For years, Decatur High School has been the standard for wrestling in the city of Federal Way. For possibly the first time ever, Todd Beamer High School has gone into Decatur and defeated the Gators in a dual meet.

The match was never really close. It was overall domination by the Titans in a 45-26 win on Dec. 13.

The win came in stark contrast to the Titans’ first dual against White River just two days prior where they lost 45-7.

“A couple of people filled in spots tonight and they did a pretty good job filling in spots. I appreciated that,” Titans Head Coach Brett Lucas said.

Of the 11 wrestled matches, Todd Beamer won eight of them. Decatur even won two matches via forfeit, so 12 of their 26 points came from matches that were never wrestled.

Todd Beamer, as a school, has been around for 21 years and hasn’t beaten Decatur in a dual.

“[Decatur Coach Zach] Cardwell has done a great job, and all their coaches do a great job. I also knew that they had a few people not in the lineup, so I felt lucky about that tonight. We got close last year, but it has been a while. It felt good to beat Decatur because they are a good team and coached well,” Lucas said.

Six of the eight matches that Todd Beamer won were by pinfall. Andrew Wilson (190 pounds) and Gavin Cook (215 pounds) kicked off Todd Beamer’s historic night with back-to-back pins.

Decatur then won the next two matches by forfeit, which led to their only lead of the day at 18-12.

Caleb Clemons (113 pounds) won his match with a pin, followed by Elias Clemons (126 pounds), who won via technical fall and caused a lapse in judgement from his opponent Edwin Gonzalez Herrera, who lost a team point after his match was wrestled. David Lim from Decatur got the Gators right back in the match at 20-23 with his win at 132 pounds.

Nazar Kharlanov split up two late Decatur wins as state placer Anthony Zanders won his match via third-round pin for the Gators, which again cut the Titan lead to 29-26.

Todd Beamer closed out the night with three straight match wins, sealing victory in a stunned Decatur High School gym. Brayden Carr won via major decision, while Isaac Turner and Javier Gamboa won with second-round pins.

Participation has been difficult for Todd Beamer sports across the board, but a few programs are finding success in getting students out to compete. Volleyball and wrestling, just to name a few. Boys wrestling now has a JV program, which is a big step in the right direction for the Titans.

“It feels good. It’s because we have great coaches. They’re young and they work hard, so I appreciate that,” Lucas said.

Lucas even got an outsider’s perspective from none other than his wife, who no doubt has seen countless wrestling matches.

“She said our team has looked better because our JV team will come down behind our bench, which is good, and we also have a JV team. Both those things are good,” Lucas said. Todd Beamer is back in action on Dec. 19 in a tournament at Edmonds Woodway.

Anthony Zanders controls his opponent for Decatur. Ben Ray / The Mirror

Elias Clemons named the winner over his opponent from Decatur. Ben Ray / The Mirror