WAPATO – Top-ranked Wapato kept its SCAC wrestling title Thursday night by doing a little juggling.

With an injury to one of its top wrestlers, and a couple others under the weather, the defending Class 1A state champions had to fill some holes, and moved wrestlers around to out-point Zillah, the state runner-up in 2025, 39-36 on their home mat.

The victory for the top-ranked Wolves came a week after they defeated fourth-ranked Cashmere (48-30) and No. 10 Royal (57-18) in a double dual at Cashmere, and Wapato completed an 8-0 sweep through a rugged SCAC schedule. Wapato finished 6-2 in dual matches.

As close as the final score was, there were actually just three matches that weren’t decided by pinfall.

With each team trying to find advantages where they could, plus the missing Wapato wrestlers, the real showdowns could come two weeks from this weekend at the district tournament and Feb. 20-21 at Mat Classic XXXVII in the Tacoma Dome.

At 106, Wolves freshman Jacob Gambito, ranked third in the state by the Washington Wrestling Network, was out, allowing fourth-ranked and two-time state medalist Kaydn Cuevas-Schenk od Zillah to earn a pin.

Another potential marquee matchup at 113 didn’t line up as Zillah senior Leonel Lustre, ranked No. 2, scored a first-round fall. The third-ranked wrestler at the weight, Wapato’s Alvaro Barragan, wrestled at 120 where he pinned Derrick Chavez, ranked fourth at 113, late in the second round.

In one of a few top-10 matchups, Wapato’s Xzavier Garza, 10that 120, pinned Quintino Hernadez, No. 8 at 120, in the first period of the 126-poind bound. Wolves freshman Michael Bustos, ranked third at 125, was out sick.

Zillah’s Ryan Vader, a state runner-up last winter and No. 2 at 144, pinned Christopher Garza Jr. in the first round. Garza is ranked second at 150.

The highest scoring bout came at 132, where Zillah’s Lemuel Lustre outlasted Adrian Espinoza 13-10. Espinoza, a state medalist last year, was wrestling up from 126.

Top-ranked 175-pounder Emanual Fernandez, fifth in Tacoma as a sophomore, gave Zillah three points by edging No. 4-ranked Jobany Macias 5-2.

At 215, Wapato sophomore Josiah Gutierrez, ranked sixth, topped No. 12 Martin Rojas 6-2.

Wapato’s Raul Sanchez III, a two-time state runner-up who’s No. 2 at 165, earned a pin at 157, as did Wolves teammates Brandon Romero Suarez (138, ranked sixth at 144), Kenai Finley (150, sixth at 157), Gustavo Martinez (165) and Josiah Gutierrez (215, sixth).

Also scoring pins for the Leopards were Leonel Lustre (113, second), Maverick Myers (190, second) and Jake Turner (285, third).