High School Sports

MAPLE VALLEY — The Tahoma Bears were badder to the bone. And a battle of unbeaten wrestling teams was more a display of power and depth.

Steven Hopkins remained unbeaten and Joey Palmer stayed on course for a repeat run to another state title as Tahoma flexed early and often for a 45-18 win over Enumclaw in a charged-up atmosphere Friday in the 10th annual "Battle of the Bone" rivalry.

Tahoma, 7-0 in dual meets, is rated No. 1 in the state in Class 4A by Washington Wrestling Report, and Enumclaw (6-1) is ranked No. 1 in 3A. The Bears left little doubt about which team was better on Senior Night in front of a "blackout" near-capacity crowd.

"We came in and we knew they were loaded up pretty good, so what do you do?" said Enumclaw coach Lee Reichert, who conceived the dual meet with former Tahoma coach Doug Picha in 2003. "One thing I tell the kids is, 'You can't get better unless you wrestle someone who is as good, if not better, than you.' That's why we schedule this match. "We didn't have to schedule this match. We did because we're trying to continue to improve our team. The whole thing is let's go get better."

Tahoma was the 4A state runner-up in 2010 and took ninth last year. The Bears won 3A state titles in 1996 and 1991.

On Friday, they won 10 of 14 matches with four pins one major decision and a technical fall in a dominating performance.

Enumclaw is the defending Class 3A state champion and has won three titles in four years. The Hornets were runners-up in 2010.

"Kids bounce back and dig in, and we can go out and schedule an easy match and run over somebody and think we're great, but that doesn't help," Reichert said. "We're talking about wrestling at the highest level. The more you wrestle at that level, the better you get. They'd beaten us in a couple tournaments, and we knew it would be a tough go."

Enumclaw's Lucas Somera, Josh Musick and Kario Wallin brought home individual state titles in 2011. Somera, a junior, came in ranked No. 1 at 145 pounds in 3A. He dipped down one weight class to help his team, but ran into the frenetic Palmer.

In a matchup of past state champions, Tahoma's Palmer surged late to score a 24-9 technical fall over Somera at 138.

Tanner Mjelde gave the Bears a 17-6 lead with a pin in 1:56 over the Hornets' Cole Snider at 145.

Hopkins (20-0) wrestled up for Tahoma at 132 and rang up a pin in 3:32 over Enumclaw's Travis Reano in the second match of the night.

"Joey Palmer, my practice partner, has been making a bigger impact on me than I thought," Hopkins said of the Oregon State-bound senior, Palmer. "He's a superstar. I feel like it makes me better without me knowing it. When I go out there, I'm used to wrestling him and he's all over the place, and against others it's like slow motion."

Tahoma's lead grew to 27-12 on junior Austin Perry's pin over Wyley Stewart at 182.

Todd Link's 6-2 decision over Enumclaw's Hunter Haney at 106 gave the Bears a 36-18 lead and clinched the team victory with two matches left.

Enumclaw's Tyke Reid (120), Justin Mitchell (152) and Colton Malek (220) are rated No. 2 in 3A in their respective weight classes. T.J. Cormier is No. 3 at 195 and Ryan Anderson is No. 6 at 160.

Cormier lost 3-0 at 195 to Tahoma's Matt Hopkins, younger brother of Steven. The two have split four matches this season.

"We're fortunate to have one of the best teams in the state (Enumclaw) right in our own backyard," said Tahoma coach Chris Feist. "Tonight, was a celebration of wrestling for our communities, getting together and trying to get better.

"We're fortunate to have four weeks before the state tournament to get bigger. We had a phenomenal performance top to bottom."