The Issaquah Eagles reigned supreme against the Newport Knights in battle between Class 4A KingCo wrestling squads.
Issaquah cruised to a 66-9 victory against the Newport on Jan. 22 at Issaquah High School. The Eagles won 11 of the 14 matches against the Knights. Issaquah longtime head coach Kirk Hyatt was ecstatic to see his team finish the match with seven pins.
“In baseball it’s home runs, in wrestling it’s pins,” Hyatt said with a smile. “We don’t just go for the win. We always go for the pin. That is our goal every time. We train for that.”
Issaquah wrestlers collecting wins with pins were Steven Solusod (113), Dakota Kutz (120), Chip Howell (132), Hunter Hurley (145), Colby Starren (160), Chance Gunther (182) and David Corbitt (195). William Tickman (106), Gunner Starren (126), Kaleb Solusod (138), and Bryce Magee (170) won by forfeit. The Eagles improved their overall record to 4-2 with the win. Hyatt believes his team is peaking at the right time.
“We had a couple of tough matches early on. We lost to Inglemoor and Mount Si. We have got Bothell and Skyline left on our schedule. We’re going to finish in the top three or four of our league and we’re good with that,” Hyatt said. “We’re looking to the postseason tournament time.”
Hyatt, who has coached the Eagles wrestling squad for the past 20 years, graduated from Issaquah in the mid-1970s. He sees a lot similarities from the Eagles of yesteryear and the Eagles of today.
“We have a wonderful tradition. The kids on this team are wrestling just like we did back in the day. They fight hard every single day,” he said. “I’m going to hang around and coach as long as I can.”
Newport head coach Michael Chenoweth was disappointed with his team’s showing against Issaquah. The Knights won just two matches. Nolan Richardson (285) won by pin and Andrew Coyle (152) won by decision. One match was a double forfeit.The Knights had a much better showing the previous week in a 37-29 loss against Inglemoor on Jan. 15.
“The difference between last week and this week is that we came into the (Inglemoor) match ready to compete and this week for whatever reason, tonight we just weren’t there,” Chenoweth said. “We want our guys to go out and compete every match. Every once in awhile you kind of just chalk one up and move on. Issaquah is a very tough team, but we were hoping to compete a little better tonight.”
Chenoweth said there’s no room for error once postseason action kicks off in the next few weeks.
“Come tournament time if you have a distracted day, the season is over,” he said.
Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com
