Scott Swanson
Sweet Home won the inaugural 4A Special District 4 wrestling meet Saturday, qualifying 11 grapplers for the state tournament this Friday and Saturday at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
“We did well,” said Coach Steve Thorpe in what was a bit of an understatement.
Sweet Home scored 405 to Cascade’s 341 1/2 and third-place Stayton’s 206.
The Huskies put 12 of their 26 wrestlers in the semifinals, and all were victorious, despite being underdogs in five of those bouts.
“That’s never happened in my career as a coach or wrestler,” Thorpe said. “Newport Coach Rick Russell told the other coaches in meeting that they’d better appreciate what just happened because they’d probably never see it again. We had some kids do just really good.”
The Huskies won nine of the 12 by falls and one by major decision.
Senior Kyle Hummer said that the win at Regionals felt good.
“We worked hard and got what we worked for.”
Colton Schilling, who pinned his way through the tournament and remains undefeated this season at 112 and 119 pounds, was named outstanding wrestler for the 103- to 140-pound divisions.
Kris Newport, who wrestled what Thorpe described as “one of the best high school matches I’ve ever seen” in an 8-7 145-pound finals win over Cottage Grove’s Josh Stanley, was named outstanding wrestler for the 145- to 285-pound divisions.
“It’s good to know I got my head on straight,” said Newport, who won a state title as a freshman but fell short the last two years. “I think I’m back.”
Thorpe was named Coach of the Year for the region, which included Cascade, Central, Cottage Grove, Elmira, Junction City, Newport, Philomath, Stayton and Taft most of the Sky-Em Conference and all of the Capital Coast League teams. This is the first year the OSAA has used the regional format instead of wrestlers qualifying out of districts. The goal is to reduce the number of qualifiers for state and shorten the state tournament from three days to two.
Regional champions were Schilling at 112 pounds, Scottie Stockman at 119, Colby DeCleave at 125, Tyler Cowger at 135, Newport at 145, Jacob Jewell at 152 and Wade Paulus at 189.
All of them qualified for state, along with Justin Nicholson, second at 103 pounds; Colton Holly, second at 130 after defaulting to DeCleave; Kyle Hummer, second at 140; and Zach Gill, second at 285.
“As is always the case, there’s guys who don’t qualify for state that you wish would have and also guys who overachieve,” Thorpe said, noting that Holly, who was unseeded, pinned second-seeded Riley Beggs of Cascade in 52 seconds in the semifinals.
The notable performances included freshman Nate Melcher’s sixth-place finish at 160 – “pretty darn good for that weight,” Thorpe said.
John Markert wrestled well at 215 pounds, placing sixth, he said.
“Efforts from guys like that are who lead you to the team title,” Thorpe said. “Almost every guy on the team scored points. We placed 17 of the 26 kids we entered. The guys who scored points, I told them this was the first tournament we’d won all year. They picked the right time to do it. I’m proud of each and every one of them.”
Other notable wins were: Nicholson’s upset of No. 2 seed Austin Coblentz of Stayton; Hummer’s pin of No. 1 seed Shane Shepard of Stayton; Jewell’s upset of Cal Stark of Cascade, who had beaten Jewell in both their earlier matches this season; and Gill’s defeat of Cascade’s Kaylan Stark, who had beaten him twice this season.
Four Huskies made it to the fifth-place matches, which did not qualify for state, but scored points for the team.
Kyle Sorenson pinned Andy Brown of Elmira for fifth place at 152 pounds; Nate Melcher lost by a fall in the 160-pound bracket to finish sixth; Markert lost by a fall to Marshall Lehman of Cottage Grove in the 215-pound division to take sixth; and Alex Armstrong lost by a decision to Joseph Swinehart of Central at 171 pounds to take sixth.
This year’s state meet will last two days instead of three and there will only be 16 wrestlers per bracket instead of 24 – no pigtails.
“This is a tough tournament,” Thorpe said. “We’re just going to show up and wrestle. We’re going to wrestle hard. This week is about getting kids ready, mentally and physically, to wrestle. We just took care of regionals. We have to take care of this.”
Schilling,who is undefeated this season, is aiming for a second straight state title.
“I have to work hard, start my tapering,” he said.
“See what happens.”
He said that in addition to Henley, the No. 1-ranked team in the state, he expects serious challenges from Crook County, McLoughlin and La Grande.
“Cascade lost a few scorers at the (regional) tournament, but they’re well-coached,” he added.
With a trimmed-down field, he said, there will be few, if any, easy victories.
“If there’s anything I tell the kids, I tell them to expect kids to be ready to wrestle at this tournament.”
Tickets for state wrestling go on sale at 7:30 a.m. Friday and doors open at 8 a.m. at the Coliseum. Sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, with finals at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students on Friday, $10/$8 for the early session Saturday and $10/$8 for the finals on Saturday. Combination tickets are $35 for adults and $25 for students.
4A Special District 4
Wrestling Tournament Results
Team Scores – Sweet Home 405, Cascade 341 1/2; Stayton 206; Philomath 192; Cottage Grove 158 1/2; Elmira 116; Junction City 106; Newport 101; Taft 89; Central 61.
Sweet Home Finals Results
103 – Travis Bledsow (Cascade) pinned Justin Nicholson (Sweet Home); 112 – Colton Schilling (Sweet Home) pinned Tyler Speer (Cascade); 119 – Scottie Stockman (Sweet Home) pinned Tony Zeek (Junction City; 125 – Colby DeCleave (Sweet Home) won by forfeit over Colton Holly (Sweet Home); 130 – Ryan Dozier (Cascade) won by injury default over Ty Harvey (Sweet Home); 135 – Tyler Cowger (Sweet Home) dec. Zach Trask (Philomath); 140 – Mickael Hill (Philomath) dec. Kyle Hummer (Sweet Home; 145 – Kris Newport (Sweet Home) dec. Josh Stanley (Cottage Grove); 152 – Jacob Jewell (Sweet Home) pinned Matt Trask (Philomath); 189 – Wade Paulus (Sweet Home) pinned Blake Whelchel (Cascade); 285 – Kyle Smith (Elmira) pinned Zach Gill (Sweet Home).
Sweet Home did not have wrestlers in the 160-, 171- and 215-pound finals.
4A State Wrestling Tournament Opening Round Matches
103 pounds – Justin Nicholson (Fr., Sweet Home) will open against Tyler Isaacson Fr., La Grande)
112 pounds – Colton Schilling (No. 1 seed, Soph., Sweet Home) will open against Josh Valentine (Soph., Baker)
119 pounds – Scottie Stockman (No. 3 seed, Soph., Sweet Home) will open against Brian Middleton (Jr., Douglas)
125 pounds – Colby DeCleve (Soph., Sweet Home) will open against Lane McDonald (Soph., Madras); Colton Holly (Soph., Sweet Home) will open against Andrew Porter (No. 2 seed, Sr., Baker)
130 pounds – Ty Harvey (Jr., Sweet Home) will open against Rowdy Wells (Soph., Mazama)
135 pounds