Reardan grapplers win four matches

REARDAN – On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the Screaming Eagles hosted Chewelah in a 2B wrestling meet. Without enough athletes to fill most weight classes, Reardan’s under manned team lost 36-18.

The Screaming Eagles won four of the five matches contested on the mat, but could not overcome the 36 points lost via forfeit.

Avdii Pozdeev, wrestling at 132 pounds, won Reardan’s first match by pinning Payton Maldonado. In the 144 pound weight class, Alex Matusik pinned Dillan Dituri. In non-scoring exhibition matches, Owen Pendell pinned Dillan Ditari and then lost to Titan Tapia. To close out the meet, Parker Gralapp pinned Haidyn Milliette.

“I think I did great today,” Matusik said. “I did some moves that I haven’t tried in other matches and got some practice in that I don’t get in the wrestling room. It’s a lot of fun wrestling against other teams. We did well as a team but unfortunately, we don’t have enough people.”

Due to Reardan’s small squad numbers, Pendell was forced to compete against a bigger boy in one of his matches.

“In one match I wrestled up two weight classes and did my best,” he said. “The kid was just stronger. The other guy was more my weight class. I did the basics and everything we do in practice to win. One thing about our team is that we’re all about the same weight class which makes us better by competing against each other in practice.”

Reardan assistant coach Wayne Terry was pleased with the Screaming Eagles’ effort.

“We lost all of the forfeits and only lost one match on the mat,” he said. “Our kids fought back, gained control and we got the pins. We had a good match; we just need more bodies.”