Sweet Home’s wrestlers opened their 2014-15 season with a fourth-place finish in the 15-team Perry Burlison Wrestling Classic at Cascade Saturday, Dec. 6.
The Huskies finishged with 144 points, behind Crook County (344), Dallas (194.5) and Cascade (149.5).
“I was pretty happy with that,” said Coach Steve Thorpe, noting that Dallas was the 5A Division runner-up at state last year and Cascade finished fourth in the 4A, while Crook County is the defending state 4A champion.
“We wrestled without Anthony Hardee and we entered 12 instead of 14 guys and we finished fourth.”
Freshman Ricky Yunke, in his first high school outing, won the 112-pound class. Yunke pinned his way to the title, beating Jared Wheeler of Crook County, who had also pinned his way through the bracket, in the final.
Sweet Home’s other winner was senior Tyler Schilling, taking his second straight title at the Classic, this time at 132 pounds. Schilling pinned his way through the bracket, including Kade VanDeHey of Cascade in the final, for the win.
“He absolutely dominated,” Thorpe said of Schilling’s performance. “Ty has paid his dues, put in his time. “I’m very, very proud. He dominated the tournament.”
Junior Tyrel Miller finished second at 138 pounds.
“That was fantastic,” Thorpe said of Miller’s move through the bracket before losing in the final by a 16-1 technical fall to No. 1-seeded Matthew Hofenbredl of Dallas.
Junior Joe Rasmussen finished tied for third at 138 after losing by a fall in his opener against No. 2-sereded Tanner Earhart of Dallas. Rasmussen came back to place tied for third with Matt Dindinger of Dallas because Rasmussen had already wrestled the maximum five matches he was allowed for the day.
Jason Miller finished third at 160 after being pinned by Crook County’s Tyler King in his opening match, then battling back through the consolation bracket to get a revenge win, pinning King in the consolation final.
Freshman Bryce Coulter finished fourth at 152 after losing to No. 1-seeded Cole Ovens of Crook County in the semifinals, then falling to No. 2-seed Jake Vaughn of Sprague in the consolation final.
Sophomore Kobe Olson finished fifth at 120 pounds with a 3-1 decision over Brandon Quezada of McKay after being pinned by eventual winner Nolan Miller of Dallas.
Also competing, but not placing in the varsity tournament were Jake Porter (152), JC Elder (106), Tyler Fincher and Dillon Stutzman at 126, Travis Petersen at 170, Cole Ashcraft at 182 and Gavin Baskin at 220.
Four Huskies placed in the JV tournament, Brycen Denver winning and Dalton Doerfler, Boden Petersen and Devin Stafford finishing second.
“I can’t speak enough about the leadership of this year’s team,” Thorpe said. “We have five seniors leading by example. We have younger guys who are following that lead and stepping up and taking chances and taking risks and wanting to be successful. It’s kind of a fun group of kids to coach.”
Sweet Home hosts Molalla, Stayton, Sutherlin and South Albany at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, then travels to the Westview Duals this weekend.