This could be Tahoma‘s year at Mat Classic.

With 15 wrestlers advancing to the state wrestling championships Friday and Saturday at the Tacoma Dome — four more than a year ago and more wrestlers than Mead of Spokane, the team wrestling experts consider Tahoma’s top adversary — the Bears’ goal to win state looks more realistic than ever.

Tahoma rolled to an easy victory at the Region III tournament Feb. 11 at Thomas Jefferson High, racking up 303.5 points to second place South Kitsap’s 141.5 points.

Kentwood finished fifth with 85 points while Kentlake finished sixth with 56 points. Both crowned a regional champion.

There were a number of eery similarities in the finals with several matches featuring the same two wrestlers who battled it out at the sub-regional tournament on Feb. 4 at Kent-Meridian High.

For example, Tahoma’s Steven Hopkins and Jesse Vaughan both ended up in the 126 pound final, but unlike the sub-regional tournament the two battled it out on the mat. Hopkins came away with the regional championship with a 10-2 defeat of Vaughan.

Tim Whitehead started the finals off for Tahoma with a pin in the 112 pound weight class with 32 seconds left in the final period. Sam Schuessler will join Whitehead in the same weight class at state as he finished fourth.

Tahoma sophomore Cruz Velasquez put together a dominating match in a 12-1 win over Warren Sprecher of Central Kitsap at 120 pounds.

Gabe Boynay, a sophomore, took home the regional crown at 132 when teammate Joey Palmer took an injury default. Palmer, a senior bound for Oregon State next year, won the 125 pound title as a junior at Rogers High.

Austin Perry just kept doing work for Tahoma at 182. To continue with that sense of de ja vu, Perry again pinned his way through the bracket, just as he did a week ago. And again he pinned James West of Auburn in the final.

Before Perry got the fall, though, it looked like he might have been in a little trouble. He was working from the bottom then before West knew it, Perry had slipped out of his grip and put West on his back, finishing it 3 minutes, 37 seconds into the match.

Dan Haniger via injury default in his final match of the day took fourth place at 152 for Tahoma.

At 195, Tahoma’s Matt Hopkins squared off again with Thomas Jefferson star KW Williams, in the final which was another repeat of the sub-regional final.

This time, however, Hopkins was able to lift Williams twice in an effort to bring him back down to the mat but Williams had a 6-4 lead late in the third period and Hopkins was unable to get a shot and take down in when the opportunity presented itself.

Then again, Hopkins, had just six seconds to do it and it would have been a tall task with 20 seconds given Williams’ strength and agility.

At 220, Aaron Davis finished the day off with a bang, pinning his final two opponents. Davis dispatched Jon Davine of Mount Tahoma in 51 seconds in the third-fourth place match.

The night ended on a somewhat disappointing note for the Bears.

Ed Torres lost in a decision to Kyle Lanoue of Central Kitsap in the 285 pound final.

It was also a pretty good night for the Conquerors, who sent two wrestlers to the finals, and will take a group to Mat Classic.

Kentwood’s Dalton Meyers, who wrestled at state last year as a freshman, took third in the 126 pound class with a 3-1 win over Tyson Gaillac of Auburn. Jamiel Jackson, a junior, finished fourth at 132.

Perhaps the highlight of the night for the Conks was Ohashi’s 10-6 win over Auburn’s Seth Mizoguchi at 160 pounds. It was another rematch of a sub-regional contest from a week ago which had a very different result.

Ohashi was able to find shots from neutral and get escape points. He was more aggressive and confident than on Feb. 4 when Mizoguchi got the better of him with an 8-4 decision.

Matthew Herrick made it to the 220 final against Eddie Meisner of South Kitsap. Things looked good for Herrick until the midway point of the third period when Meisner was able to capitalize on a mistake and get Herrick on his back and pinned 55 seconds into the period.

Kentlake saw Colton Marlowe and Sean Farr wrestle in back to back regional finals.

Marlowe earned a 6-4 decision over Kyle Iverson of Gig Harbor to take home the title while Farr couldn’t seem to find a way for the second week in a row to beat Tahoma’s Tanner Mjelde, who won the 145 pound final with a 6-4 decision.

Kent-Meridian’s Thomas Kemp scored an upset of Garret Autrey in the 170 pound title match. With 38 seconds left in the match with Autrey trying to score with a 1-0 lead, Kemp got two points on a take down near the edge of the circle, ending the contest with a 2-1 win in another sub-regional rematch which featured a different winner the second time around.

Joshua Smith finished strong for the Royals, as well, as he took apart Malachi Conklin in the third-fourth place contest with a 9-4 victory at 138 pounds.

Chris Bailey will represent Kentridge at Mat Classic thanks to a third place finish at 160 while Kenny Hobbs got a 6-3 victory over Tahoma’s Todd Link in the 106 pound third-fourth place match.