One of the most high-flying wrestlers in the area continued to put up points on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers 126-pounder Benito Escalera piled up several takedowns and back points en route to winning his weight class at the Centralia Tiger Classic.
Escalera, a state placer last winter in Class 2B, is unbeaten with Christmas approaching. His first three wins were all 19-4 tech falls, then he upended Elma’s Aidyn Johnson 11-6 in the finals, rallying down 6-0.
Hunter Van Der Hoeff (138) also was victorious behind a pin, tech fall, forfeit win the semifinals before pinning Rochester’s Liam Walter in 3 minutes, 10 seconds in the finals. Adrian Hernandez Ceja (113), Dobah Denetclaw (138) placed third while Enzo Monte (150) was fourth for the Tigers.
Centralia placed seventh in the team race with 115.5 points, the highest local team. Rochester (10th), Black Hills (12th), Onalaska (14th) and Rochester (15th) all had at least one top-four finisher.
Returning Class 2A runner-up at 106 Roberto Rivera-Jesus picked up his first tournament win for the Wolves, securing three bonus point wins. Rorek Foss (132) and Max Whitehall (285) rebounded from semifinal losses to place top-four.
Alongside Walter, Rochester’s Maddox King (144) and Chris Tartios (190) also were runners-up on the day. Mossyrock’s Kyle Brockway (215) placed second after getting pinned in the finals while Adna’s Cash Laufenberg (126) and Onalaska’s Wyatt Gose (190) both finished fourth.
Rainier’s Roberts finishes second down south
Heavyweight Blake Roberts pocketed another finals appearance at a weekend tournament for the Mountaineers, but dropped an 11-5 decision to Wapato’s Nathan Gutierrez to place second at Saturday’s La Center Invite.
With 79 points on the day, Rainier placed seventh in the team race. Three other wrestlers – Dorien Cano (175), Dominic Cano (190) and Addison Poole (144) – all finished in the top-four.
Tumwater sees four wrestlers go far in loaded Wilfong Classic
The Thunderbirds had three of their lightweights make the semifinals only for them to go 0-3, but rebounded with top-six placements at Saturday’s Wilfong Classic. Alejandro Concepcion at 138 was their highest finisher in fourth place.
Adnan Elyvy (113) and Collin McPherson (132) placed sixth while Brandon Major (157) won three of four backside matches to secure fifth place.
