Originally published January 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified January 18, 2008 at 12:36 AM

Wrestling | Snohomish snaps Lake Stevens' mat streak

Giant killers call the Snohomish High School gym home. To chants of "Panther power! " juniors Spencer Caraballo and Derek Britton notched...

By Barry Pump

Special to The Seattle Times

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SNOHOMISH — Giant killers call the Snohomish High School gym home.

To chants of "Panther power!" juniors Spencer Caraballo and Derek Britton notched consecutive pins as Snohomish upset top-ranked rival Lake Stevens on Thursday, 34-18, in a WesCo North dual meet.

It was the first time since 1993 that Lake Stevens (9-1 overall, 6-1 league) lost a WesCo dual meet. The Vikings' streak of league victories was snapped at 117.

"It's like Christmas, man," Caraballo said. "The team was almost flawless; it was awesome."

Undefeated Snohomish (13-0, 7-0), ranked seventh in Class 4A, might have benefited from an 8-1 loss at 112 pounds to Lake Stevens' state champion, Zach Zweifel, and a 9-2 defeat at 119 to Jack Stillwell, a state runner-up last season, to start the match.

"That fired our team up," said Panthers coach Kevin Judkins, the last coach to hand Lake Stevens a league dual-meet loss. "They could have had falls and gained some momentum. We got on a roll."

Junior Sam Ottow got Snohomish going with a 5-3 overtime victory against Sean Anderson at 125, and the Panthers followed with four straight wins.

After Lake Stevens got out to an 18-12 lead when George King won by default at 160 pounds, the Panthers won the last five matches, including Caraballo's pin in 1 minute, 58 seconds, and Britton's in 1 minute, 48 seconds.

"[Britton] just rocked his guy," Caraballo said, "and you could feel them crack after that."

Jake Reinhard sealed it for Snohomish at heavyweight with a 3-1 decision over Zach Teuber, and Raylin Lucey topped it off with a 7-5 comeback at 103.

"I think they felt a lot of pressure," Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes said of his wrestlers. "It means a lot to them, and they're real proud of where they come from. But streaks are meant to be broken, and this was good for high-school wrestling tonight."

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