SPSL Wrestling: Enumclaw pins 54th win

ENUMCLAW — The streak lives on, for at least another day.

And maybe another year.

Enumclaw's wrestling machine crushed Tahoma last night, 45-27, to improve to 6-0 in the South Puget Sound League North Division and extend the school's SPSL dual-match winning streak to 54 matches.

The Hornets, who last lost to Tahoma on Jan. 22, 1998, will be tested again tonight when they travel to Auburn (4-1). Another win would seal a seventh consecutive division title with one match remaining, next week against Sumner.

"We're going to enjoy this one tonight, and then tomorrow we're going to regroup," Enumclaw coach Lee Reichert said.

Tahoma senior Michael Johnson, one of only five winners from his side of the mat, said the Hornets should never be counted out. Last night, they swept nine of the 14 matches — four by pin — to keep the streak alive and win the third annual "Battle of the Bone," as the match was dubbed by former Tahoma coach Doug Pecha — complete with a two-foot trophy topped by a cow bone.

"What Reichert's got here is pretty amazing," said Johnson, who won the Class 4A state title at 160 last year and is 15-0 this season, mostly at 171. "From what I've seen, all these kids go out there and work as hard as they can for six minutes."

Andy McCarthy didn't need six minutes to do his part to keep the streak alive. A freshman 112-pounder who has bounced between the varsity and junior varsity, McCarthy posted the fastest pin of the night — 45 seconds.

"That was huge," Reichert said. "It was a gamble that paid off for us."

Chase Smith, Enumclaw's unbeaten sophomore, was originally listed as wrestling at 112 instead of 103, where he is considered a contender for the 4A state title.

However, the team match, which started at 171 pounds by luck of the draw, was tied at 12-12 going into 103, and Reichert opted to put Smith at his preferred weight.

Smith notched a technical fall to improve to 25-0 on the season.