Needing two wins in their last three matches — and knowing they’d be forfeiting one of those without a wrestler at 285 pounds — to beat Bremerton, Sequim’s Wolves got clutch pins from grapplers big and small.
Sequim’s John Prorok turned a tight 215-pound weight class match into a third period pin over Bremerton’s Cole Sanford, and teammate Brandon Bair followed with a come-from-behind pin of Bremerton’s Makhi Marion to pull off an unexpected 38-33 league win over the Knights on Jan. 10.
Sequim added a 43-30 win over cross-peninsula rival Port Angeles in the nightcap to sweep the double-dual meet at Rick Kaps Gymnasium, and improve to 3-0 in league action.
“It was cool; what was neat there was, we’re a team (and) everybody is an element of that team. At any time anybody can come through,” Sequim coach Steve Chinn said.
Bair came into the match with four wins on the season, Prorok with two.
“Both of them had to win for us to win,” Chinn said. “That’s what made it so exciting; they’re not the usual suspects. To have those guys win … all of a sudden, it kind of lit us up.”
Cayden Beauregard, ranked No. 4 in the state (washingtonwrestlingreport.com) at 113 pounds, was one of three Wolves to pick up two wins on the mat, dominating a match with Noah’s Noah Gregor, 16-4, and earning nine takedowns in a win over Port Angeles’ Kolby Helvey.
Also picking up two wins were James Mason, who edged Bremerton’s Matt Chichester 7-4 and pinned Nicholas Park of Port Angeles in the second period at 150 pounds, and Ari Skov, ranked No. 14 at 175 pounds, earned pins of Bremerton’s Troyor Kealoha and Port Angeles’ AJ Martinez in the first and second periods, respectively.
Following Beauregard’s match at 113 pounds, Bremerton won three consecutive weight classes before SHS’s Riley Downs picked up a key 13-12 win over Yzahr Fang at 138 pounds and Jayms Vilona topped Logan Mulnar, 10-2, at 144, followed by Mason’s win over Chichester.
The teams battled back and forth, trading points before Prorok’s match with Sanford, which featured multiple reversals and culminated in Prorok’s pin late in the match.
Sequim conceded six points to the Knights with a forfeit at 285 pounds, setting up Bair’s deciding match at 106 pounds.
The Wolves’ bench erupted following Bair’s win-by-pin.
Chinn said SHS lost some energy after that as they headed into their second match against the Rouhriders.
“(To go) back to back and maintain that high is really difficult,” he said. “It wasn’t until the end (against Port Angeles) until things started to pick up.”
Sequim got an early lead with Ryan Spelker’s pin of Faye Dachs at 120 pounds and Johnny Vilona’s 10-3 win over Cash Coleman, but the Roughriders rebounded with three wins in a row, two by pin.
Mason and James Smith followed with pins for Sequim, with Smith’s coming in the third period against Ronan Maguire at 157 pounds.
The teams split the rest of the upper eights, with Skov and Dylan Bowen (a 13-4 win over Hunter Blore at 190 pounds) picking up wins for Sequim.
The Wolves capped the match with a forfeit win at 106 and Beauregard’s second victory.
Following the match, the Wolves set out an extra chair for Charles (“Chad”) Cate, the Sequim High varsity coach and Clallam County Fire District 3 captain who died in January 2023 while at work
“It’s still in the back of their minds, and something that really drives (many of them),” Chinn said.
Winners at Island Invite
Beauregard and Skov picked up top-three finishes at the Island Invitational on Bainbridge Island on Jan. 13.
Beauregard, wrestling up a weight class at 120 pounds, went 3-0 with two pins to take first place, Chinn noted, while Skov wrestled strong at 175 pounds and placed third.
Full results were not available at press time.
Looking ahead
Sequim takes on 3A Bainbridge and 2A powerhouse North Kitsap on the road on Jan. 17, and is slated to host East Jefferson in an Olympic League match on Jan. 18.
The Wolves are back on the road for the 16-team End of Days Classic tournament at Lakes High School in Tacoma on Jan. 20.
Sequim caps the regular season with league matches at North Mason (against Olympic and the host Bulldogs) on Jan. 24 and at East Jefferson on Jan. 26.
The Wolves host the first postseason tournament of the season, a sub-regional tourney scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3, that sees top finishers move on to regionals the following week.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Ari Skov, top, gets a pin of Bremerton’s Troyor Kealoha at 175 pounds in an Olympic League match on Jan. 10. Skov was 2-0 on the evening, also earning a pin against Port Angeles’ AJ Martinez.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell Sequim’s John Prorok, left, takes down Bremerton’s Cole Sanford in the 215-pound weight class of an Olympic League match on Jan. 10. in Sequim.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Ryan Spelker, left, works to pin Port Angeles’ Faye Dachs in the 120-pound weight class in an Olympic League match in Sequim on Jan. 10.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Johnny Vilona, left, wrestles Port Angeles’ Cash Coleman in the 126-pound weight class of an Olympic League match on Jan. 10.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Jayms Vilona gets congratulated by teammates after a win over his Bremerton foe on Jan. 10.
Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Sequim’s Brandon Bair, top, grapples with Bremerton’s Makhi Marion at 10-6 pounds. Bair’s come-from-behind pin in the match’s final individual pairing helped Sequim win by five points.
