MOSES LAKE — Maximus Zamora rose from the mat and beat his chest in triumph.

With good reason.

Zamora pinned Sam Guerrero of Sunnyside in the first round, all but clinching a Moses Lake win. The Chiefs were ahead 36-12 with four matches left.

Sunnyside needed to win all four by fall. As it turned out, the Grizzlies won three out of the four matches, but did not pick up any bonus pin points and Moses Lake finished unbeaten in the Columbia Basin Big Nine 39-22.

“Sunnyside’s tough and I knew going into this dual it was going to be, obviously, a very close dual,” head coach Jaime Garza. “Every dual we’ve had with them has been close and the atmosphere is amazing for high school wrestling and it’s a beautiful environment whether it’s here in Moses Lake or it’s there in Sunnyside.”

Sunnyside, now ranked ahead of Moses Lake according to Washington Wrestling Report, won the first two matches to open an 9-0 lead.

BJ Mullin began the comeback by outlasting Isaac Rodriguez 3-1. Mullin splayed his legs and defended a desperation shot from Rodriguez in the final seconds.

A businesslike first-round pin by Hunter Cruz evened the score, preceding an 8-4 decision in favor of Beau Mauseth against eleventh-ranked Moises Morales. Mauseth’s win gave Moses Lake a lead it would never relinquish.

The margin widened when Bailey Sanchez and Payton Castro rattled off consecutive pins.

Sanchez trailed briefly in the final round before maneuvering himself out of harm’s way.

“I just wanted to get it done,” Sanchez said. “Go out there and wrestle for my team. Pull out a big win.”

Castro also trailed in his match against ninth-ranked Daniel Huizar — 4-1 in the first round — before working his way back to a 5-5 tie in the third round after a reversal. That move was all the opening Castro needed.

“As soon as I reversaled him in the third round late I knew that he was already tired and that I just needed to work some bars or halves to just turn him and get some points,” Castro said. “Maybe I was even thinking about cutting him and getting him down for another two (points).”

On a night where every point mattered, the losses were almost as important as the wins. Pablo Mejia lost a narrow 3-0 decision to third-ranked Jector Ramirez and fourth-ranked Andrew Macias could only manage a 12-0 major decision over Hunter White.

“I was pleased with the way the kids responded,” Garza said. “I’ll be honest, we’ve had an issue with getting pinned and in this match we could not afford to get pinned. Fortunately, we were able to stay in good position even when we were outmatched and take a decision rather than a fall.”

Box score

145: Izaiah Gonzalez (SS) d. Cruz Vasquez, 9-5

152: Anthony Meyer (SS) p. Diego Vargas

160: BJ Mullin (ML) d. Isaac Rodriguez, 3-0

170: Hunter Cruz (ML) p. Alan Ochoa

182: Beau Mauseth (ML) d. Moises Morales, 8-4

195: Bailey Sanchez (ML) p. Isaiah Lopez

220: Payton Castro (ML) p. Daniel Huizar

285: Jector Ramirez (SS) d. Pablo Mejia, 3-0

106: Jonathan Tanguma (ML) d. Elijah Barajas, inj. default

113: Maximus Zamora (ML) p. Sam Guerrero

120: Andrew Macias (SS) md. Hunter White, 12-0

126: Xzavier Villarreal (ML) d. Sunnyside, 5-3 OT

132: Jose Campos (SS) d. Robert Hipolito, 6-2

138: Austin Villanueva (SS) d. Matthew Humphreys, 5-3