HRV wrestling unable to take down the Bulldogs in Hermiston

At Hermiston, the boys struggled to hang around with one of the better teams in the state, losing by a final team score of 45-21.

Of the 14 matches Wednesday night, five HRV boys came away with victories, leaving the other nine for the Bulldogs.

At 138 pounds, Jason Shaner for the Eagles continues to make his way through the regular season as he took down Aidan Villarreal of Hermiston by a final decision of 14-8 to remain undefeated on the season. This win for Shaner is coming off a tournament victory at Elks last Saturday.

The other boy winner at Elks last Saturday, Adrian Ramirez at 285 pounds would take Hermiston’s Beau Blake to overtime Wednesday night and withstand Blake by a final of 3-2 in an ultimate tie-breaker decision.

Ryan Zeller, who was coming off a second place finish at Elks, beat Hermiston’s Gage Shipley by a final decision of 9-5 in the 120 pound match.

The two other wins for the Eagles were fall victories won by Victor Ortigoza and Chad Muenzer.

In the 132-pound match, Ortigoza finished off Emmanuel Carillo-Alatorre from Hermiston by a final fall time of five minutes and 10 seconds.

Muenzer, at 126 pounds, won over Shawn Pourier of Hermiston by a final fall time of 1:01.

With these five wrestlers being the only winners in Hermiston on Wednesday night, that wouldn’t be enough for the boys to come away with a team victory as they lost in the other nine weight classes.

With the Eagles about a month away from the OSAA Wrestling State Championship, Head Coach Trent Kroll wants the team’s focus to continue to revolve around team wrestling.

“We’ve got to continue to cheer each other on, whether it’s in practice or in a match, so we’re making these final strides as a team to get better before districts and state,” said Kroll. “This team has talent and we’re looking to finish out this last month of our season strong.”

Upcoming meets:

Next up for the boys is a tournament in Putnam on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The girls will be headed to Thurston that same day for a tournament as well, and a top finish for the girls in this tournament could qualify them for a spot at state.