Bomber Boys Wrestling Steal a win at the Pasco Bulldogs Home - By Dina Reyes

Coming into this match, the aura of the gym is filled with cheering on both sides of the schools. Jv boys and girls were finishing up playing, and already, the bleachers were full of family and friends cheering on their players and team. The Bombers came in with personal goals and a good mindset on performing tonight at Pasco on January 11, 2024. Team caption of Richland Boys Wrestling Hector Sanchez had some every kind words about his team. Why does he love his team? Hector replied with,¨I love my team because I grew up with them. I used to get beat every single day, and they watched me grow every day. Now that I am more experienced, I get to watch them grow. We all have the same love for wrestling and each other. I´m here for them, and we are here together fighting the same battle.¨ I love exactly how he put that. The Bombers are unified. Not one above the other, together. When being asked who he thought the overall winner of this nights match would be he didn´t hesitate to say, ¨ I believe that we are going to beat Pasco.¨ He had no doubt that they were going to beat Pasco, which made this games victory that much better. Richland won 35-21. In my conversation with Hector as they were preparing to get on the matt, I asked him how he prepared his team for a match. ¨I get them into a room, we warm up and start getting sweaty. Then we talk to each other and cool off a little bit and give pep talks. We don´t think of anything besides our motivation and the adrenaline rush,¨ that accompanies along with it. 

The team now begins to have a standoff and Pasco boys varsity players are announced and then Richland players. The line up of our players includes the one and only Liam Kleiman against Michael Torres, Derek O´Dell against Tiernen Rimmash, Jeremiah Lichliter against Mason Byrd, Drayson Elferning against Oscar Rojas, Drew Dreene against Ethan Alaniz, Xavier Salinas against Omar Vargas, Mason Leavitt against Alexander Barajas, Donovan Gallegos against Josue Reyes, Gavin Greene against Elias Samuel Perez, Robert Ochoa against Devon Valdivia, Preston Richins against Anthony Reed, Brayden Sims against Victor Cvellar, Koen Hanson against Kamden Boyer, and Hector Sanchez against Juan Rizo. In total, Richland pinned the Pasco players 4 times serving them with an immediate win and Pasco had 2. 

As the roster beings playing, the first match begins. This match is matched by a strong competitive energy on both sides as it was the starting match, however Pasco did win by one point up. The second match was our first Richland match won for the night, with many more to come. The third was a very equal amount of skill level, but we highered that and pinned down the other player making this match an automatic win. The fourth game Pasco pinned Richland down, however, this did not affect us or the outcome . During the 5th game richland won through points, and the pasco audience had a lot to say on the matches played. This is when they started getting more vocal while watching the matts. Pasco then won the 6th match and beat Richland by a pin on the 7th game. Richland came back and won the 8th by a pin, and this created anger on Pascos side. During the next match with the 106 weight, Pasco parents were reported saying mean comments. In this match, the 9th, Pasco won a three pointer, and eventually won that round. The 10th game was arguably the most heated match of all. Both sides were screaming, Richland parents, Pasco parents, Pasco coaches and team, and Richland coach and team. This match had a huge energy over the gym and everyone was interacting making the players play at a more intense level. Pasco did end up winning this match and the 11th match on points, although Richland pushed through and carried the team to a win. The 12th game Richland won through points making Pasco have doubts and the 13th and 14th match, the final ones were over quick with Richland winning by pins. 

The look of the Pasco parents was well deserved. Mr Ochoa, former boys wrestling coach at Richland and the father of Robert Ochoa currently on the team had a few words to say. He loves,¨ watching the growth of our program.¨ Did Mr Ochoa wrestle back in the day? ¨I wrestled in my past, I come from a very heavy family of wrestlers.¨ When being asked what he believed Richland High School could do to improve the wresting team he believed that, ¨one day I hope to have a wrestling room and a place that they can call home.¨ I loved seeing the atmosphere of the players, parents, and coaches. The next match for the Richland Bombers is a home game against Walla Walla January 18th at 5:00 am.