Broncos mat squad hosts Mix and Match in Ritzville

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Bronco wrestling squad competed in two matches in the last week with one being their final League Match of the season.

Their first tournament was the Mix and Match hosted in Ritzville at Gilson Gym on Jan. 26.

This tournament provided matches for five Broncos wrestlers, Matthias Ferderer, Alex Whitman, Tucker Guiles, Joe Benedict and Maisa Ferderer.

This was Maisa Ferderer’s first time on the mat. She began by wrestling Sotenica Ramos of Moses Lake High School. She was ultimately pinned by this first wrestler due to the aggressiveness from Ramos.

Head Coach Jason Hilzer said her first opponent made him see the difference between a 2B school and a 4A school.

Hilzer continued by stating Moses Lake has 18-20 girls wrestling so they have ample opportunities to practice where as Maisa Ferderer is the only girl on the team this year.

Her next opponent was Melanie Flores, also from Moses Lake. Hilzer stated this was a much better match up than Maisa’s first of the day.

“She did some good things in this match. She was ahead a few times, 6-2 at one point,” Hilzer explained.

Maisa Ferderer ended up getting out of position and being pinned by Flores during the second match.

Whitman wrestled twice during this tournament with his first opponent being Levi Carlos from Moses Lake. He was pinned during the second round.

After the first match, Whitman bumped up to the 152-pound weight class so as to have an additional opponent. Whitman faced Jacob Mitchell from Almira-Coulee/Hartline High School and he lost by a score of 8-5.

Hilzer said he felt it was hard for Whitman to get motivated since he and this wrestler have practiced together before.

Matthias Ferderer was able to wrestle in three matches during this tournament. His first match was a 11-0 loss to Joseph Robertson from Moses Lake.

He normally wrestles in the 132-pound division and his first opponent was in the 138-pound weight class and was a bit more skilled, Hilzer said.

He then took on Jarod Goetz from Almira-Coulee/Hartline who is in his same weight class. Matthias was able to pin his opponent during the first round.

Matthias then went back up to the 138-pound division to wrestle another Moses Lake opponent. In this match he got out of position and his opponent Adriel Martinez was able to bring him down and pin him.

Guiles began the day versus Daniel Zermano from Moses Lake who was at 220-pounds. Hilzer said he wrestled well but his opponent has simply wrestled more and Guiles was pinned.

Guiles’ second opponent is a repeat state competitor who hadn’t made weight all year. Tristan Newman from Waitsburg High School weighed-in over 285 pounds when he first arrived to the tournament. After running for a while he was able to get his weight to 284.5 pounds.

Guiles was at 226 on this day and was unable to make up the 60-pound weight difference, he unfortunately lost by pin in this match up.

Benedict wrestled the same two opponents Guiles did with the same two outcomes. He was unable to take down these two experienced wrestlers.

The team then went on to wrestle in their final League Match of the season in Pomeroy on Jan. 30.

Due to illness and injuries only Matthias Ferderer wrestled.

He faced off against a Liberty High School wrestler who is the number one seed going into the District Tournament.

Matthias Ferderer was ahead in the second round 6-1 but made a mistake and the Liberty opponent was able to cradle him and pin him.

“We talked about this match after. I told him that he can’t make mistakes like that when he is ahead and needs to remember to stay in position. He got that and is ready for the tournament,” Hilzer said.

The South League Tournament will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6 at Liberty with weigh-in at 1 p.m. and the matches beginning at 3 p.m.

Matthias Ferderer will enter the District Tournament the number three seed in the 132-pound division.

Whitman will be the number five seed in the 138-pound division.

Guiles is ranked in the number three seed for the 220-pound division.

Karl Hawks is ranked number two and Benedict is ranked number four in the 285-pound heavy weight division.

“Everyone should make it through to the Regional Tournament,” Hilzer predicted.

Whitman is the only one he has concerns about as only the top four wrestlers will move on to the next level.

“Alex (Whitman) has to beat the number three or number four in order to get in,” Hilzer explained.

Whitman has been wrestling in the 145-pound division, which has a large number of wrestlers so the decision was made to move him to the 138-pound group.

“There are still a lot of good wrestlers in the 138 division but Alex (Whitman) has a good chance of beating them,” Hilzer said about their choice.

If Whitman does end the District Tournament in fifth place he will be the alternate for Regionals if anyone in the top four does not make weight or is ineligible.

Overall Hilzer is confident he will have at least four wrestlers in the Regional Tournament, which takes place on Saturday, Feb. 13 in Reardan.

Weigh-ins are at 8 a.m. and the matches will begin at 10 a.m.