By CHERYL PRUETT

For The Beachcomber

The Vashon Pirate wrestlers closed out their regular season last week and welcome a much-needed two-week break before their post-season run.

On Thursday, Jan. 21, the Pirates hosted Cascade Christian in their last home dual meet. In front of a large and vocal home crowd, Vashon blew out the Cougars by a score of 63-12.

Cascade Christian forfeited the first four weight classes to the Pirates, along with one at 220 pounds. Vashon then forfeited to the Cougars at 285 pounds. By evening’s end, eight of 14 weight classes were actually wrestled with the Pirates winning seven of them.

Senior Shane Williams kicked things off with a win by fall in round one. Freshman Adrian St. Germain was back on the mat for the first time since Dec. 10 and looked like he never missed a day. He wrestled a brilliant match and pinned his opponent at the end of the second round. Connor Hoisington had a very even and almost blood-free match, bringing home a great 9-2 victory. Clyde Pruett won with a pin in the second round, and his brother Chester had a tense squeaker of a win, 5-3. Logan Nelson took on Cascade’s star 182-pounder, and after a close brawl for the first two rounds, he opened up his lead and won with a decisive 7-1 score. Jackson Bard threw a pretty head and arm and pinned his opponent in the first round.

On Saturday, the Vashon wrestlers competed at the Emerald Ridge Tournament in Puyallup. Of the 23 team members, only 10 were able to compete. Nelson and Clyde Pruett had to sit out due to match count restrictions, and most of the rest of the team is still sidelined by injury or an unexpected illness.

On the JV side of the tournament, the Pirates entered four. All were in the finals with two champions and two second-place finishers. Senior Franklin Easton had his first action since his injury on Dec. 10. He was dominant in his matches, and his smile lit the room. He looks to be well positioned to jump in for the post-season run. Bard was impressive in his three victories and continues to improve each week. Senior Rodolfo Flores and freshman Evan Stanford both won their first two matches before dropping their third to take second place.

Only six intrepid Vashon grapplers were entered in the varsity brackets and faced stiff competition from the huge South Puget Sound League’s best wrestlers. Freshman Payton Bonaventura and sophomore Ben Angelacos both wrestled at 106 pounds and performed exceptionally well. Senior and first-year wrestler Arthur Moore had the toughest draw for his first bout, but rebounded with a great victory in his second match.

The Pirates had three in the semi-finals: Luke Larson, Williams and Chester Pruett. All three lost their semi-final match, but rebounded in amazing fashion to each take third.

Larson won his first match 12-7, his second by fall, then got manhandled by Yelm for an 11-2 loss. In his match for third place, he was absolutely dominant throughout, crushing his Kentwood opponent. Williams built upon his success from the previous week and won a beauty of a first match against a very surprised Camas wrestler, then beat his Emerald Ridge opponent 15-3 before losing his semi-final. His match for third place was the match of the day. He was down on points at the end of rounds one and two before turning the table on his Washington counterpart and pulling off a fantastic 7-6 win. Pruett had a first round bye, won his second match by fall, then lost a heartbreaking semi-final in the last two seconds of the overtime period. His match for third place pitted him against an eye-poker from Renton. After the cornea irritation, he decided he was done wrestling for the day and pinned his opponent without further ado.

The road to the Tacoma Dome starts in the Vashon High School gym on Saturday, Feb. 6, with the sub-regional tournament. Nisqually and Olympic League teams will meet in eight-man brackets to determine who will move on to the regional competition the following week. Wrestling will begin at 9 a.m. and wrap up in the early afternoon.

This Saturday, the Vashon Grappler’s Association is hosting a fundraising bingo/poker night at the Eagles Club at 6 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

— Cheryl Pruett is the mother of two Pirate wrestlers.