TERHARK CUP: A good fight ... Coeur d'Alene wins 23rd straight in rivalry dual with Lake City

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Coeur d’Alene junior Rocco White likes a good fight. 

Whether it be on the wrestling mat, or inside the cages of a mixed martial arts bout. 

“Seeing a lot of fights for the King of the Cage and going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Pay-Per-View fights, it really made me want to get into it,” White said. “Not missing any, it’s a lot of fun. I try to emulate a lot of what they try to do.” 

White pinned Lake City sophomore James Swanson in 1:35 of their match at 113 pounds, one of five pins by the Vikings in Friday’s 61-20 win over the Lake City Timberwolves in the annual TerHark Cup dual at Lake City High. 

“He’s a seasoned wrestled and a couple time state placer,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “It probably set the tone a little bit. We just like to compete and our guys competed hard in each match tonight.” 

Coeur d’Alene opened with a 12-0 lead, then fell behind after Lake City reeled off four straight wins. After freshman Nash Larsen received a forfeit at 106, White picked up a win as the Vikings didn’t lose another match all night, winning for the 23rd straight time. 

“It’s obviously a team sport, and you want to do the best you can for your team,” White said. “When it comes down to it, it’s only you out there. It’s a fun dual and to have a run like this, it means something to be on this team when they’ve been doing it for so long.”

White intends to begin working with Trevor Prangley at his AKA-Jiu Jitsu gym in the offseason. 

“It’s just something that interests me,” White said.  

White is 3-0 in the TerHark Cup. 

“We’ve got to keep this momentum going,” White said. “We’ve got to keep working on things and carry it into the state tournament and get some gold.” 

Lake City last won the Cup in 2002. 

“Anytime you have a crosstown rivalry, it’s going to bring some incentive to it,” Moffat said. “We don’t circle it on our calendar, but try to take it one match at a time throughout the year. And this was the next one, and the most important one.” 

“It means a lot to both schools,” Lake City coach Corey Owen said. “They’ve had our number and Jeff runs one of the best teams in the state. We’ll go back to work and hopefully make some adjustments, but at this point in time, they’re just better than us.” 

Micah Miller (98 pounds), Will Rossi (120), Tanner George (132) and Dominic Prangley (138) also had pins for Coeur d’Alene. 

“I think we’re wrestling really well right now,” Moffat said. “We wrestled well at the Rocky Mountain Classic last weekend. We’ve still got to get some guys in there at some weights and we’ll get some guys back in the next couple of weeks.” 

Lake City senior Nathan Booth won via technical fall at 175 and both senior Garrett Leonard (215) and Sebastian Mosman (285) won by pin. 

“Even the young guys, we competed hard tonight,” Owen said. “It wasn’t because of a lack of effort. Right now, they’re just better than us in a lot of ways. And we’ve got a lot of freshmen and sophomores in that lower half that will continue to improve. But right now, we’ve got some catchup to play.” 

“Credit to Lake City,” Moffat said. “Corey always has them ready to wrestle hard. You’ve got to come prepared because they’re not going to just roll over for you. But I really liked our intensity. If you’re a competitor, these duals always mean something.” 

157 — Colton Tucker, Cd’A, p. Tucker Bridwell, 2:50. 165 — Brock Armstrong, Cd’A, p. Chance Browne, 1:16. 175 — Nathan Booth, LC, tf. Brett Myers, 17-1. 190 — Cliff Eddington, LC, d. Riley Berger, 4-0. 215 — Garrett Leonard, LC, p. Owen Frydenlund, 1:33. 285 — Sebastian Mosman, LC, p. William Fairbanks, 2:41. 98 — Micah Miller, Cd’A, p. Isaiah Aguilera, 3:31. 106 — Nash Larsen, Cd’A, by forfeit. 113 — Rocco White, Cd’A, p. James Swanson, 1:42. 120 — Will Rossi, Cd’A, p. Enzo Attali, 2:49. 126 — Carter Newby, Cd’A, md. Connor Johnson, 15-5. 132 — Tanner George, Cd’A, p. Caden Ramey, :56. 138 — Dominic Prangley, Cd’A, p. Eli Gross, 1:25. 144 — Logan Bradley, Cd’A, by forfeit. 150 — Jack Mayer, Cd’A, d. Kellan Walther, 4-3. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene sophomore Dominic Prangley holds onto Lake City freshman Eli Gross during their match at 138 pounds on Friday at Lake City High.