A new rivalry is formed: Young Asotin and Lapwai wrestling teams show strength

ASOTIN — A new area rivalry may have formed on Thursday when the Asotin wrestling team hosted Lapwai in its first ever home dual.

The Panthers and Wildcats are both in their infancy as wrestling programs, being their first and second years, respectively. So with a lack of numbers in certain weight classes, no team score was kept throughout the event. Asotin won the majority of the matches 8-4, but the highlight of the night was the atmosphere and raucous crowd, which were on par with any grappling rivalry in the region.

“That was a dream for a first dual,” Asotin coach Colt Heger said. “That was awesome. Chris (Katus, Lapwai’s wrestling coach) liked it as much as I did. He was excited and it was awesome.”

After the dual, both coaches expressed interest in turning this out-of-state matchup into a yearly event, and now the only thing missing is a name.

“I think we’re going to make this an annual thing,” Katus said. “We’re cats; they’re cats; we’ll call it the ‘catfight,’ or something. I don’t know what we’ll call it, but we need to make this an annual thing because this was great. It was great for our team, it was great for their team, and it was great for the community. I’m just amped. This was awesome.”

Here’s how everything transpired on Thursday:

Birth of a new era

Thursday’s festivities brought in the start of a new era and a blast from the past.

Before any wrestling, the team captains met at the center of the mat, and alongside Asotin’s Cameron Clovis and Justin Boyea were honorary captains Ed Earl and Justin Hough, both of whom were on the Panthers’ short-lived grappling team from 1978 to ’79.

“For us to bring wrestling back is amazing,” Boyea said. “Some people out here weren’t built for basketball. We were built to wrestle. I’m a whole 5-foot-11, 230 pounds. I wasn’t made to shoot hoops; I was made to run people over. I think it’s amazing that people came out to support us, and to have wrestling back in this community after 40 years is awesome.”

Boyea won his match at 285 pounds against Lapwai’s Mathias Fox, who defeated Asotin’s Tegan Isley in the opener.

Boyea registered a takedown within seconds, and it took a minute and a half of work, but he eventually was able to pin Fox near the edge of the mat.

As Boyea was working on a turn, the Asotin faithful were loud and stomped their feet in unison until the referee slapped his hand on the mat to indicate the fall.

“I think we started a good new friendly rivalry here,” Boyea said. “For us to put on a show for everyone, I think it’s huge, and Lapwai is about the same size (as us), so I think it’s a lot more fun, and there’s a lot more competition between the two of us now.”

Putting in the work at practice

The Panthers have started taking what they’ve learned in practice and applying it in the match more effectively.

The best example of this came between Asotin’s Parker Port and Austin Hutchins at 132.

Hutchins took control of the match’s early stages, taking a 4-1 advantage into the second period.

Port started the next frame on the bottom and slid his right knee underneath himself so he could sit down. Once he was there, he took advantage of poor positioning by Hutchins, who was hanging his head over Port’s right shoulder. From there, Port was able to use his right arm to wrap around Hutchins’ head while turning in the opposite direction to get him to his back.

That was a textbook escape, and when Port got the pin, Heger was elated.

“He didn’t just rush through it,” Heger said. “We’ve drilled that over and over again, and it gets monotonous after a while. ... He just settled in, waited for what he needed to do next, hit it, and executed. He didn’t get in a rush, he didn’t freak out, it was perfect.”

Wildcats controlled victories

Leland Whitefoot accounted for half of Lapwai’s victories on Thursday, and he looked good doing it.

His first match was against Asotin’s Colt Kelly, and right away he recorded a double-leg takedown.

Kelly was quick to respond by registering a standup once he reached the ground. But Whitefoot responded with another double-leg takedown to give him a 4-1 edge heading into the second period.

Whitefoot continued his string of dominance in the second, getting a standup and a takedown to bump his lead to 7-1. But with 40 seconds remaining in the period, Whitefoot caught Kelly in a half-nelson and picked up the pin.

In his final match, he pinned Asotin’s Carter Bowman with 58 seconds remaining in the first period.

“Leland’s a beast,” Katus said. “He’s been putting in some really hard work, and if he keeps this work ethic up throughout the year, I feel like he’ll take home some hardware at State. He’s been busting his butt in practice, and he’s really stepped his game up from last year, and I feel like we’re going to go to State and take some hardware home.”

Lapwai’s Layson Morel also picked up a first-period pin, downing Cameron Clovis with 40 seconds left in the frame.

Morel caught Clovis early with a loose head-and-arm throw, but it was enough to keep Clovis on the mat for the victory.

“He works with Leland a lot in practice,” Whitefoot said. “And we can bring him to State, and we may be surprised and bring a medal home from State from Layson. He’s been busting his butt in the room too. He’s got a really good work ethic. In the end, technique is not all there; we saw a lot of goofy stuff out there tonight, but I mean, he’s a hard worker, and he’s never going to give up out there on the mat.”

Asotin 8, Lapwai 4

132 — Parker Port, Asotin, p. Austin Hutchins, second. 138 — Carnell Robinson, Asotin, p. Daniel Nunez, second. 150 — Zach Eneas, Lapwai, p. Noah Saltz, second. 157 — Carson Reedy, Asotin, p. Ethan Jones, third. 175 — Layson Morel, Lapwai, p. Cameron Clovis, first. 175 — Leland Whitefoot, Lapwai, p. Colt Kelly, second. 190 — Whitefoot, Lapwai, p. Carter Bowan, first. 190 — Kyron Clovis, Asotin, p. Jacob Arthur, second. 215 — Austin Stein, Asotin, p. Osias Enick, second. 215 — Mark Heitter-Lamb, Asotin, p. Dante Davis, first. 285 — Justin Boye, Asotin, p. Mathias Fox, first. 285 — Fox, Lapwai, p. Tegan Isley, second.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.