The tape and gauze that wrapped Evan Thompson’s nose and face made him look like a mummy. He didn’t need it, though, to put a big scare into his opponents as he marched to the final match in the 145-pound division of the Everett Classic.

Twenty schools competed for team and individual titles at the wrestling tournament hosted by Everett High School on Saturday, Jan. 8. South Whidbey vied for the Everett Classic title for the second consecutive year, and was one of four sub-3A schools in attendance (three 2A, one 1A).

“There was some good wrestling there,” said Falcon coach Jim Thompson.

The Falcons opened the bracket-style tournament with a few losses in the first round.

At 119 pounds, South Whidbey’s Jeff Kunnellis lost to Josh Beam of Timberline 17-1. Coach Thompson said the toughest weights to wrestle at the tournament were 119 and 145.

Steve Sutton was pinned in the second period by Cameron Olson of Emerald Ridge. Jeremiah Robey lost in three rounds to Mount Si’s AJ Brevick. Pat Monell lost to Nick Ulke of Lynnwood in three rounds. Monell weighed in a fraction of a pound over 189 pounds, but his normal weight is 171.

“He’s giving away 20 pounds,” Thompson said. “He wrestled tough.”

Added Thompson: “It’s a lesson learned.”

Thompson secured the first Falcon win against Nick Foldenhauer of Squalicum at the 145-pound match. Thompson took the first shot, grabbed a few big takedowns and overcame medical timeouts due to his bloody nose (he continued to compete with a cotton ball taped to his left nostril).

“The Everett Classic is definitely a tournament we all circled on our calendars,” Evan said. “We face some of the best competition that we’ll see all year there, and to place second there is really something I can be happy about.”

Wrestling at his normal weight (152), senior co-captain Van Morgen lost 2-1 in three rounds to Mike Munizza of Emerald Ridge. Morgen previously wrestled at 160.

In the second round, fellow Falcon senior co-captain Ben Ross (145) advanced after a first-round bye and defeated Sjors Steneker of Vashon Island with a major decision, 17-5.

Ross lost to eventual 145-pound champion Brandon Stratton of Oak Harbor in a semi-final match, and lost to Athan Dumont of O’Dea to claim fifth place.

Thompson defeated Mckenzy Leach of Emerald Ridge 4-1, despite not winning any points in the first round.

In the other semi-final match, Thompson had a come-from-behind win against Erik English of Auburn-Mountainview, 8-6. Down 3-4 in the third period, Thompson scored a takedown and a five-second near fall to win 8-6 and advance to the final match.

In the finals, Thompson faced Stratton, who is the sixth-ranked 3A wrestler in the state. Thompson continued the day as the aggressor and took the first shot on a double-leg takedown, but was pinned shortly after, giving Thompson second place. Stratton previously wrestled at 152 pounds, but wrestled down to 145.

“For [Evan] to make the final, with no byes, I was real proud of him,” said coach Thompson.

Sutton moved to the consolation round, where he defeated Keenan Thomas of Lake Stevens and Joel Gonzalez of Lake Washington. In the third-place match, Sutton lost to Garrett Wise of Everett, moving him to fifth place.

“I was really proud of Steve Sutton,” Thompson said. “He wrestled really well.”

O’Dea won the team title.

A junior varsity tournament ran concurrently with the varsity matches, and South Whidbey fared much better there. Patrick Myatt (130), Cameron Schille (135), Montana Johnson (152) and Avery Buechner (189) swept their matches. Sophomore Jack Douglas won two of his three matches in the heavyweight division.

South Whidbey travels to Duvall to face the Cedarcrest Red Wolves in a dual match on Thursday, Jan. 13.