TERHARK CUP: Larsen shines for Vikings ... Junior steps up at 160 as Coeur d'Alene wins 22nd straight rivalry dual with Lake City

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — If Coeur d'Alene High junior Gabe Larsen wasn’t on the radar at 160 pounds in the state 5A ranks, he should be after Thursday’s TerHark Cup.

Larsen notched a 7-0 decision over Lake City junior Nathan Booth at 160, helping the Vikings beat the Lake City Timberwolves 52-27 in the 28th annual TerHark Cup dual between the city rivals at Coeur d’Alene High.

“I wrestled him once my freshman year and haven’t wrestled him since,” said Larsen, who did not place at state last year. “He was talked about as the person to beat. I kind of wanted to secure my spot in districts and he’s been ranked all year. I just wanted to prove that I could compete at that level.”

Booth failed to place at state as a sophomore.

“Gabe wrestled really well tonight,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “Booth is a great wrestler and that was a solid match and the best of the night as far as being solid.”

Senior Gabe Grassel competed in his final TerHark Cup, beating Lake City junior Gabe Wullenwaber by pin in 1:44.

“I’ve grown a lot closer with these guys,” Grassel said. “Seeing them one last time was pretty emotional for me.”

It was Coeur d’Alene’s 22nd straight win in the TerHark Cup.

“A lot of the guys on the Lake City team are friends,” Grassel said. “But not tonight. We wanted to make it a special one.”

As for the streak …

“It’s all coach (Jeff) Moffat,” Grassel said. “He runs a tight ship and I’m really grateful to have such a great coach.”

“It’s a big thing with the team,” Larsen said. “Everyone in the past worked hard to get this going. We really don’t want to be the team that’s going to ruin it.”

“There’s probably a little extra incentive, but we don’t go into practice talking about Lake City,” Moffat said. “But it’s probably in the back of their mind. What we do preach is wrestling hard and doing what we do in practice, and some guys did that. It wasn’t all roses and some guys did really well. We’re a little banged up right now and don’t have all of our horses in there right now. We’re missing a few guys with Brock Armstrong (152) and Jordan Schield (138) out, so we’ll see where we’re at in a few weeks.”

“I cannot fault the effort tonight,” Lake City coach Corey Owen said. “The kids wrestled their butts off. Right now, they’re just better wrestlers than us. We’ve got a month to make up some ground, and we will. These are good kids and they’ve been working hard, and they’ll continue to do that. They’ve got to own it a little bit and start making some improvements technically speaking.”

Juniors Garrett Leonard (195), Sebastian Mosman (220) and Cliff Eddington (285) had pins for Lake City, which started one senior (Caden Dutra, a winner at 152 pounds).

“Lake City wrestled hard,” Moffat said. “They weren’t going to their back. We had to work for everything we got tonight.”

Freshman Carter Newby (113), junior Will Rossi (120), sophomore Mason Rogers (126), junior Logan Bradley (138), junior Anthony Browning (170) and sophomore Rocco White (98) had pins for Coeur d'Alene.

“We’re progressing,” Owen said. “If we wrestle that dual last month, it probably looks a lot worse. We’re progressing, but we’ve got to keep progressing. It’s a great, young group of kids and we’ll keep working. Garrett, he’s just impressive and doesn’t have a lot of holes in his game. But at the same time, his goal needs to be to win a state title, and he needs to improve technically to get there at this point.”

Coeur d’Alene competes in the Clearwater Classic today and Saturday at Lewiston High.

Lake City is off until the North Idaho Rumble next Friday and Saturday at Coeur d’Alene High.

106 — Justus Peregrina, Cd’A, by forfeit. 113 — Carter Newby, Cd’A, p. Ashton Duboise, 3:46. 120 — Will Rossi, Cd’A, d. Connor Johnson, 14-7. 126 — Mason Rogers, Cd’A, p. Jordyn Lupton, 2:28. 132 — Josh Macdonald, LC, p. Boston Spear, 5:12. 138 — Logan Bradley, Cd’A, p. Chris Romo, 3:41. 145 — Colton Tucker, Cd’A, md. Alden Curto, 13-2. 152 — Caden Dutra, LC, d. Brett Myers, 6-5. 160 — Gabe Larsen, Cd’A, d. Nathan Booth, 7-0. 170 — Anthony Browning, Cd’A, p. Caden Kemper, 3:11. 182 — Gabe Grassel, Cd’A, p. Gabe Wullenwaber, 1:44. 195 — Garrett Leonard, LC, p. Ty Paulin, 2:43. 220 — Sebastian Mosman, LC, p. Logan Trujillo, 1:39. 285 — Cliff Eddington, LC, p. Carter Woodman, 1:09. 98 — Rocco White, Cd’A, p. James Swanson, 4:53.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene senior Gabe Grassel closes in on a pin at 182 pounds over Lake City junior Gabe Wullenwaber during the TerHark Cup dual at Coeur d'Alene High on Thursday.
  

JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City junior Garrett Leonard nears a pin at 195 pounds against Coeur d'Alene sophomore Ty Paulin during the TerHark Cup dual on Thursday at Coeur d'Alene High.