WARDEN — The Warden Cougars outdueled the Wahluke Warriors 54-18 on the mat Tuesday. Head coach Johnny Hernandez was happy to see his wrestlers come out fast against the Warriors.  

“They came out with a little extra energy today. It's always good to see that. We do a good job of getting them juiced up before the match. They really performed tonight,” the coach said. 

The Cougs jumped out to an early lead over the Warriors by winning their first eight matches. The Warriors had a late rally by earning a couple of pin victories, but it was too late for a comeback. Warden sealed the overall victory by earning wins in the final two official matches.  

“We have a pretty green team that's still kind of getting the hang of it,” Warriors head coach Jose Marin said. “The biggest thing right now is effort. So as long as they're showing 100% effort, they're going out there with intensity trying to win, working the moves, I'm not too disappointed with that.”  

Both teams are putting out teams on the younger side, which presented competitive matches overall throughout the duel, Hernandez said.  

“We only got one senior on the mat tonight. We are pretty young, but it's always good to wrestle a team like Wahluke. Even though they're green, they always bring it. They got this mentality about them, they're going to go to war and they're going to give you everything they got,” Hernandez said.  

At 113, Raylen Heredia scored a quick pin over Angell Garcia in just 42 seconds, setting the tone for the night. The Cougars continued their momentum with forfeit wins at 120 and 126, courtesy of Luis Cisneros and Samuel Aquilar. 

From there, the Cougars scored three straight pinfall victories thanks to the efforts of Justice Cafferty, Nikko Ruiz and Erik Camacho. Bryan Zaragoza also earned a win for the Cougars via an 8-5 decision after a competitive match against Randy Lopez from the Warriors.  

Hernandez said his wrestlers excelled in mat wrestling and overall match control. While pinfall victories are great, some maneuvers like take-downs and near-falls also help them stack points on the scoreboard.  

“Take downs are a big part of the game, but we really preach on our mat wrestling, especially with the near falls being worth four points. We just preach on really getting our tilts and our arm bar stuff,” he said.  

The Warriors started to bounce back by rounding off three pinfall wins in a row. Aldebaran Juarez-Ventura earned his pinfall in just under four minutes. Ernesto Cholico-Ruiz earned his pinfall just over a minute, and Alexis Velasco muscled his way to a pinfall victory after two minutes.  

Warden finished the duel strong after Jesus Arias and Valentine Juarez each won the final two matches of the evening. Despite the loss, Marin said he was proud to see his wrestlers approach their matches with intensity and effort. At the bare minimum, he was happy to see signs of growth.  

“We were working on the intensity, keeping ourselves moving, not stopping, and giving the opponent time to really work stuff on us,” Marin said. “We got to learn from it. You can't just always wrestle kids that are the same level as you. You got to go toe to toe with those returning state placers, champs, whatever it is, trying to win and learn from it.” 

For Warden, there was extra motivation in the air as the 1983 wrestling team was inducted into their hall of fame. Hernandez said their presence seemed to provide a little extra motivation for his wrestlers.  

“I told them, I just wanted to thank them tonight, and because they won that first state title, and we've hopefully done them proud by carrying the tradition ever since and putting up 13 (state titles) of our own. Really awesome to see them tonight,” he said.  

From a coach's perspective, seeing former teams and wrestlers return to Warden for a visit motivates Hernandez personally, as well. Seeing them come back to help the current wrestlers develop has been a special aspect of building up the program, he said.  

“We've had at least 10 to 15 alumni already this year. When you build a program like this and everybody falls in love with it, they always come back to help, which is awesome to see. They always give back. They want to give back and that's special,” Hernandez said.  

The Warriors return to the mats Dec. 27 at Royal High School against the Knights at 9 a.m. Warden’s next duel is Dec. 20 in the Powerhouse Tournament at Lake Roosevelt High School at 6 a.m.  

MATCH RESULTS: 

106: Collin Cox (WARDM) over   (WAHLM) (For.)
113: Raylen Heredia (WARDM) over Angell Garcia (WAHLM) (Fall 0:42)
120: Luis Cisneros (WARDM) over (WAHLM) (For.)
126: Samuel Aquilar (WARDM) over (WAHLM) (For.)
132: Justice Cafferty (WARDM) over Jesus Cruz (WAHLM) (Fall 4:17)
138: Nikko Ruiz (WARDM) over Paulin Miramontes-Munguia (WAHLM) (Fall 2:34)
144: Erik Camacho (WARDM) over Jaden Perez-Long (WAHLM) (Fall 1:15)
150: Bryan Zaragoza (WARDM) over Randy Lopez (WAHLM) (Dec 8-5)
157: Double Forfeit
165: Aldebaran Juarez-Ventura (WAHLM) over Manny Guillen (WARDM) (Fall 3:44)
175: Ernesto Cholico-Ruiz (WAHLM) over Bernabe De Leon (WARDM) (Fall 1:11)
190: Alexis Velasco (WAHLM) over Chris Mora (WARDM) (Fall 2:36)
215: Jesus Arias (WARDM) over Emmanuel Alonso (WAHLM) (Fall 1:00)
285: Valentine Juarez (WARDM) over Ruben Anguiano (WAHLM) (Dec 12-6) 

    Bryan Zaragoza, right, muscles for control against Randy Lopez, left, during their match on Tuesday. The Warden Cougars also inducted the 1983 team into their hall of fame ahead of the meet.
  

    Erik Camacho, left, eyes his opponent Jaden Perez-Long, right, during their match on Tuesday. Camacho is the Cougars only active senior.
  

    Justice Cafferty, top, maintains control on the mat over Jesus Cruz during their match Tuesday.