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Defense leads Newberg to tourney
title
B. Scott Anderson: A take of when a
seemingly
harmless football story goes awry
Bucks take home second place
Bucks go 1-1 at Dufur tournament
Trophy
returns
home to Tigers |
After three years of watching Eagle Point win the Earl
Gillis tourney, NHS wins it Friday |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 In years past, winning the Earl Gillis Invitational, the team’s
home tournament, was enough for the Newberg High School wrestling team. No big ceremony
when it won, not even a trophy.
But when the Tigers suffered losses in the finals the last three years to
Eagle Point, NHS coach Neil Russo had to get something together. He bought a nice, shiny
trophy with a wrestler on top of it and had to hand it over to the Eagles the past three
years.
“When other people are winning it, you’ve got to come up with
something,” Russo said. “Maybe we should’ve gotten one a couple of years
ago.”
But Russo didn’t have to hand the trophy over Friday as the Tigers won
the tournament, culminating in a win over Pendleton in the finals Friday.
Newberg won all three dual meets, 63-9 over Sweet Home, 33-27 over Crook
County and the 34-26 victory over Pendleton.
Newberg improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-9 Conference.
“All in all, I’m excited ... I’m excited everywhere (in the
lineup),” Russo said. “We’ve got kids who compete and fight and who are fun
to watch. We’re going to fix some of the wrestling things, but I’m
excited.”
Russo said winning the tournament is an important step for the Tigers.
“In the past I think we’ve maybe downplayed it a little too much
and that would be my fault,” he said. “But we got after it today. This is a big
deal. It’s our gym and we need to win this thing.”
In the victory over Class 3A Sweet Home in the opener, senior Tim Siler (112
pounds) and juniors Dan Chandler (145), Andrew Hamilton (160) and Ransom Portis-Cathers
(171) all recorded pins as the Tigers rolled.
“The Sweet Home dual, I thought, was a lot more competitive than the
score indicated,” Russo said. “They didn’t match up very well with us, but
it’s nice to wrestle somebody who will compete with you like that.”
The quick start benefited the Tigers.
“That was a good way to start,” Russo said. “(Sweet Home coach
Steve Thorpe) does a good job there in Sweet Home. They don’t care about the score
— they came here to compete and that’s why we wrestled them.”
Against Crook County, freshman Marty Eng (103) and senior Trevor Arsenault
(130) pinned their opponents. Juniors Tim Brugger (119), Sam Schmitz (140) and Trent
Conant (152) earned victories on points, as did senior Sean Santana (160), sophomore Ryan
Rustrum (215) and senior Jaime Lopez (275).
“Crook County is a good wrestling team,” Russo said. “They are
solid from top to bottom, a lot like we are. We won most of those swing matches that we
needed to win ...”
With the match on the line, Newberg entered the heavyweight match with a slim
30-27 lead and a possible win on the shoulders of Lopez.
“I don’t know if Jaime was really aware of what the team score
was,” Russo said. “I didn’t know it until he went out there and that’s
kind of what we’re talking about, just going out there and competing and not really
worrying about the (team) score.”
Russo said he wasn’t sure if he should have put Lopez into the lineup
prior to the match.
“His back is really bothering him and I really questioned if I should
put him out there or not, but he wanted to go and he did a good job,” he said.
Against Pendleton, Newberg raced to an early lead by winning eight of the
first 10 matches then holding off the Buckaroos. Eng (103) and senior Jon Chandler (125)
both pinned their opponents. Siler (112), Arsenault (130), Schmitz (135), senior Josh
Stutzman (140), Conant (152) and Santana (160) all recorded decisions.
“We won all of the close matches and there were some really close
matchups,” Russo said.
One of those close matchups was the Schmitz vs. Adam Rosenburg match at 135.
Schmitz showed flashes of dominance and fought off questionable calls by the referees to
secure an 11-5 triumph.
“Sam got a win against a quality kid,” he said. “I think that
was the best match of the night.”
Schmitz weighed in at 135 prior to the tournament and wrestled twice at 140
before he wrestled at 135 against Rosenburg. Russo said Schmitz is maturing as a wrestler.
“He’s figuring things out,” he said. “He’s learning
how to manage a match and he’s learning how to maintain his focus and composure. When
he masters that, the sky is the limit. He’s so fun to watch because he’s so
explosive and so athletic.”
But it was Schmitz’s ability to shake off the the questionable calls by
the referee that stood out.
“He had a takedown called against him that was not a very good call in
my opinion, and in past Sam would have checked out right there ... I think he’s
worked hard to get where he is and it’s going to pay off,” Russo said.
The tournament was also the debut of senior Sean Santana, a transfer from
McNary High School who is a two-time state champion. Santana won all three of his matches,
one at 152 and two matches at 160. The victories also included a 16-6 win over
Pendleton’s 14th-ranked Trent Lucas.
“(Lucas) made Sean work and Sean is not in very good shape right now and
our plan is to wrestle him into shape,” Russo said. “We wrestles a tough
schedule and you’re going to get into shape in a hurry.”
Another bright spot for the Tigers was the wrestling of Portis-Cathers (171).
He scored a pin over Sweet Home’s Hance Woody before he suffered an 11-9 overtime
loss to Derek Hendrix, ranked ninth in the state at 152. But as good as Portis-Cathers
wrestled in his first two matches, he suffered a pin in his final match of the day against
a Pendleton competitor.
“I thought Ransom wrestled really well against Crook County for five
minutes,” Russo said. “I don’t know what the kid he wrestled is ranked but
he is a good kid and Ransom is legitimizing himself as a 171-pounder. Then he turns around
in that last dual and gets pinned and so we’ve got to go back to the drawing board.
We’ll get that fixed.”
The Tigers return to action at Dallas Wednesday before the Tigers head to
North Bend and the Coast Classic. |
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From Dec. 10,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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