By John Leggett | The Courier-Herald

It was déja vu all over again for the Bonney Lake High mat squad in the Region II wrestling tournament at Mount Rainier High in Des Moines Saturday.

Just as it had at subdistricts, Bonney Lake finished fourth in team scoring to Enumclaw, 235, White River, 186.5, and Auburn Mountainview, 128.5. The only differences this time the Panther grapplers scored 84.5 not 200.5 team points, sent a few less folks on to the next level and didn’t feature four champions.

“As a coach you always want to see a little more out of your guys, but the truth of the matter is that the boys wrestled really hard at regionals and that’s all you can ask for,” said coach Anthony Clarke, adding that of the four Panther wrestlers making the journey to the Tacoma Dome for the state tournament any one of them could emerge as a title holder.

“You just never know because understandably there is always a lot of adrenaline flowing at the Mat Classic,” Clarke said. “Sometimes it just depends on who you start out against in the bracket. Even though everyone is good at the state level, if you draw the top-ranked guy in the state at your weight right from the get-go, that can be a momentum killer.”

The mat men decked out in the black and teal sent four dudes to the regional championship Saturday night with three out of the four accomplished wrestlers claiming gold medallions.

The fun began when Bonney Lake 103-pounder Andrew Cunningham mopped up the mat with Renton High’s Aaron Garcia, whipping him with a 7-1 decision and earning the BLHS featherweight, a guarantee that he will be front and center at Mat Classic, the state wresting tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

Next up for Bonney Lake was Nick Bendon at 140 pounds who ran into a familiar foe in White River’s Alec Williams, dropping a tight 6-4 decision to the hustling Hornet.

“Nick had beaten Williams the three previous times they faced one another this season, but Alec finally got the better of him,” Clarke said. “They trained together before this season started, so they know one another’s strengths and weaknesses very well.

“Wrestlers never like to lose, but coaches sort of see the bigger picture and sometimes a loss can be kind of a wake up call for these guys as they approach the threshold of the state tournament. None of the four guys going to state for us is undefeated on the season, so this crew knows that there are things they still have to work on and iron out, even at this stage of the season. We will try to take care of those things in this week leading up to the big finale.”

Bendon will close out his senior campaign at the state tournament to see if he can come away with some sparkling state hardware.

Immediately following Bendon, at 145-pounds, was fellow senior wrestler Josh Peart, who played it pretty close to the vest with Franklin Pierce’s Torey Turner, the same wrestler he locked horns with at the subdistrict tournament. Peart pulled a rabbit out of his hat with some third-period magic and trimmed Turner with a 3-1 decision.

Peart, who has wrestled well during his senior outing, will have a tough act to follow at state in the 145 weight classification. Last year’s title winner at that weight was the Panthers’ Addison Tracy, who was the first wrestler in the school’s grappling history to earn state champion accolades.

Also joining Cunningham, Bendon and Peart was senior heavyweight Jared Dorsey, who edged out his foe in the title bout, Renton’s Joseph Watson, with a 3-2 decision in overtime, to earn a repeat trip to Tacoma.

Dorsey, who became a Panther grappler when he transfered with his younger brother Evan from Nebraska last season, raised some eyebrows in the 2009 Mat Classic when he took home fourth-place honors.

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103 – Andrew Cunningham faces Luca Caruccio of Mercer Island.

140 – Nick Bendon versus David Kahn of Ingraham

145 – Josh Peart versus Evan Paeth of Everett

285 – Jared Dorsey versus Koenard Swartz of Sedro Woolley