OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies defeated the Moses Lake Mavericks 45-30 on Tuesday, after a competitive meet that went back and forth all night. Huskies head coach Reuben Lopez told his team that the first to 36 points wins.   

“(Jose Tanguma) is doing a really good job in Moses,” Lopez said. “We knew it was going to be competitive in the last few years. It's always been competitive with them. We're pretty solid with a lot of state veterans, so that's what helps us, is one (wrestler) catches fire, and then it just spreads throughout the whole team.”   

The Huskies started strong after Armoni Zuniga-Mendez, Camilo Mendez III, Ben Meredith and Miguel Zuniga won four of the first five matches. From there, the Mavericks took three straight to put the meet back within reach. After Othello’s Xavier Mendez earned a pinfall win, the Mavs scored two more wins via decision. However, the Huskies won the next three to secure the win 45-30.   

“A lot of our tournaments, we go to the big school tournaments to make our guys get tougher and see different competition. It always benefits us later for postseason,” Lopez said.   

Despite the loss, Mavs head coach Jose Tanguma was pleased to see some of his wrestlers battle hard in their matches throughout the night. In multiple pinfall wins MLHS secured Tuesday, it was a back-and-forth battle on the mat until they could slip a hold and secure the pinfall out of nowhere at times.  

“Take advantage of a situation. We see a situation where you pin the guy. We got to take advantage of that and get the fall,” Tanguma said.   

Though it was a competitive meet overall, he noted there were a lot of the younger wrestlers competing and gaining new experience.   

“They're young freshmen going out there with upperclassmen. It's tough for them, especially some of my younger freshmen,” he said.   

In each match, the wrestlers worked near the boundary line. Moses Lake often pushes the Huskies out of bounds, forcing a reset in the match on several occasions. Tanguma said this was something he told his guys to take advantage of, putting pressure on Othello. Lopez said he noticed that right away and liked how his wrestlers responded to it.   

“It was nice to see them get pushed around and then still battled in with their shots and still trying to score an attack. It was nice to see them outside of how we normally we see them attacking and pushing the pace, but seeing them get pushed backwards and have to go that route, it was nice to see,” Lopez said.   

Though the Huskies had the overall meet won 39-30, the final match of the night was between Othello’s Mason Russell and Moses Lake’s Duane Zamora in the 144-lb class. They battled each other for wrist control, and both were defending takedowns. After Zamora got Russell to the mat, the two fought for control until they went out of bounds and had to reset. From there, Russell took control on the mat and forced Zamora into a cradle to earn a pinfall victory to make the final score 45-30.   

Lopez showed Zamora respect for the challenge he brought to the mat Tuesday.   

“Duane's a tough wrestler. He's been wrestling his whole life. We knew he's going to be really tough (to beat) on his feet. As a coaching staff, we strategize a lot. We do a lot of homework on these guys, so we know what their best positions are and their least confident positions are. Once Mason stopped that first move off the whistle, we knew we were in good spirits,” Lopez said.   

As they move further into the season, Tanguma is beginning to focus on preparing his wrestlers for a district tournament run.   

“It's coming close for districts, and the guys that I've been talking to that are going to push us through district and onto state. They're just working hard, and those guys are the ones that got us the wins today. I see they are improving. They are getting better, and they're getting mat smart,” Tanguma said.   

For the Huskies, they are taking it one day at a time. Lopez was complimentary of his coaching staff for being able to step up in the lead when he had to step to the side for other tasks. He noted their reliability creates a lot of trust in the gym and across the team.   

“We gameplan before practice, so everybody knows what we're doing before practice. When they have to run practice, they can run practice for 30 minutes, and I know it's going to be taken care of. I'm not worried about what's going on,” he said.   

The Mavericks hit the road to battle Wenatchee on Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.  

The Huskies' next meet is Jan. 15 when they host East Valley at 7 p.m.  

RESULTS:  

150: Armoni Zuniga-Mendez (OTH) over Xzavier Rodriguez (MLHS), pinfall  

157: Camilo Mendez III (OTH) over Ian Anderson (MLHS), decision 8-5  

165: Conner Brosnahan (MLHS) over Zayvier Olazcon (OTH), pinfall   

175: Ben Meredith (OTH) over Azaiha Cruz (MLHS), pinfall  

190: Miguel Zuniga (OTH) over Jeremiah Acevedo (MLHS), pinfall  

215: Eli Anderson (MLHS) over Leonardo Camacho (OTH), injury stoppage  

285: Ryder Janke (MLHS) over Elliot Mitchell (OTH), pinfall   

106: Ariah Torres (MLHS) over Max Romero (OTH), pinfall  

113: Xavier Mendez (OTH) over Darien Prescott (MLHS), pinfall  

120: Jose Villafana (MLHS) over Xavier Guzman (OTH), decision 5-4  

126: Vincent Hunt (MLHS) over Dominic Mendez (OTH), decision 5-0  

132: Daniel Gonzalez (OTH) over Samuel Janke (MLHS), pinfall  

138: Nathaniel Flores (OTH) over Ryan Martinez (MLHS), pinfall  

144: Mason Russell (OTH) over Duane Zamora (MLHS), pinfall  

    The Huskies’ Camilo Mendez III tries to prevent the Mavs’ Ian Anderson from taking control on the mat. Mendez eventually earned a pinfall win over Anderson.
  

    Othello’s Miguel Zuniga shoots for a takedown against Moses Lake’s Jeremiah Acevedo during their match Tuesday.
  

    Armoni Zuniga-Mendez, left, and Xzavier Rodriguez, right, face off to start the meet between Othello and Moses Lake.
  

    Team captains from Othello and Moses Lake greet eachother before their meet Tuesday. Head Coach Reuben Lopez said one of his wrestlers chose a WWE theme for Tuesday and provided his teammates with various John Cena shirts.