Grizzly day in the Dome

TACOMA, Wash. — It’s not like Steven Romero needed anything extra. A second state title, an unbeaten season and his proud and successful family tradition at Mat Classic — any of that was plenty.

But the sight of his cousin and stepbrother wrestling before him for a championship, that made the Sunnyside senior unbeatable.

Sunnyside's Steven Romero hugs head coach George Paulus while Jason Moyer, left, and Ralph Mendoza, right, stand nearby to congratulate him after he won the 3A 112-pound weight class championship at the State Wrestling tournament at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday, February 21, 2009. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Again.

Dominating the 112-pound bracket the same way he ran through last year’s 103 competition, Romero capped a 41-0 season with a 6-1 victory — a match not nearly as close as the score — in the Class 3A championship finals Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome.

Moments before Romero gave Sunnyside its Valley-best 32nd state title, senior Christian Reyes bested freshman Nathan Gonzalez 6-1 in an all-Grizzlies 103 final.

“Those guys are my family and we dream about doing this,” said Romero. “Nathan’s my cousin so I’m pulling for him, but Christian is my stepbrother so it’s tough to decide. Watching them just fired me up — I wanted it more than ever.”

In his third consecutive trip to the championship finals, Romero was in the same weight class that his older brother Isaac owned last year en route to his state title. And to finish the same way Isaac did, Steven defeated North Central junior Nathan Brown for the third week in a row. He was methodical and even-paced in the suffocating effort.

“Last week Brown stayed close and I had to remind him — don’t allow even the smallest opportunity. No cracks in the ice,” said Sunnyside coach George Paulus. “But he was dominant here. Steven was always in control and it’s a great way to end a senior year.”

In Saturday’s morning semifinals, it looked for a while like Reyes and Gonzalez were both headed to the consolation rounds. But Gonzalez pulled out a last-second escape to win 3-2, and Reyes survived a scoring spree in a 15-10 overtime victory.

In the final, the elder Reyes handled his young teammate in the same careful but powerful way as Romero.

“Nathan’s my cousin so it was a little weird,” said Reyes, who made a huge bump up from his eighth-place finish here last year. “He’s a freshman but he’s tough. I’ve been wrestling him for years I know him pretty good. I’m the senior so I had to take care of it.”

With the three finalists and placing medals from David Huizar (fourth) and Shawn Olivarez (sixth), the Grizzlies placed fifth with 91.5 points for the program’s sixth straight top-10 finish.

CLASS 4A

Cortney Nalley reaches 112 final

For the second year in a row, a Nalley made the championship finals. But this time it was Davis senior Cortney Nalley.

After a big semifinal victory earned him his first title match in three trips to Mat Classic, Nalley earned his season-long goal of meeting top-ranked Josh Heinzer of Lake Stevens in the 112-pound final.

Davis' Cortney Nalley wrestles Josh Heinzer of Lake Stevens at the State Wrestling tournament at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday, February 21, 2009. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Heinzer, last year’s 103 champion, got a scare from Nalley in the first period by briefly exposing his back but he gained control and prevailed 9-3.

“He told me I had him scared when I turned his back,” Nalley said. “I knew he would be tough and I thought I had regrouped in the middle but he got me a couple times. Second at state, I’m still pretty happy about that.”

Nalley reached the final by handling regional champ Cort Schatz of Curtis 12-8 in Saturday’s semifinals.

“I had a plan and it worked perfectly,” he said. “I really wanted to make the finals, and I had one of my best matches to get there.”

Nalley finished 37-3 with the losses to a pair of two-time state champs – Heinzer and Romero.

Cortney’s twin brother Zach, a state finalist last year, settled for a seventh-place medal to conclude his three-year run on the awards podium. He split two matches on Saturday, finishing with a 37-second pin in the final for seventh and eighth.

Zach Nalley’s three wins and two losses at state left his season record at 39-3 and lifted his school record for career wins to 131.

“He was a little sick and just not himself,” Cortney said of his brother. “It was just bad timing.”

Both Nalleys plan on continuing their wrestling careers at Yakima Valley Community College.

Davis senior Alexio Garcia, who was previously reported to have been eliminated Friday due to an error on the 103 bracket sheet, placed eighth.