Slutskiy helps power Suns to win over Walla Walla

Yuriy Slutskiy finds himself as the underdog nearly every time he steps on the mat.

The Southridge heavyweight, typically gives up about 50 pounds to his opponent, leaving him to rely on his quickness and stamina to get through a match.

Such was the case Thursday when Slutskiy, who weighed in at 227 pounds, took the mat against Walla Walla’s Tristan Larkins, who tipped the scales at 273.

Slutskiy registered the first takedown, but an escape and a takedown by Larkins gave him a 3-2 lead after the first round. An escape to start the second by Larkins made it 4-2, but Slutskiy got a point back after an unnecessary roughness call against Larkins.

From there, Slutskiy took Larkins down, got the big man on his back, and registered the pin at 2:56 to help the Suns roll to a 55-17 Mid-Columbia Conference win over the visiting Blue Devils.

“I wanted this match,” said Slutskiy, who is ranked No. 6 at the 3A level. “He beat me last year. For me, I’m used to football and pushing people around. This is the same thing.”

Slutskiy said the hardest task was taking Larkins down.

“I tried a right head-and-arm and that didn’t work,” he said. “I got him in a left head-and-arm, let go of the lock and got him in a power half. He’s short and stockier and harder to take down, and hard to turn.”

Southridge coach Steve Isley said Slutskiy has to get creative against his larger opponents.

“You saw that one instance where he used his quickness to score,” Isley said. “He surprised him with that shot.”

The heavyweight match was one of two on the night that Walla Walla coach Jacob Butenhoff was looking forward to.

The other was at 152, where Walla Walla’s Edwin Romero edged Steven Saltz 7-6.

“Both coaching staffs were looking forward to the 152 and 285 matches,” he said. “Saltz is a tough kid. It’s nice to see Edwin go out and and wrestle. Edwin is one of our guys who is a point scorer. There are a lot of tough guys in the MCC at that weight class. Yuriy is a tough kid. There was going to be some fireworks one way or another in that one.”

The Suns led 16-0 before the 152-pound match, getting pins from Xavier Ruiz (132) and Breyden Baratone (138), and a major decision from Ryan Nett at 145.

Saltz led early on against Romero, but found himself trailing 7-6 with 30 seconds left in the match. Saltz was working for a takedown, but ran out of time.

An unsportsmanlike call against Romero after the win cost the Blue Devils a team point.

“I knew 152 would be good,” Isley said. “It ended up being a great match between two high-level kids. Their 106 kid (MCKinley Hudiburg) is pretty highly touted, as well.”

Mikael Failor (160), Mark Meier (170) registered pins for Southridge for a 28-2 lead. Jevon Johnson outlasted Jahmal Mangarero 10-4 at 182, and after a Walla Walla forfeit at 195, Atsamaz Pliev pinned Isaac Melton at 220 for a 43-2 lead.

The Blue Devils (1-5 MCC) won the next three matches. Hudiburg pinned Chris Cuevas at 106, Ruben Lozano earned a 7-0 decision over Steven Meier, and Bernardo Bautista picked up a forfeit at 120.

The Suns improved to 3-3 in the MCC with the win. They finish the regular season next week against Richland. Southridge will wrestle Saturday at the Clearwater Classic in Lewiston, Idaho.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Slutskiy helps power Suns to win over Walla Walla."