Morales, Dimitri Sampson, Kimberly Barragan, Gomez, Brooke Peterson and Tristan Williams.
Alisha Chase, Brooke Jacoby, and Daryl Maxfield III are all senior managers for the Spartans.
Forks (9-2) will travel to Aberdeen for matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 20-21.
