Huskies, missing regular starters, still close fourth in Reser’s wrestling

Riley Vaughn gets set to pin an opponent earlier this season. Vaughn, along with Tytus Hardee and Luke Rosa, were Sweet Home’s top finishers at Reser’s Photo by Scott Swanson

A somewhat depleted Sweet Home wrestling team finished fourth at Reser’s Tournament of Champions Saturday, Jan. 25, but Coach Steve Thorpe was not unhappy.

“We weren’t at full strength,” he said, noting that he inserted four wrestlers who are normally in junior varsity competition into the varsity lineup against 27 teams representing some of the top competition in the state from all divisions.

The Huskies finished fourth in a tight finish with 154 points, half a point behind perennial 6A contender Newberg. Crater won the tournament title with 186.5 points, followed by Canby (167).

“That tournament was quite a tournament,” Thorpe said. “I was very proud of what we entered.

Riley Vaughn (113), Tytus Hardee (126)  and Luke Rosa (175) were the Huskies’ top finishers, all taking third.

Three others placed fifth in the varsity competition: Keegan Jefferson at 106, Dillan Davis at 132, and Kyle Zajic at 157.

“They all finished on an odd number,” Thorpe said.

Vaughn, he said, had a “huge win” over Crook County’s Alejandro Vargas, winning 2-1 in the third-place final, and Hardy also had a big win over the Cowboys’ Chase Hemphill, who beat him earlier this season,  in their bracket final.

“I think Riley Vaughn probably had one of his better tournaments he’s had this year, and he came off of being sick,” Thorpe said. “It was a great effort from all those guys. Luke beat the 6A  state runner-up (Forest Grove’s Brandon Cook), and then got a fall (over West Linn’s Lucas Gray) in his third-place match. Luke’s wrestling as good as he’s ever wrestled right now, and so, you know, and that gives him a lot of momentum going into state.

“For us to take fourth in that tournament, we weren’t at full strength and that showed our depth of our guys.”

He noted that both Cael Stevenson at 120 and Jeremiah Steagall at 190, both up from the JV, scored points for the Huskies by making it into the  Saturday brackets.  Stevenson won a major decision over West Linn’s David Wheeler to get into the consolation bracket quarters before losing 7-0 to eventual consolation champ Trey Smith of Canby.

In the JV competition,  Sweet Home was seventh with 128 points, behind Thurston (272), Canby (171.5), Crater (169.5), Dallas (151), Redmond (141) and Crook County (130).

Freshman Elijah Cruz, at 175 pounds, Jackson Barringer at 190 and Liam Martin (285) all won their consolation brackets.  Conner Spencer  was sixth at 132.

Up next for Sweet Home is a home dual on Wednesday, Jan. 29, hosting 6A Division North Salem at 6 p.m.

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