All nine of Zillah’s participants contributed points to their team total of 127, outpacing 3rd place Warden by 25.5 points, but a distant 87 points behind team champion Orting. Seven Leopards won their matches in the first round of competition, only Freshman Cortes Hernandez and Sophomore Sergio Sanchez were defeated. Hernandez lost in overtime and Sanchez was pinned in the second period. Sanchez came back in the afternoon session to pin his opponent, but then met an old adversary. Sanchez had lost twice by pin to Warden’s Sam Suarez on the previous Saturday in the Regional Tourney and Suarez pinned Sergio again to end his season. Hernandez however bounced back with two victories on Friday, 5-1 & 6-5.

The quarterfinal round on Friday afternoon didn’t fare as well for the Leopards. While Skylor Davis, Chris Castillo and Kane Koerner were victorious, Rodney Treece and John Myers lost by pin and Kyle Kluever and Nathaniel Deardorf were beaten on points.  Treece and Deardorff then scored pins in loser-out matches. Myers scored a dramatic victory, tied 2-2, John got an escape and a takedown in the final minute for a 5-2 victory. Kyle Kluever was unable to advance in his loser-out match losing 10-7.

Day two of the tournament also saw its share of ups and downs. Davis, Castillo and Koerner were all successful in their bids to reach the championship match. Deardoff and Myers both scored their way to wins in their opening matches Saturday. But Treece was pinned in his Saturday opener and Hernandez was beaten 10-9. Hernandez’s two losses in the tourney were by a total of 3 points. The losses sent Hernandez and Treece into the 7th and 8th place match, where they were both triumphant.

For Myers and Deardorff, the wins meant they needed still one more victory for the right to wrestle for third place. Both pinned their next opponents to advance to the final round. Myers would score yet another pin,  his third pin of the tourney. Deardorff’s third place match was a bit more dramatic, the match went scoreless for nearly the entire time. It wasn’t until the final 30 seconds or so that Deardorff was able to take his opponent to his back and score near-fall points for the final 3-0 score.

Skylor Davis would meet undefeated Antonio Brown of Orting in the finals. Both wrestlers were highly touted and it was most anticipated match of the entire 1A tourney. They would live up to the anticipation! An exciting back and forth match that saw both wrestlers taking their turn in control of the other. With the clock winding down and Davis in control with an 11-8 lead, Brown was able to pull a reversal with 11 seconds left to pull the score to 11-10. But Davis was able to stall out the final seconds to earn his second State Title. The placing gave Skylor his fourth for his career, none lower than 3rd. Davis finished his career with a school record 145 victories.

Skylor Davis and Kyle Kluever were also honored as Academic State Champions, for having the highest GPA’s in their weight classes.

Kane Koerner’s bid for a State Championship would come to an abrupt end, in the finals. His opponent Taylor Meeks also of Orting had not let an opponent into the second round in the tournament. Unfortunately Kane was no exception, Meeks was like a buzz saw in his four matches- destroying opponents as quickly as they could face him. Meeks total time on the mat in the tournament was less than the total time of a match that goes the distance- 5 minutes 10 seconds. Koerner had also been impressive on his way to the finals, scoring pins in both his opening match and the semifinal as well as a 4-0 shutout in the quarterfinals. It was the third trip to State for the Senior and the second time he had brought home a medal from the Mat Classic.

Junior Chris Castillo would put his perfect record on the line against Tanner Bolt of Kettle Falls. Castillo would again be impressive earning a 9-4 victory, to become Zillah’s only 3-time State Champion in school history. This left the door open for Chris to become a four time champion.

It was an impressive season for the Leopards, but what has been most impressive is to see the team’s emergence under coach Mike Gonzales. Three years ago Skylor Davis was the Zillah’s lone participant in the Mat Classic. This season nine Leopards made the trip and all contributed at least one win towards their second place point total.

Three of Zillah’s State Tournament Medalists will graduate this spring- Skylor Davis, John Myers and Kane Koerner. They have all had great careers at Zillah High School and all three have brought home hardware from the Mat Classic at least twice.

It was also impressive to see the Zillah fans that turned out at the Dome for the boys! But not near as impressive as when those same fans cheered entusiastically when Granger’s Pete Almaguer pinned his opponent to win the 285 lb. Championship! That was class! Class that the Leopards carried onto the mat and into the stands. Great season Leopards and Leopard fans, now give yourselves a hand for such a wonderful achievement!

VIDEO

Skylor Davis Wins Championship

Chris Castillo wins Championship

Kane Koerner Finals match

John Myers pin to take 3rd

John Myers pins Naches Valley’s Ashton Gottchalk

Nathaniel Deardorff dramatic 3-2 victory to take 3rd

Rodney Treece overtime victory to claim 7th

Cortes Hernandez takes 7th