EPHRATA — The good news is the Columbia Basin has not seen the last of Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach Ruben Martinez. The bad news is that Martinez is sidelined with some medical issues for the next couple of weeks.

Ruben Martinez’s name is synonymous with Othello wrestling, but the longtime Huskies coach has shifted over to Royal this season where he’ll take over for Knights coach Patrick Mitchell. Once a coach, always a coach and Martinez is back in the saddle with a pretty talented lineup that goes into the 2018-19 season ranked seventh in the Washington Wrestling Report preseason 1A poll.

Over in Ephrata, the Tigers are coming off a solid season a year ago and go into the 2018-19 season ranked No. 5 in the 2A preseason poll with No. 1 ranked wrestlers Sammy Flores (106) and Mac Laird (195). Ephrata coach PJ Anderson doesn’t put much stock in polls or rankings, but he does like what he sees in his room right now and Tuesday’s jamboree with Royal and Cashmere was a good place to see just how battle tested they are going into this weekend’s tournament at Davis.

“We’re wrestling with pretty good intensity and I like how we’re wrestling on our feet. Our movement on bottom is good, but we have some work to do on top. Overall, I like the competitiveness of the kids and the feel of how we’re working right now,” Anderson said.

Royal assistant Alex Myrick just sort of nodded and smiled at the idea of working with a Hall of Fame coach in Martinez. The Knights have some holes in the lineup they will fill with guys that just finished the football season. But they go into the year ranked seventh in the 1A poll with No. 1-ranked Daniel Bonilla (145) and second-ranked Dominic Martinez (113) and heavyweight Ryder Eilers.

“Ruben brings in so much experience on the sport and I look forward to working and learning from him,” Myrick said. “We’re stronger at the top of the lineup because we have some young guys at the lower weights. We return seven guys that have wrestled at the (Tacoma) Dome, so we’re looking to strengthen our lineup and make another run at the championship this year.”

The Tigers return Laird, who is a key to the top half of the lineup at 195. Laird finished third at the Mat Classic in 2017-18 and is a leader in the room again this season. They also return Flores, who finished fifth last year as a junior and fourth as a sophomore in 2017.

Clayton Johns (113) goes into the season ranked third and Kevin Pelayo (220) is ranked fifth.

“Sammy is going to be a hammer down low. Clay Johns is an in-your-face kid that doesn’t let you breath. We have Alan Maceda (182), who was a regional participant, and Carter Mills (170-182). We also have Kevin Pelayo (220), who’s really come on.”

Myrick said the Royal leadership is a lot like the school’s other programs, more of a lead by example group.

“Dominic Martinez is definitely a leader. I like Daniel Bonilla to help lead in the room,” he said. “We have a bunch of hard-working kids that lead by example.”

Ephrata is at the Davis Invite and Royal is at Eastmont.