Sweet Home’s wrestlers managed a 49-24 win over Division 3 power Glide, but it wasn’t as easy as the score looked Thursday night, Jan. 3, in an endowment dual.
“Glide was an awful tough team,” Coach Steve Thorpe said. “We had to beat some good kids, but not only beating good kids, not getting pinned by good kids.”
The Huskies’ veterans performed pretty much as expected, state placewinners Colton Schilling (132), Tyler Cowger (152) and Wade Paulus (195) all pinning their opponents. But the Huskies also got some surprising efforts – not all of them winning – that impressed Thorpe, he said.
“We had kids who were losing by points, but who were trying to win the entire time and were stronger in the third round than their opponents,” he said. “Nate Melcher and Brandon Keenon went after some of the better kids in the 3A Division.”
TROY HAZELTON puts the clamps on Glide’s Ty Webber as referee Jim Philllips watches for the pin.
Glide brought six wrestlers ranked in the top three in their weights in the 3A Division.
Melcher lost 6-1 to Mikel Farley, the third ranked 3A wrestler at 170, in their 180-pound match. Keenon, a freshman, lost 8-2 in the 145-pound bout to Garrett Short, the top-ranked 3A wrestler at that weight.
Then Troy Hazleton, who has spent most of his time on the junior varsity until recently, came through with a big win for the Huskies, pinning Ty Weber, the third-ranked 220-pound wrestler in the 3A, in that bout.
“Troy just went out there and tried to win,” Thorpe said. “When you try to win, something happens. We competed so hard. I’m just proud of them. It was a good way to start the year.”
Sweet Home has one more home match, on Jan. 31, which will come after the Huskies wrestle in the top-flight Oregon Classic and Reser’s tournaments later in the month. Their next outing will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Churchill, while the JV wrestlers will face Taft and Junction City in a crossover dual at Cascade at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Sweet Home 49, Glide 24
106 – Tyrel Miller (SH) pinned Ethan Melton (G) 1:25; 113 – Tyler Schilling (SH) pinned Bryson Blair (G) 2:37; 120 – Nene Mauer (SH) dec. Austin Wilkinson (G) 7-4; 126 – Tan Quincy (G) pinned Anthony Hardee (SH) 1:15; 132 – Colton Schilling (SH) pinned Devin Freeman (G) 1:36; 138 – Ryan Adams (SH) maj. dec. Dakota Schelarke (G) 14-4; 145 – Alex Holland (G) dec. Brandon Keenon (SH) 8-2; 152 – Tyler Cowger (SH) pinned Garrett Short (G) :49; 160 – Jake Forrester (G) won by forfeit; 170 – Luke O’Connor (G) pinned Cole Ashcraft (SH) 1:29; 180 – Mikel Farley (G) dec. Nate Melcher (SH) 6-1; 195 – Wade Paulus (SH) pinned Brey Sverson (G) 1:17; 220 – Troy Hazelton (SH) pinned Ty Weber (G) :56; 285 – Zach Gill (SH) won by forfeit.