Arlington pins Kamiak 51-30

The Arlington boys wrestling team hosted their first match of the season as they took on the Kamiak Knights on Dec. 10.

It was an exciting night of wrestling as 13 of the 14 matches ended in a pin. The Eagles got off to a strong start as they won the first three matches by pin and established an 18-0 lead over the Knights. After the early run, Kamiak came back and earned their own pin in the fourth match, trailing 18-6. Arlington wouldn’t let the Knights come back so easily as they won the next three matches, two by pin and one by an 8-7 decision, as they extended their lead to 33-6.

Kamiak started out the second half of matches in dominate fashion as they took back-to-back victories by pin and continued to close the gap, 33-18. Over the last five matches, the Eagles took two and the Knights took three of the them. Unfortunately for Kamiak, the late run was too little as Arlington secured the match victory by a commanding score of 51-30.

“Our underclassmen really rose to the occasion tonight. We talked about wanting to get pins, our upperclassmen led the way and our young guys followed. Right now, we’re just looking to get better, working on conditioning and making sure we stay on our technique,” said Arlington Assistant Coach Kenny Sanders.

The Eagles were led by the dominate performances from Casten Tollenaar, David Forslof, Trevor Latta, Rylan Polkinghorn and Hunter Strande. Tollenaar, sophomore 126-pounds, was the second match of the night as he set a tone on a pin 1:37 into the first round. Forslof, sophomore 132-pounds, showed up the very next match as he also had a first-round pin with 1:20 left on the clock. Latta, sophomore 145-pounds, had the shortest match of the night as he pinned his opponent 38 seconds into the first round. Polkinghorn, junior 195-pounds, and Strande, sophomore 285-pounds, also finished their matches in the first round with 25 seconds and 40 seconds left on the clock, respectively.

The other Arlington wrestlers to win their matches were Dorian Tollenaar, Dimitri Shaffer, Gabe Price and AJ Dorchak. Tollenaar, junior 120-pounds, was the first match of the night as he ended it with a pin 12 seconds into the third round. Shaffer, junior 152-pounds, ended his match by pin early in the second round, 32 seconds into the round. Price, sophomore 160-pounds, was the only match of the night not decided by pin as he secured the 8-7 decision. Dorchak, freshman 106-pounds, earned the first victory of high school career on a pin in the second round with 39 seconds left.

If you want to come out and support the Eagles, their next home match will be against the Ferndale Golden Eagles on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m.