Shorewood boys wrestling 1-24-2023

By Clark Norton

It was a hard fought battle between longtime foes on Tuesday night as the Shorewood Stormrays visited the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors.

The match began at 160 pounds with Shorewood’s Mak Kanzler. Kanzler brought the aggression and built an 11-2 lead before getting the pin and giving his team the opening lead. The Warriors answer in the 170 pound match with a pin of their own in the third period to tie the score.

At 182 pounds senior captain Alberto Solano wasted no time as he launched his opponent straight from his feet to his back for a lightning quick pin in just 26 seconds. The 195 pound match featured a pair of seniors in Shorewoods Matt Burns and Edway’s Reed Burmaster. Neither wrestler had any answers as the two battled to a scoreless draw after the first period. In the second round Burmaster was able to reverse Burns and get the pin to again tie the team score, 12-12.

As they have all season, Shorewood’s big boys came up large. Hunter Tibodeau and Milan Johnson each pinned their opponent in less than a minute to put the Stormrays back in front. The two of them have now combined for forty-three wins and thirty pins on the season.

Edmonds-Woodway was able to rally and took their first team lead after getting a forfeit and two pins in the next three weights. It was sophomore Masa Taura who pulled the teams back to even with a huge pin in the 126 pound bout. The home team scored a pair of 2nd round pins in the 132 and 138 pound matches, leaving Shorewood facing a 12 point deficit with just two weights to go.

At 145 pounds junior Quissett Sachs came out blazing. He took down his Warrior opponent, Sam Schimpf, and held him millimeters from a pin for most of the first period for a 5-0 lead. The 2nd period was all Edmonds as Schimpf dominated to take a 7-5 lead into the final round. Schimpf was able to finally subdue Sachs with only 13 seconds left in the bout to give Edmonds-Woodway an insurmountable 48-30 team lead.

Although the final team outcome had already been decided, the match of the night was the 152 pound bout. 

Shorewood senior captain Isaac Van Horn faced off against Edmonds-Woodway senior captain Liam Fitting. Both wrestlers made it to the state tournament last season and are looking for a medal this year. 

Fitting took advantage of a Van Horn mistake to get the first takedown. Van Horn quickly escaped and scored a takedown of his own before the first period ended for a 3-2 lead after one. In the second period Van Horn started on bottom and was able to get another escape, but Fitting got another takedown to even the score at 4-4 going into the final period. The Warrior captain started on bottom and retook the lead early in the 3rd with a reversal. 

Van Horn was able to get his third escape of the match with about one minute left to trail 6-5. Neither wrestler was able to score by the time they went out of bounds with just 11 seconds left in the match. On the restart Van Horn gave one last valiant effort and finally broke through Fitting defense to get a takedown and hold on for dear life for the three seconds.

While Edmonds-Woodway got the win, and held on to their crown as WESCO South Champions, Shorewood held their heads high and can look forward to seeing their rivals again in the postseason.

Shorewood Record: 2-2 WESCO South, 4-5 Overall

Shorewood 33 - Edmonds-Woodway 48
@ Edmonds-Woodway HS
*Match began at 160 pounds

106: Jude Haines (EW) win by forfeit
113: AP Tran (EW) pinned Owen Mulder 1:28
120: Dominic Hansen (EW) pinned Finn Bachler 0:58
126: Masa Taura (SW) pinned Dylan Rice 3:18
132: Brian Ramirez (EW) pinned Sky Klein 3:25
138: Jacob Ramos (EW) pinned James Nottingham 3:50
145: Sam Schimpf (EW) pinned Quissett Sachs 5:47
152: Isaac Van Horn (SW) dec. Liam Fitting 7-6
*160: Mak Kanzler (SW) pinned Sergio Lopez 2:53
170: Danny Vasquez (EW) pinned Nathaniel Hernandez 4:58
182: Alberto Solano (SW) panned Ever Yamada 0:26
195: Reed Burmaster (EW) pinned Matt Burns 2:47
220: Hunter Tibodeau (SW) pinned Mika Serafines 0:45
285: Milan Johnson (SW) pinned Edson Belizaire 0:46