Tyee improved considerably win-wise in one short week of wrestling, losing to the Kennedy Lancers but in so doing also putting a lot more fight into things in a 47-23 loss at home Wednesday.

The Totems had five wins in this one, including two pins, against the Lancers of the 14 matches. Five forfeits hurt them as did the four pins that the Lancers posted.

But it was good improvement in the span of a week, as the Totems had no pins against the Rams a week earlier and lost that one big-big.

"We are learning," said Ben Molina, now 3-0 this season and one of a couple that are state quality. "The first match (of the season) we were whooped. We got more people and we are getting better."

The Totems got tomahawked, 72-5, against the Mount Rainier Rams a week earlier timeframe from this match, it was 72-0 in fact before Molina, a Totems junior, saved the goose egg from popping out with a technical fall win for five points that night.

Now the Totems do have more people, one person notably named Jesus Torres is a big one that wasn's there against the Rams' dual meet. Torres is good, he scalped a few foes for sure last season, getting all the way to fifth in the state.

Torres missed the Rams' dual meet because he had to work a job. And now he's got that under control but he's still going to be working for sure.

"I had a good season last year," said Torres.

Fifth out of all the 3A wrestlers in the state, probably about 100 grapplers in the 119-pound weight class. So fifth is not too shabby.

This season Torres has bigger plans.

"Going for first and working to get to college," said Torres.

A scholarship?

"It's going to be tough, but I'll see if I can't get it," said Torres.

So you're bound to improve, what about your team?

"Oh yeah," said Torres. "The beginning of the season nobody got past the first round. Now everyone is going past the first round. Tyee's growing."

Kennedy was victor of this dual duel, but the Totems held their own per the final scores that were pins but, like Torres said, not in the first round all night except...Torres pinned his foe 1:41 into the first round.

Molina was playing it cautious in his match, respecting his foe's strength and strengths. It was a 7-2 win for Molina, who elaborated on why he maybe didn't get a pin he could have got in this match. The Lancers wrestler, Nate Marrow, surprised him early.

"I'd never seen him before," said Molina. "He got the first takedown."

Molina may have pinned Morrow, and had his foe on his back a time or two in the six minutes of action broken up into a first, second and third rounds. But it was not to be, maybe because of a learning leap not made yet.

"I was going for a move to pin him," said Molina. "I need to practice that. I wasn't hitting it right."

Molina was knocked out in the Seamount League wrestling meet, the first of the postseason qualifiers to get to state. But the year before that, his freshman year, Molina made it all the way past leagues, and went to being just one off making it to state.

"I was a state alternate my freshman year,' said Molina.

So this year you're going back where you belong?

"I don't want to get overconfident," said Molina. "Last year, I was saying, 'woo-hoo, I'm going to state.' This year I am not trying to do that."

So what's Molina going to do?

"Take it one match at a time," said Molina.

And it may wind him up where his first-year coach, Mike Nguyen, said, to state.

Wins not mentioned yet were by 125 pound Totems Joemar Roman, a pin at 2:36 of the second round, over Jocie Weinburger. by Kennedy's Alex Pieris, pinning his foe in 3:26. Then winning was the 145-pound Totem Calvin Gray, a technical fall, 22-5 (15 point win). And then 152 pound Lancers Brad Neudorfer pinned his foe at 3:22. Then 160 pound Lancer Steve Conn pinned his foe in 5:02 of the third round. Then 171 pound Totems Deric Guisusolu of Tyee won a close match, 10-9, over the Lancers' battler-to-the-bitter-end, Ben Huarta. That one between Huarta and Guisusolu went down to the final seconds. Actually, Huarta, with his coaches like Moore screaming for him to go for the takedown in the final 10 seconds, almost won dramatically. Huarta spilled Guisasola backwards shooting but Guisusola lasted on his feet for two or three seconds before going down. And that put the clock at two seconds and that was not enough time for two points for a takedown to be awarded to Huarta.

Then, at 189, the Lancers' Sam Wood pinned his man in 2:41 of round two.