Sweet Home’s wrestlers finished a regular-season sweep of their Special District 4 dual-meet opponents with wins over Stayton and Taft on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
The Huskies beat Stayton 70-6 and a severely under-manned Taft 84-0.
Stayton is coached by former Sweet Home star Kyle Temple, in his first year with the Eagles.
“He’s doing a good job,” Sweet Home Coach Steve Thorpe said.
Tyler Cowger scored a “big win” against Stayton’s Shane Shepard, one of the top wrestlers in the state at 138 pounds, and Thorpe said Nate Melcher did a “good job” in scoring a 20-8 major decision over Clay Wallen at 160 pounds.
“Nate Melcher is wrestling tough right now,” he said. “He’s a good kid, a hard, hard worker, and it’s great to see him get that win against Stayton.”
Next up for the Huskies, ranked fourth in the state 4A division behind Henley, Crook County and Cascade, is the regional tournament, which will be hosted by Sweet Home this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-18.
This is where it counts, Thorpe said.
“I told the kids, in a season overview, that they’ve won all these matches, but who cares. We don’t get any points for what we’ve done so far. The next two tournaments are the ones that matter now.”
The Huskies have done well in nearly all the weight divisions against regional competition, their only dual meet loss to a District 4 team coming against Cascade early in the season. Since then, they’ve beaten the Cougars three times, though Cascade is still ranked higher by state wrestling pollsters.
Thorpe said he believes District 4, which includes Central, Cottage Grove, Elmira, Junction City, Newport, Philomath, Stayton, Sweet Home and Taft, is the toughest of the four 4A districts in Oregon.
“Our region is head and shoulders above the other regions in the state,” he said. “When you have Cascade and Sweet Home, the No. 3 and 4-ranked teams, in the same region, we’ll beat each other up. Then you have to remember Philomath. They’re seventh in the state. It’s tough, tough. Everything is tough.”
In addition to the team strength in the district, Elmira’s Kyle Smith is undefeated as the No. 1 heavyweight in the 4A division and Mitchell Kuenzi of Stayton is No. 2 at 195 – behind Sweet Home’s Wade Paulus. Josh Stanley of Cottage Grove is No. 1 at 160 pounds, ahead of Braden Calder of Philomath, who is fourth.
Cascade has seven wrestlers ranked in the top five in 4A: Travis Bledsoe (fourth) and Spencer Crawford (fifth) at 126, Ryan Dozler (third) at 138, Tyler Howe (first) at 170, Cody Crawford (first) and Zach Soto (fifth) at 182 and Dustin Johnson (second) at 220, with a few more ranked slightly lower.
Sweet Home, on the other hand, goes into the tournament with six ranked in the state’s top five: Justin Nicholson fourth at 106, Colton Schilling (first) and Scottie Stockman (fifth) at 120, Tyler Cowger (second) at 138, Paulus (first) at 195, and Zach Gill (third) at 285.
The likely line-up for the Huskies going into the regional will be: 106 pounds – Tyler Schilling and Justin Nicholson; 113 – Nene Mauer and Anthony Hardy; 120 – Colton Schilling and Scottie Stockman; 126 – Dylan Elder and Ty Kirkland; 132 – Ty Harvey and Ryan Adams; 138 – Tyler Cowger and JT Weld; 145 – Trever Olson and Bobby Malloy; 152 – Raul Hernandez and Ian Search; 160 – Nate Melcher and Nick Hall; 170 – Alex Armstrong and Ben Terry; 182 – Chance Jucutan and Quin Wise; 195 – Wade Paulus and David Skeen; 220 – Troy Hazelton; and 285 – Zach Gill.
“We’ve come a long way,” Thorpe said. “We’ve come together. It hasn’t been anything short of hard work. We have a team full of guys who absolutely reliable, resourceful and unselfish. That’s what makes for our success at the end.
“But, like I said before, we haven’t done anything yet, but what we’re about to do is what we’ve worked towards.”
Tournament sessions start at 11 a.m. both Friday and Saturday. Saturday’s wrestling will be divided into an early session, which will end after the fifth-sixth consolation matches, and a later session that will include third/fourth-place and championship matches and the awards ceremony, which will start later in the afternoon or early evening. Admission for each session is $6 for adults and $4 for students K through 12. Only OSAA Gold Cards will be accepted.
Sweet Home 70, Stayton 6
106 – Tyler Schilling (SH) pinned Taylor (S) 1:47; 113 – Justin Nicholson (SH) won by forfeit; 120 – Colton Schilling (SH) pinned Austin Coblentz (S) :11; 126 – Scottie Stockman (SH) pinned Ethan Large (S) 2:27; 132 – Ty Harvey (SH) pinned Jaymz Becker (S) :24; 138 – Ryan Adams (SH) won by forfeit; 145 – Tyler Cowger (SH) dec. Shane Sheppard (S) 1-0; 152 – Trever Olson (SH) pinned Dylan Krieger (S) 1:45; 160 – Nate Melcher (SH) maj. dec. Clay Wallen (S) 20-8; 170 – Zak Williams (S) pinned Nick Hall (SH) 5:42; 182 – Chance Jucutan (SH) pinned McComber (S) :34; 195 – Wade Paulus (SH) dec. Kuenzi (S) 14-7; 220 – David Skeen (SH) pinned Randy Smith (S) :53; 285 – Zach Gill (SH) won by forfeit.
Sweet Home 84, Taft 0
106 – Tyler Schilling (SH) won by forfeit; 113 – Justin Nicholson (SH) won by forfeit; 120 – Colton Shilling (SH) won by forfeit; 126 – Scottie Stockman (SH) pinned Salsberry (T) 3:06; 132 – Ty Harvey (SH) won by forfeit; 138 – Tyler Cowger (SH) pinned Steere (T) :25; 145 – Trever Olson (SH) pinned Vlasquez (T) :24; 152 – Raul Hernandez (SH) pinned Kovachevich (T) 2:40; 160 – Nate Melcher (SH) pinned Fitch (T) :41; 170 – Nick Hall (SH) won by forfeit; 182 – Alex Armstrong (SH) won by forfeit; 195 – Chance Jucutan (SH) won by forfeit; 220 – Wade Paulus (SH) won by forfeit; 285 – Zach Gill (SH) won by forfeit.