“Mama said knock you out!” (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
On to day two!
Coupeville’s Jaje Drake won two of three matches Friday at Mat Classic XXXV in Tacoma, keeping alive his bid to bring home some hardware.
The Wolf senior, who is wrestling in the 215-pound class in the 2B/1B classification, opened with a win over Jacob Randall of Okanogan.
That moved Drake into the quarterfinals, where he put up a strong fight before falling to Gabriel Smith of Ritzville, one of four contestants in the 12-man field who had a first-round bye.
Springing right back into action, Coupeville’s lone grappler, who trained and traveled with South Whidbey during the regular season, roared back with a victory against Preston Stingley of Kittitas.
That pushes Drake into a showdown with Matthew Kenney of Rainier Saturday, the second time this season the duo have clashed.
The winner of that match is guaranteed to finish at least 6th, and could go as high as 3rd, while the loser is eliminated.
Drake, who was an All-Conference lineman for Coupeville football this fall, is the second Wolf in recent years to rep the red and black on the wrestling mat.
Current CHS football assistant coach Alex Turner also advanced to state in 2019 while following a similar path.
Coupeville is one of the few schools in the state not to have its own wrestling program, necessitating the agreement with South Whidbey.
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