Grudge match

WASILLA — On a tense Thursday night at Colony High School filled with intrigue, the Knights defeated bitter rival Wasilla for the first time in school history.

The defending state class 4A champions entered their home gym with all the fanfare befitting the state’s top wrestling program, emerging from a fog-filled tunnel to a pulsating beat provided by the school’s drum corps. Draped in their trademark robes, the Knights looked the part of Alaska’s heavyweight champs, and wasted little time proving it against the Warriors, whose run of three consecutive state titles ended with Colony’s win last season.

Colony 130-pounder Sam Loggins started the show with an 18-1 technical fall over Derek Johnson, a match that was quickly followed by a 14-0 shutout major decision by Aaron Boss over Chris Gross at 135.

Josh West then got into the act, picking up a technical fall of his own with a 16-0 thumping of David Muzechuk at 140.

Colony coach Fred McKinney said the big win was a testament to his squad’s talent this season.

“56-6 was it?” McKinney said. “You can’t be unhappy with that.”

Wasilla’s Jake Marshall kept things close at 145, but still fell 6-1 to Levi Krueger at 145 to give the Knights a 17-0 lead in the dual through the first four matches.

Next up, David Crozier made it 5-for-5 with a major decision over James Langendorf at 152 pounds.

Mack Gagnon nearly broke through against former teammate Chris Olivera at 160, but could not escape the Colony wrestler’s grip in the final seconds to drop a 3-2 decision and put Colony up 24-0.

The match opened with both wrestlers landing heavy-handed slaps to the other’s head, resulting in an early caution to both from referee Matt Welk. Gagnon’s first-round takedown — the only one of the match — held up until the third period, when Olivera picked up three late back exposure points, then rode Gagnon out to seal the win.

“I guess he just had more energy to put into it,” Gagnon said.

The Olivera-Gagnon showdown was the first time the two had met in high school competition. That’s partly because Olivera wrestled at Wasilla his freshman year before transferring as a sophomore, and partly because the two schools hadn’t met in dual meet competition in four seasons.

Why?

Not an easy question.

McKinney said he prefers the dual meet format because it’s more appealing to the fans than traditional tournaments, which typically drag out over two days.

“It builds team spirit, builds school spirit. Win or lose, you can make a show out of it, have the band there, give away stuff, make a fun thing out of it. That’s what duals should look like,” he said.

Thursday’s dual, indeed, was plenty exciting despite the lopsided score, with a large, boisterous crowd, hip-hop dancers and a Knight mascot decked out in full armor.

Such an electric atmosphere would seem ripe for a yearly grudge match, but for whatever reason, the two schools haven’t been able to find a way to make it happen in recent years.

McKinney blamed Wasilla for ducking his program in hopes of keeping its perfect record against the Knights intact.

“They’ve always found a way not to wrestle us,” he said.

Not so, said Wasilla head coach Shawn Hayes.

“If you look at the schedules, they actually did not come to two duals they were scheduled for when we were winning state titles the last two years,” he said.

Wasilla 171-pounder Casey Katchinska finally got the Warriors on the board in the seventh match of the evening, leading the entire was en route to a 15-8 decision over Tyler Milner.

Any momentum Katchinska’s win may have generated was quashed by three successive Colony pins. Angelo Bellotte (189), Eric Fan (215) and Jeff Pritchett (285) all picking up six-point falls.

“They just have a tough team,” Katchinska said.

Charles Coisman’s 6-3 win over Michael Spano at 103 pounds was followed by two forfeits, giving the Knights a 56-3 lead.

Mike Chafin enabled the Warriors to end the night on a positive note, picking up a dramatic triple-overtime win over Zach Beauchamp when Beauchamp was called for a false start with the score tied 5-5 in sudden death.

“I knew it was going to be a pretty tough match,” Chafin said.

Chafin sent the match into a third overtime with an escape in the second overtime that caught pretty much everyone off guard. With Chafin trailing by a point and wrestling from the down position off a re-start, the Wasilla wrestler leaped to his feet with little visible resistance from Beauchamp. Both wrestlers looked stunned, staring at each other for a moment before continuing on with the score tied.

“His arm was not in the right position, so I kind of hesitated and that made him hesitate and then I just stood up,” Chafin said. “We both thought there should have been a whistle for a caution or something, but…”

Like the physical match at 160 between Gagnon and Olivera — not to mention the verbal sparring off the mat — the Chafin-Beauchamp bout also featured a couple stiff jabs from each party, with Chafin awarded a point when Beauchamp’s fisticuffs were deemed over the line.

Chafin said he didn’t intend to start anything.

“I normally do a head tap and that one came in a little harder than normal, and then he came back at me,” Chafin said.

The Wasilla wrestler said he didn’t blame Beauchamp for returning fire.

“Oh no,” he said. “That’s wrestling.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

Colony 56, Wasilla 6

103 — Charles Coisman, Col, dec. Michael Spano, Was, 6-2

112 — Matt Vukizh, Col, won by forfeit

119 — Kyle Wilson, Col, won by forfeit

125 — Mike Chafin, Was, dec. Zach Beauchamp, Col, 6-5 (3OT)

130 — Sam Loggins, Col, tech. Derek Johnson, Was, 18-1

135 — Aaron Boss, Col, maj. dec. Chris Gross, Was, 14-0

140 — Josh West, Col, tech. David Muzechuk, Was, 16-0

145 — Levi Krueger, Col, dec. Jake Marshall, Was, 6-1

152 — David Crozier, Col, maj. dec. James Langendorf, Was, 13-2

160 — Chris Olivera, Col, dec. Mack Gagnon, Was, 3-2

171 — Casey Katchinska, Was, dec. Tyler Milner, Col, 15-8

189 — Angelo Bellotte, Col, fall Matt Kinley, Was, 1:26

215 — Eric Fan, Col, fall Beebo Russell, Was, :50

285 — Jeff Pritchett, Col, fall Jed Johnson, Was, second round