In the last dual meet of the season, the Pirate grapplers were overcome by the Orting Cardinals, 64-9.

In Vashon’s defense, Orting is the second-ranked team in the state across all classifications. Still, the Vashon coaches, the brothers Blomgren, were dismayed by the poor showing.

“We talked about adversity today and how you redeem yourself after not facing up to a challenge with real courage,” said head coach Anders Blomgren. “How we respond from Thursday’s match will say a lot about our team’s character.”

Anders added that he expected everyone to respond with hard and focused work ethic that would pay off at this weekend’s sub-regional competition.

The match wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. Julie Wilson and Rachael Thomas each went 1-1 in  matches against their female Orting opponents. In junior varsity action, Zach Young, Elan Peterson, Joe Coller and Trevor Figgins all wrestled well and won.

The lone bright spots for the varsity squad were Robert Easton’s 7-0 win and Shane Armstrong pinning his opponent.

Post-season action begins Saturday with the sub-regional tournament hosted by Orting.

— Cheryl Pruett is the mother of a middle school wrestler.