Sweet Home’s wrestlers got a nasty turn Thursday, Jan. 5, in their first Capitol Conference dual meet of the season, when they lost to a tough Cascade squad.
It was only the second league dual-meet loss in coach Steve Thorpe’s 10 years with the Huskies, he said. Cascade, with a returning state champion, Tyler Phillips at 135 pounds, and two-time district champion Jarrod Kamstra at 171, is ranked sixth in the state, but that didn’t make Thorpe any happier.
“Cascade wrestled very well,” he said. “They’re a very well-coached team with some tough kids. But I was disappointed in how we competed.”
The Huskies roared out to a 21-6 lead after five matches, but Cascade battled back in the heavier weights to take a 28-21 advantage after three straight pins at 189, 215 and 275 pounds. Then, after forfeiting the 103-pound division, the Cougars got two more falls at 119 and 125 to put the match out of reach, though John Sutten finished things for Sweet Home with a 6-0 win at 130.
Thorpe said the Huskies failed to compete as a team and gave up falls they should not have — on both the varsity and the junior varsity level.
“You cannot do that against tough team,” he said. “You can have all kinds of excuses, but that’s all they are — excuses.”
The good news for Sweet Home is how the Huskies bounced back at the tough Roseburg Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 7.
Sweet Home beat 4A power Redmond 33-29 in the dual meet-format tournament, Clackamas 55-13 and Churchill 72-6 in a match that included seven forfeits by Churchill. The Huskies lost 54-9 to Hermiston — getting wins from Trevor Tagle, John Sutten and Jake Smith. They then lost 45-18 to Roseburg, another 4A power.
“I’m very proud of how we responded,” Thorpe said. “We wrestled tough (against Redmond), kept matches close and beat people we shouldn’t.”
Tagle was the only Husky to win all five of his matches through the day.
Twice in 15 years they beat SH, but although thtat’s twice, far as I’m concerned, that’s too many.
Thorpe said freshman Chris Farris wrestled hard at 103 pounds, despite being ill, while Sawyer Anderson stepped into the line-up in place of Shorty Weikel, who missed last week’s matches due to disciplinary action, and “competed hard,” Thorpe said.
The coach said he expects the Huskies to continue to improve.
“We are not where we are going to be in February,” he said.
The Huskies will travel to Mollala on Wednesday, Jan. 11, and then will compete in the Oregon Classic in Redmond Friday and Saturday.
Cascade 43, Sweet Home 30
103 Chris Farris (SH) won by forfeit; 112 Matt Collier (C) def. Aris Somatis (SH) 2-1; 119 Mike Coleman (C) pinned Jake Smith (SH) 1:40; 125 Tyler Phillips (C) pinned Jack Perry (SH) 1:19; 130 John Sutten (SH) def. Adam Dolan (C) 6-0; 135 Shane Vandehei (SH) pinned Tony Green (C) 2:05; 140 Trevor Tagle (SH) def. Travis White (C) 7-2; 145 Paul Ramsey (C) pinned Nick Pitts (SH) 4:30; 152 Thomas Helfrich (SH) pinned Austin Kelly 3:47; 160 Rob Helfrich (SH) pinned Bryon Anderson (C) 5:34; 171 Jarrod Kamstra (C) def. Colton Cooley (SH) 11-3; 189 Will Goette (C) pinned Joey Ellis (SH) 2:25; 215 Shane Griffith (C) pinned Shaw Valentine (SH) :40; 275 Emanuel Quintinilla (C) pinned Matt Parker (SH) 4:26.