VHS wrestling team continues to battle through injuries in latest matchups, looks forward to league action and returning squad members to kick-off the second half of the season

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 13, 2016

This year, Vashon Pirates wrestlers are so busy learning valuable lessons about adversity and resiliency that there aren’t many of them left to actually compete.

Last week, the team traveled to Buckley to take on the White River Hornets on Wednesday, Jan. 6, and wrestled a dual meet at home against Port Townsend and Eatonville on the 7th. After those two days, the incredible shrinking wrestling team lost a couple more athletes to an injured arm, injured ribs and a pesky skin condition.

Against White River, Vashon had five JV matches with Pirates Nicholas Nuxoll and Jackson Bard emerging victorious. Both won by pin, while teammates Sean Casey, Adon Ellis and Joe Ghigleri all lost. In varsity action, the Pirates managed to fill 11 of the 14 weight classes, with many younger and less experienced wrestlers getting the call against stiff competition. It was an odd night, where only one of the matches went the full six minutes — a barn burner for sophomore Hunter Burger, who came up just short with a 4-2 loss. The Pirates either won by fall or lost by fall. Freshman Payton Bonaventura won a great match at 106 pounds, followed by wins for seniors Shane Williams, Clyde Pruett and Logan Nelson. Match of the night goes to Nelson, who dislocated his finger twice in the first 60 seconds of the match before adequate applications of tape and a high tolerance for pain saw him pin his opponent at the end of round one.

The next night, the Pirates reconvened at the home gym in double-dual action. Vashon wrestled well against Port Townsend, winning nine of 13 matches either by forfeit or competing. Bonaventura, Nuxoll, Ben Angelacos, Preston Petersen, Rodolfo Flores, Burger, Ghigleri and Pruett all brought in a win for the team. Bright spot of the round was the return of senior Chester Pruett, who was allowed on the mat for one match after being sidelined by an injury since Oct. 9. He handily defeated his counterpart with a pin 48 seconds into round one.

Vashon cobbled together 12 matches against Eatonville with wins by Nuxoll, Petersen, Ghigleri, Clyde Pruett, Nelson and Bard. Freshman Ghigleri had the match of note against Eatonville. He was up 6-2 at the end of round one, but the score narrowed to 9-8 at the end of round two before he won by fall at the end of round three.

Coach Anders Blomgren reports that many of the injured reserve corps are expected back on the mat this week. Scheduled to begin competing again are Luke Larson, both Connor and Bryce Hoisington, Chester Pruett and hopefully Adrian St. Germain. He was pleased with the team’s efforts during tough times.

“With all the injuries, it was exciting to see our young guys compete as well as our seniors — Clyde, Logan and Shane. Two in a row, Joe Ghigleri, Payton Bonaventura and Nicholas Nuxoll have taken important roles for the team,” Blomgren said.

The team had the weekend off to rest and recuperate before beginning the second half of the season this week. On Thursday, the team will travel to Bellevue Christian for the first Nisqually League action of the year. The next day, the team travels to Klahowya to face tough regional competition. On Saturday, the team heads to Rainier for the guaranteed tough Justin Norton Memorial tournament featuring all of the top 1A teams from southwest Washington.

— Cheryl Pruett is the mother of two VHS wrestlers