Thursday was a very good night to be a Peninsula Seahawks wrestling fan, as they won nine matches in dismantling the Lakes Lancers 58-18 in a South Puget Sound League dual.

I spoke with three of the Hawks afterward - junior 126-pounder Ryan Valley, freshman 120-pounder Tommy Foreman, and freshman 160-pounder Luke Holsinger. They're the focus of the story I've filed for our Feb. 1 print issue, which is posted below.

I'm going to go out on a limb with my postseason predictions and say that five Peninsula wrestlers will make it to the Tacoma Dome for the Mat Classic XXIV state championships, Feb. 17-18.

Three of those five aren't much of a surprise: I think Tyler Allen (138) and Casey Larson (145) are both locks, having been there before, and Randy Nimrick (132) shouldn't have much trouble once he gets healthy. Nimrick was ranked as high as second in his weight division this year.

The two stretches are Foreman and Valley, but here's why I think they'll both qualify for state.

Foreman has already been wrestling for four years, and he's done well against some top competition this season. Plus, the 113-pound class that he'll likely be at for the postseason isn't overly deep. My opinion was cemented last night when Foreman beat Andrew Ramirez of Lakes, the No. 4 man at 113 in the latest Washington Wrestling Report rankings.

Valley has put in a huge amount of work in the past two offseasons, and I think that's about to pay off for him. He hadn't wrestled since Dec. 17 after injuring his back, but he needed just 26 seconds to pin his man Thursday night. I don't care what the other wrestler's abilities were — that's hard to do.

Valley says he's dropping to 120 for the postseason, and he'll get tested at regionals by Bonney Lake's Andrew Cunningham, Enumclaw's Tyke Reid, and possibly two Kelso wrestlers, Ryan Reed and Tyler Wicken. If Valley gets past any of those guys, he could be a lock for state as the top five from each weight move out of regionals.

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The Peninsula High School wrestling team isn’t built for sustained success in dual meets at the moment, but Seahawks looked razor-sharp in Thursday’s Class 3A South Puget Sound League finale against the Lakes Lancers.

Peninsula cruised to a 58-18 victory over visiting Lakes, its second dual-meet win of the season, and the only points the Seahawks gave up were because of three forfeited matches.

The Hawks won all nine contested weight classes, including six by pin, and two wrestlers had successful returns to the mat after prolonged absences.

Ryan Valley opened the night with a 26-second pin of Tino Nieves in the 126-pound match, a special accomplishment considering the junior hadn’t competed since injuring his back at the HammerHead Invitational in Silverdale in mid-December.

“I just took some time to make sure it was healed, and finally I started making my comeback this last week,” Valley said. “I just eased into it, and now I’m feeling good.”

Though his training was light since the injury happened, Valley was able to ride an exercise bike and keep in decent shape. He thinks he’s still in good position to earn his first trip to the Mat Classic state tournament, and he plans to drop to the 120-pound division for the postseason.

He also credits Peninsula coach Mark Nickels for making incremental improvements in the team’s techniques.

“He sees things we’re struggling on with matches, and he picks up on those,” Valley said. “And we seem to be spending a lot of time on our feet, making sure we get all these takedowns.”

The Hawks’ top freshman, Tommy Foreman, was out of commission for the past few weeks with an illness, and he made a triumphant return in the night’s final match by earning an 8-5 decision over Andrew Ramirez at 120 pounds.

The victory was especially sweet for Foreman because Ramirez had beaten him 11-6 in the championship match of the HammerHead’s 113-pound division.

“I want to say I just fought harder than I did at HammerHead,” Foreman explained. “After the HammerHead, I was super-sick, and now I’m just fully ready, and went at him.”

In between Valley’s and Foreman’s victories, Peninsula was just as dominant.

At 132, Zach Goddard needed just 1 minute, 4 seconds to pin CJ Faust, and 138-pound senior Tyler Allen, wrestling for the final time at home, pinned Kevionne Robbins at 1:54.

Jake Ricco (152) took charge of Mac Downing from the opening whistle, earning a quick takedown and patiently riding him out before completing the pin at 1:14.

Zane Holland (170) picked up a 6-1 decision over Paul Getchell, earning takedowns in each of the three rounds. PJ Hilley (106) needed only 1:36 to pin Mark Martinez, while Darrian Hanshew (113) recovered from a 4-3 deficit to pin Lukas Reinhardt at 3:17.

Casey Larson (145) and Hector Medina (182) won by forfeit for the Seahawks, and Robert Dingman (195), Nathan Kalloch (220) and Kiyrie Simmons (285) did the same for the Lancers.

Peninsula’s other winner against Lakes was 160-pound freshman Luke Holsinger, who nearly pinned Aramis Johnson on a couple occasions before settling for a 12-2 major decision.

The Seahawks open the postseason next Friday with the West Central sub-district tournament at Auburn Mountainview High School, and Holsinger has high hopes.

“My first high-school season started off slow, and then it speeded up a lot at the end, and I’m looking for a good postseason.”

Holsinger said his main focus is “just getting to be a better overall wrestler.” He knows he’s got a tough road to hoe just to reach the district meet, as four of the state’s top 10 in the Washington Wrestling Report rankings reside in the SPSL.

“I feel like wrestling at 160 is going to make me better later in (my career), even if I want to go to a lower weight,” he said.