Bombers Sneak Past Pasco - By Josh Woodard

On January 11, the Richland Bombers hopped on the bus and took a short ride over Pasco High School, or they would face the Bulldogs in a back-and-forth wrestling match. The Bombers could squeeze this one out, winning 37 to 25. 

A week before this matchup, the Richland Bombers had just beaten their last MCC opponent, the Hanford Falcons, in what they call the battle of the bone, the rivalry between Richland and Hanford. It was senior night over at Pasco, and at the start of the night, we spent the first part honoring the seniors from Pasco. Now it was time, and the Bombers started with senior wrestler Mason Leavitt, who wrestled at the 144-pound weight class. This match started with the Pasco Bulldogs wrestler taking down Leavitt and scoring two. These two wrestlers seemed to be an even match, but Pasco would lead at the end of the first period by a score of 2-1. Pasco would end up winning the first match by a score of 12 to 7, which gave the Bulldogs the first points of the match, giving them a 3-0 lead. Next came junior wrestler Donovan Gallegos. Gallegos, one of Richland’s stronger wrestlers, was met by a very strong Pasco wrestler. This match was a stalemate. Both wrestlers would score takedowns and get two escapes by the time the three periods ended, and they would have to go to OT. During OT, it’s the first wrestler to score a point, and Gallegos could dive and capture his opponent's foot for a takedown and the win, tying up the score 3-3. You could see the bad blood between Gallegos and his opponent because as soon as he lost, he walked straight into the locker room in frustration as he just lost a tight match to a very good Richland wrestler. Following Gallegos was Gavin Green, who easily won his match, pinning the Pascos wrestler, who awarded the Bombers six points. This was followed by Richland losing by a pin again, tying up the match. The Richland Bombers and Pasco Bulldogs would trade a series of pins in the high-weight class, and Pasco would claim the lead up 19-18 about halfway through the dual. 

It was time to head into the lighter-weight matches for the night. We started with Liam Kleiman. Kleiman had a great fight but couldn’t score enough points to win. Pasco would extend their lead to 22–18. Pasco again would win on points in the 113-pound match, extending their lead to 25–18. The Bombers now looked toward Drayson Elfering, Drew Greene, and Xavier Salinas. Elfering, a freshman, was one of the most impressive wrestlers I watched tonight at the duel. Elfering was in control of the match from the very beginning. He took down the Pasco wrestler multiple times, making it look easy and almost pinning him three or four times. During the third period of this match, Elfering had just pinned them to the ground for the last 15 to 20 seconds, just asserting his dominance and showing that there was no way this kid would back up. He would win on points by a landslide, 14–4. He would also tie the match at 25 after our 120 had won. Drew Greene, a sophomore,  would later pin his opponent on a beautiful move with 18 seconds left in the first period. This pin was huge for the Bombers because it gave them a 31-25 lead with only one match left, and it was sophomore. Xavier Salinas is Richland’s best wrestler. Salinas, a sophomore, was the most impressive wrestler I watched tonight. Salinas made it look easy. He bullied the Pasco wrestler repeatedly until finally pinning him in the second period, which put Richland on top 37-25.  This was a very exciting back-and-forth match between the Pasco Bulldogs and the Richland Bombers, but in the end, Richland was able to pull away and capture the win. You can see the boys in action again against Walla Walla at home on the 18th.

After the match, I caught up with Richland wrestler Koen Hansen and asked how he felt the match went yesterday. He replied, “For me personally, I think the match was going well because I adjusted my mindset and pushed off a lot of the pressure. I wrestled more loosely, and that allowed me to perform better. I did lose, but this year is a big adjustment for me because I went up two weight classes.” I also caught up with student Chris Daniels. I got the opportunity to ask what he thought of the match. He said, “It was very exciting. I’ve been to a wrestling match, but it was fun to watch the Bombers compete and win.”