Battle of the Bone - By Jace Woodard

    Richland wrestling showed up against Hanford in a big rivalry known as the battle of the Bone, defeating the falcons and taking the “bone” where it belongs back home. Richland boys wrestling won a tight battle beating Hanford 42 to 31, taking the W in the 25 battle of the Bone. Richlands girls wrestling won as well, defeating the falcons 48 to 27, winning their first-ever battle of the Bone, and winning the 2nd ever battle of the Bone on the girl’s side. 

Photo courtesy of Bailey Gifford (RHS Yearbook).

    For the Bomber Boys, this match meant more than it has in previous years. It was the 25th battle of the Bone ever. The score in previous years of this rivalry is the Bombers with 12 wins and the Falcons also with 12. This match would decide who would break the tie and take the lead for the most wins. At the start of the matchup, Richland came out hot through their first Six wrestlers. Five won their matches by fall, leaving the team score after only six matches, 30 to 3 in favor of the bombers. Richland undefeated wrestler Saul Salines starts the bombers off right, getting the pin on his opponent with 39 seconds left in only the first quarter. Salines is followed by Blake Birl, who also pins his opponent, and then by his brother Xavier Salinas who gets his pin with 2 seconds in the first quarter. Richlands Donovan Gallegos, Gabriel Alaniz, Melvin Kreitzer, Jeremiah Lichliter, and Derek O’Dell also contributed to the Bomber win pining their Hanford opponents. Just as it was starting to look like a blowout and a very easy Bomber win, the door had not closed yet as the second half of Hanford’s wrestlers slowly began to creep back into the win conversation. Hanford’s Jake Hubby, Eli Perkes, Ben Duffield, and Trenton Roeton. were the most significant toward the comeback, getting pins on their Bomber opponents. After 12 matches, the score was 36 to 31, still in favor of the bombers.

Photo courtesy of Bailey Gifford (RHS Yearbook).

    With only two matches left, the Bone was still up for grabs. For the Falcons, this was their biggest match. All eyes were on Hanford’s Logan Gould. There were two options for the Falcons: either he wins, or they go home empty-handed. Has for the bombers, while this match was not a must-win, they had the opportunity to secure the W. The matchup was Richland’s Derek O’Dell vs. Hanford’s Logan Gould. Everyone in the gym focused on the center of the mat. The match started with Hanford’s Gould coming out attacking. At one point, the match’s score was 9-4 with Gould in the lead, but Richlands O’Dell fought to get back into the match, even taking the lead, making the score 11-9 in favor of himself. With both wrestlers giving everything they had, O’Dell came out on top, pinning Gould with 17 seconds left in the second period. The Richland crowd and bench erupted in cheers. This secured the Bone for the Bombers.

    As for the final match, the bomber boys had already won. Richland wrestler Jeremiah Lichliter put the nail in the coffin ending the 2023 battle of the Bone with a Richland bomber pin and a Richland bomber win.

Photo courtesy of Bailey Gifford (RHS Yearbook).

    The Richland girl’s battle of the bone history had just started last year. The score was Hanford with one win and Richland with none, so the Richland girls had something to prove this year. The Richland girls did not want to leave anything up to chance this year. At the start of the meet, the first four matches left the score tied up at 12 to 12, with Richlands Jocelyn Chaves being the only Bomber to get a pin thus far. This was the only time it looked like the Hanford girls had a shot at winning. In the next six matches, Richland girls Kyndra Casias, Portia Harker, and Erin Kremer pinned three Hanford opponents. Richland’s Yaneece Sanchez won by forfeit. This was where Richland took control of this rivalry meet. The score through ten wrestlers is 21 to 36, and the Bombers are in the lead. All that was left for the Bombers were to close out the meet. Richlands last four wrestlers got the job done for the bombers, winning three out of the four. Richlands Savannah Dufault pined her opponents, leaving the final score with the bombers on top, defeating the falcons 48 to 27. The Bomber girl’s proved who they were. They brought the Bone to Richland and showed they were the best in the town. 

Photo courtesy of Bailey Gifford (RHS Yearbook).