STANWOOD Four heavyweight wrestlers, four straight wins for Arlington to start their match against the Stanwood Spartans.
The big men got out and gave Arlington a 21-0 lead in their clash with Stanwood Jan. 22 effectively putting the match out of reach for the Spartans. Arlington held on for a 44-14 win.
In the night opener, Jordan Anderson won a critical 189 pound match-up over Denver Colin.
I knew he was good, said Anderson afterward. He smashed my teeth in the first round and that got me all fired up. Coach told me that was their best wrestler.
Anderson won a 7-4 decision that fired up the entire Arlington bench. Richard Perkins then came out and pinned Kasey Pedroza in just over one minute of the first round. The 215 pound Perkins controlled the mat from start to finish and never was threatened.
Leading 9-0 on overall points the Eagles got another pin from heavyweight Mark Davis. Davis continued his strong run this season by stopping Bret Sams 50 seconds into their match.
At 103 pounds Jason Johnson followed the heavyweights with a pin of his own. He locked Dustin Gentry into a cradle in the third round of a close match, flipping Gentry over and onto his back at 4:35 of the match. Steven White also won for the lightweights at 130, nearly pinning Garret Seegmiller in the first round, but settling for a minor decision, 12-7, on points.
Nathan Shortt won again for the Eagles at 135, beginning his match with Erik Fina with a single leg takedown and dominating from the up position the entire six minutes. Shortt eventually won 6-2 on points.
The middle weights also came through for the Eagles with four straight wins to close the match. Dom Mangini put in a workman-like performance in a 4-1 victory over Drew Barquist. Mangini and Barquist struggled through the entire first round with nobody finding the right combination for a takedown until the very end. Mangini snuck a two-point takedown in just before the buzzer to lead 2-0 and take a big psychological edge into round two. From there the match became a war of attrition and although Mangini did allow one escape, he followed it up with his second takedown, enough to seal the win.
At 152 Jesse Bosley came out on fire for the Eagles. He shot the legs of Joe Eidsness from the opening whistle and completed a takedown and near fall. The match never looked in question as Bosley controlled Eidsness the entire six minutes, winning easily 9-1.
Chris Myers didnt need six minutes to wrap up his match at 160 pounds. He took all of 1:08 to totally dispense of Stanwoods Hans Stangeland. Myers took control immediately and twisted Stangeland onto his back early. It was only a matter of time before Myers secured the pin, which he did to capture a full six points for Arlington.
In the nights last match Arlingtons Houston Huber didnt have any trouble either, winning comfortably 7-0 over Loren Johnson.
It was a typical rivalry match, said Coach Doug Byers. Every match was close. We didnt let them pin us once and that turned out to be the difference. Thats about as good as we could expect to wrestle. The heavyweights have become the studs of this team. Jordans win at 189 set the tone for the whole match.
Arlington moves to 5-2 in league, 13-3 overall.