By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

DAYTON, Ore.–  It was a match that we’ll more than likely see down the line again when Gervais’ Sarahi Zepeda and Kennedy’s Alex Geschwill met in the Dayton Invitational Girls Championship match in the 135 pound bracket.

Both girls entered the match undefeated, but was Zepeda that struck first.  Taking down Geschwill and went with a ground attack to limit the Trojan senior from doing match damage.

Geschwill almost completed a reversal to break the shutout towards the end of the first period before getting an escape point in the second period with 15 seconds left in the frame.  

“The crossfacing worked and trying to break her down from her feet.  (Greschwill) is strong, she’s really strong but I had to keep on going and pushing through even though,” Zepeda said.  “I tried to one-up her every chance that I could get.  She’s a tough one.  I’m aiming to improve each match, each tournament.”

“It’s good.  Being at a small school, you don’t get to go to go much of the big tournaments, you  got to search and find them.  So it was good to get a good opponent in Zepeda,” Trojan Head Coach Dewey Enos said of Geschwill.  “I’m proud of Alex because she’ll learn from this and in turn will get better.”

But Zepeda answered with a reversal to push her lead to 4-1 45 seconds into the third round, bringing the bout back down to the mat where the Cougar grappler held off her tough competition 4-1 to win the Championship title Saturday night at Dayton.

Two Sport Winter athlete Kendall Ifenuk won the 145 pound girls title for Kennedy, coming off of playing in a basketball game the night before for the Trojans.  Zepeda’s sister Ksenia, won the 170 pound title.  Jenrose Ifenuk won the 235 pound title for the Trojans as well.

On the boys side Geovanny Gudino finished fourth in the 182 pound bracket while Timothy Fennimore finished fourth in the 106 pound bracket for Kennedy.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald