Joe Adams Fifth at State

Adams goes two-for-two, wins fifth-place match; Hoffman fails to place

TACOMA – Waitsburg's Joe Adams performed well at the Washington State Mat Classic at the Tacoma Dome last weekend.

Wrestling at 182 pounds, Adams won his first match, but then lost his next two by decision, before winning the fifth/sixth place match.

Against Johnny Franke, of Darlington, Adams won by decision 3-1.

"Very close match," said Dayton coach Lanny Adams. "The first two rounds, they were on their feet. Neither could get a shot deep enough to get a takedown. Joe was up 2-1 at the start of the 3rd round.  They went out of bounds with 30 seconds left. They move back to the center and Joe gets an escape making it 3-1.  Joe was able to fend off the shots and get the win."

Next, against Liberty Bell's Finlay Holston, Adams lost by decision, 7-1.

Adams next wrestled Branson McMullen, of Ilwaco, and lost by decision, 6-4.

"Joe got behind early on and just couldn't gather the momentum to get the points," said coach Adams. "He got a reversal in the middle if the 3rd round, but couldn't quite get McMullen turned for the needed nearfall points."

Adams wrestled against Kameron Perry, of Adna, for 5th/6th place. He won by pin at 4:59.09, in the last second of the match.

"Joe and Kameron battled the entire match," said coach Adams. "Going into the 3rd round it was tied up 7-7. Joe tried to sit out and stand up but couldn't get out from underneath. Kameron started to get high and Joe caught his head and place Kameron in a stack. Joe got the pin with 0:01 left on the clock.

"What a way to win the match and end your high school Wrestling career," Adams added. "Not to mention give the coaches a heart attack."

At 285 pounds, Hoffman also won his first match, beating Mabton's Jesus Mata in an 8-0 decision.

"Tyler got the takedown and turned him for nearfall points," said Coach Adams. Tyler couldn't quite get him flat in the mat."

Hoffman was pinned early in his next two matches: by Toledo's Dalton Yoder, at 0:56, and by Ilwaco's Cahleb Whelen, at 0:51.

"Tyler tried getting an over-under and missed the arm when he tried to throw him," Coach Adams said of Hoffman's final match. "Whelen ended up on top and Tyler couldn't get out. Not the way we wanted to end Tyler's wrestling career."

Waitsburg loses six seniors this year: Joe Adams, Tyler Hoffman, Devin Newman, David Just, DeJay Meyer, and Dylan Knowles, who was injured mid-season.