After taking a 30-19 advantage in overall points, the Tigers saw their lead slip away in the boys wrestling dual meet against the Prairie Falcons on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
With one match to go, the Falcons had a 32-30 advantage, and the fate of the match depended on the 175-pound clash between Battle Ground’s Peyton Moore and Prairie’s Johnathan Turanov.
In dramatic fashion, Moore pinned Turanov to give the Tigers the 36-32 victory over the district rival Prairie Falcons.
“He is the hero of the night,” Battle Ground head coach Jake Motzkus said of Moore. “I talked to him right before he stepped onto the mat … and I said, ‘Hey, this is the moment. It rises or falls on you, so you have to go out and be here for the moment.’ And he did, he made me so proud.”
Prior to the 175-pound match, Prairie went on a three-match run to improve from 19 to 32 points, while the Tigers were held to 30 team points.
The Tigers had little room for error in the meet. Battle Ground won seven matches with only one by forfeit in the 106-pound weight class and five by pin. While the Falcons also won seven matches, they secured fewer team points by having three pins.
“I circled the guys on my sheet that have a story behind something they did really well for the team, and I circled and squared [Moore],” Motzkus added.
The Tiger girls varsity wrestlers defeated the Falcons with a team score of 12-9 prior to the boys varsity match. Also completing the Tiger sweep of Prairie was the junior varsity squad’s team score win of 33-24.
“We’re in a building phase, and we’re not where we were last year, but we are showing so much improvement,” Motzkus said. “I was an assistant coach last year under Carl Johnson. We had a really young team, real inexperienced team, and we had some club kids come in as new talent as freshmen this year.”
Andrew Gray, competing in the 132-pound weight class, and Motzkus’ son Zack, competing in the 126-pound weight class, come in as freshmen with years of club wrestling experience. A couple of other wrestlers on the team have helped bolster the talent and grow the program under the first-year coach.
“Isaiah Rogers, who couldn’t wrestle last year because of a medical condition, … he’s a great wrestler and he’s now full-steam ahead,” Motzkus said. “And then Braiden Romine who is our 157 … he was ineligible last year because of the transition he made from a different school, but now he’s wrestling for us, and so it just kind of feels like it’s all coming together, and I’m super excited.”
Earlier in the season, on Saturday, Dec. 2, the Tigers won the Wyatt Draper Invitational at Ridgefield High School with a team score of 172.5.
The Tigers now face a packed schedule featuring some big tournaments in the region.
On Dec. 9, the Tigers participated in the 30th Annual La Center Wildcat Wrestling Invitational, but results were unavailable at time of print. They next compete in the Hammerhead Invitational on Friday, Dec. 15 and Saturday, Dec. 16 in Bremerton. Locally, the Tigers will participate in the Pac Coast wrestling tournament at the Clark County Event Center on Thursday, Dec. 21 and Friday, Dec. 22.
The Falcons headed up north to Fife for a tournament on Saturday, Dec. 9, but results were unavailable at time of print. They will also compete in the Hammerhead Invitational.
