With their final dual meet out of the way, a 64-8 win over Newport on Thursday, Jan. 31, the young Sweet Home wrestling team is ready for the matches that really count: district and state.
The Huskies may be the state defending 4A champions but that was last year. This is now. With only four seniors in the line-up, Sweet Home will put a team dominated by freshmen and sophomores on the mat Saturday in their own gym as they host the Val-Co tournament.
Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. with the finals at 5 p.m. Cost is $4 for adults for one session or $6 for both sessions.
“This is one of younger teams I’ve entered into district tournament,” said Coach Steve Thorpe. “I told them everything up to this point is just our preseason. No one ever checks your record before your first match at district or state.”
The Huskies are ranked third in the state, behind Tillamook and Illinois Valley, in the most recent 4A rankings. Sweet Home finished third in the Oregon Classic and the Tillamook Tournament, behind Cascade and Tillmook. The Huskies won the 18-team Sheldon tournament at the end of December, beating several 5A teams, and beat 5A defending champion Hermiston at the Roseburg Duals.
” Our schedule that we wrestled has prepared us for this,” Thorpe said.
Philomath looks to be the Huskies’ toughest competition for the district crown as the Warriors have showns some strength in the upper weights, winning all the weight divisions 160 pounds and above in their dual meet in early January.
“Of course I like our chances,” Thorpe said. “We want to win a district tournament. We never step into a season without that being a priority and an expectation, no matter what league we’re in.
“This tournament is all about getting guys to the state tournament, to the next level. We get them to the next level and crazy things happen, like last year. That’s what we’re trying to do. This week we want to keep guys healthy, get them to peak at right time. Everybody we qualify this year (at districts) can score for us at the state tournament.”
Thorpe said the Huskies’ lineup looks good, despite the absence of at least one quality wrestler who was in a weight division in which Sweet Home is just too deep with talent. One of those is Tyler Holly, a freshman who is ranked 10th in the state at 103 pounds, but was edged out by teammates Taylor Tagle (ranked first) and Mitch Grove (fourth).
“We have some people who didn’t make it into the district tournament that could,” he said. “Tyler Holly is a great wrestler. He worked incredibly and he has great potential. He just didn’t get in.”
Val-Co District Tournament
Seeding (Top 4 plus Sweet Home entries)
103 Pounds
1 – Mitch Grove (SH)
2 – Taylor Tagle (SH)
3 – Blake Woosley (Philomath)
No fourth seed
112 Pounds
1 – Danny Johnson (SH)
2 – Marcus Hartwig (P)
3 – Dustin Parker (Taft)
4 – Chris Zook (P)
Matt Grove (SH) not seeded
119 Pounds
1 – Kris Newport (SH)
2 – Kyle Swank (P)
3 – Casey Johnson (SH)
4 – Skyler Thomas (T)
125 Pounds
1 – David Converse (Newport)
2 – Jack Perry (SH)
3 – Allen Neufeld (P)
4 – Brehk Veitenheimer (SH)
130 Pounds
1 – Kyle Hummer (SH)
2 – Ian Soifakas (N)
3 – Robin Hechorn (Central)
3 – Seth Fauft (P)
Marshall Arndt (SH) not seeded
135 Pounds
1 – Brock Crocker (SH)
2 – Charlie Stouder (P)
3 – Jeremy Keenan (N)
4 – Keifer Riddle (T)
Nicki Smith (SH) not seeded
140 Pounds
1 – Levi Weikel (SH)
2 – Manuel Garcia (C)
3 – Cody Keen (P)
4 – Joseph Swinehart (C)
Kyle Sorenson (SH) not seeded
145 Pounds
1 – Chancy Mercado (P)
2 – Keenan Martin (SH)
3 – Jordan Hayner (N)
4 – Donny Roberts (SH)
152 Pounds
1 – Nick Pitts (SH)
2 – Tony Cuevas (C)
3 – Bryce Dryden (P)
4 – Troy Thurman (P)
Mike Harry (SH) not seeded
160 Pounds
1 – Matt Hill (P)
2 – Brad Pitts (SH)
3 – Ricky Cedillo (C)
4 – Kevin Johnson (N)
Austin Raines (SH) not seeded
171 Pounds
1- James Parrish (N)
2 Derick Calder (P)
3 Anthony Albright (SH)
4 Henry Vaughn (P)
189 Pounds
1 – James Zook (P)
2 – Cody Hayner (N)
3 – Marc Callagan (SH)
4 – Alfredo Rodriguez (N)
215 Pounds
1 – Keith Honeycutt (P)
2 – Logan Clark (SH)
3 – Ben Trask (P)
4 – Freddie Jimenez (C)
285 Pounds
1 – Travis Spencer (P)
2 – Shaw Valentine (SH)
3 – Marcus Cellular (C)
4 – Cody Huss (N)
Sweet Home 64, Newport 8
The Huskies completed a dual-meet sweep of Val-Co teams with a Senior Night victory over the Cubs on Thursday at Husky Gym.
Sweet Home honored senior wrestlers Casey Johnson, Danny Johnson, Nick Pitts and Shaw Valentine, as well as statistician Ashley Byrns and manager Lauren Cota before the varsity match began.
Newport forfeited seven of the 14 weight divisions, which didn’t help the Cubs, but a flash of temper by heavyweight Cody Huss, who slammed his headgear to the floor while returning to the bench after being pinned by Shaw Valentine, cost the Cubs an extra point. Then, in the 171-pound match, Sweet Home’s Anthony Albright was awarded four penalty points when his opponent, James Parrish, gave up four points for locking his hands, the last two coming as the match ended, and changed the score from a 5-5 tie as time ran out to a 7-5 win for Albright.
Sweet Home 64, Newport 8
103–Mitch Grove (SH) won by forfeit; 112–Tyler Holly (SH) won by forfeit; 119–Danny Johnson (SH) pinned Randy Gaul (N) 1:06; 125–David Converse (SH) dec. Casey Johnson (SH) 6-1; 130 – Jack Perry (SH) maj. dec. Ian Soifakas (N) 16-3; 135–Brock Crocker (SH) dec. Jeremy Keenon (N) 8-4; 140–Levi Weikel (SH) won by forfeit; 145 – Keenon Martin (SH) won by forfeit; 152–Nick Pits (SH) won by forfeit; 160–Brad Pitts (SH) won by forfeit; 171–Anthony Albright (SH) dec. James Parrish (N) 7-5; 189–Cody Hayner (N) pinned Marc Callagan (SH) 1:20 ; 215–Logan Clark (SH) won by forfeit; 285–Shaw Valentine (SH) pinned Cody Huss (N) 1:54.