Kamiakin, Southridge wrestlers battle for bragging rights Thursday night

There is a big bone that sits in wrestling coach John Hogg’s classroom at Southridge High School.

The bone is awarded each year to the Kennewick, Southridge or Kamiakin wrestling program that has the best record over its in-town rivals.

The Suns have had the bone for years. The exact number isn’t important, but they certainly aren’t going to give it up without a fight Thursday night, when they travel to take on the Kamiakin Braves at 7 for the Battle of the Bone in their final Mid-Columbia Conference match of the season.

“I have never had it,” said Braves coach Jordan Anderson, who is in his fifth year. “I have never beaten (the Suns) as a coach — I’m 0-4 against them. They have had a good program for a few years.”

The Braves (6-0 MCC) have sewn up the regular-season title, while the Suns enter the match 2-4.

“It will be a good match for the bone,” Southridge junior Zayid Al-Ghani said. “We haven’t lost in a while to any Kennewick school.”

Al-Ghani should figure prominently in Thursday night’s match, with a much-anticipated bout against Kamiakin’s Zach Borisch at 170 pounds. They have never wrestled each other.

“I’m very excited,” Al-Ghani said. “He’s good. He’s physical and does judo and stuff, too.”

Al-Ghani has wrestled since he was 7 years old and living in Spokane. When he got older, his parents told him he had to wrestle if he wanted to play football, so he stuck with it.

“I cried before every match because I didn’t want to wrestle,” Al-Ghani said of his younger days. “I wasn’t even on the mat yet. Then in the eighth grade, I started winning, and I started liking it. It teaches you a lot of lessons — how to be a good person, to be a good student. Unlike football, it’s an individual sport. You don’t have anyone else out there. You are still part of a team, but not when you are on the mat.”

Al-Ghani has been quite successful this season, boasting a 33-2 record with 22 pins. His two losses were in tournaments to Liberty-Spangle’s Kaleb Hafner and Tait Stevenson of Ellensburg.

“He’s just a natural athlete,” Hogg said. “He’s a quick learner. He is amazing on his feet. He has a double leg (takedown) that is hard to stop, and he is crazy fast. And he’s well conditioned.”

Borisch, a junior who missed most of the wrestling season because of a shoulder injury suffered in football, is coming off a pin of Walla Walla’s Andrew Granchukoff on Tuesday night.

“I’m not too nervous, but I know it will be a tough match,” Borisch said. “He’s a tough kid. I think the biggest part of this match is who doesn’t give up. He is a stud. He has more mat time than me, but I have a lot of experience on the mat with all the judo I do.”

While Borisch healed from his football injury, he suffered a setback over the weekend.

“It is painful, but I hope to wrestle,” Borisch said.

And the bone?

“I have never seen it,” Borisch said. “This is my third year. We’ve never beaten Southridge. That might change (Thursday night).”

While the Braves don’t stress individual matches, Anderson is looking forward to the Al-Ghani-Borisch match, and the night as a whole.

“That will be a good match,” Anderson said. “Zach is getting matches in and getting his feet back under him. He’s been practicing since early December, but we wanted to take it slow to make sure everything heals right.

“Our whole team is looking forward to getting this part of the season done with. We want to finish undefeated.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Kamiakin, Southridge wrestlers battle for bragging rights Thursday night."