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Photo by Andy Atkinson Crater's Mike Whitehead tries to drop GP's Jake Leair for a takedown in the final seconds of their match, but lost 3-2. Comets dominate district meet By DON HUNT Call them the unsung heroes. There is little fanfare, limited glory and plenty of empty seats in the grandstands when the third-place matches are held at the Southern Oregon Conference district wrestling tournament. And yet that is where the Crater Comets may have set the groundwork for a second straight Class 4A state championship. Crater crowned seven champions and had two runner-up finishers Saturday night in the finals at North Medford High. But it was the seven grapplers who punched their tickets to state earlier in the day that left coach Greg Haga pleased and relieved. "You find out what you're made of in those third-place matches," Haga said. "We won seven of eight in that round and those seven extra kids we're taking to the state tournament are crucial." Crater will thus take 16 competitors to the state tourney, the same number it advanced a year ago when it won the 4A crown. "Sixteen is the number we were shooting for," said Crater team captain Chad Griffin, who posted a 4-2 victory over Klamath Union's Todd Knutson in the 112-pound final. "We had to do it the hard way -- with those seven guys having to take third -- but it really doesn't matter how we did it. We did it, and that's what counts." The district team race wasn't much of a contest. Crater racked up 433 points to win all the marbles for the third straight year, and for the eighth time in the past 10 years. Grants Pass (330) edged out Eagle Point (326) for second, followed by Roseburg (179), North Medford (113), South Medford (105), Klamath Union (99) and Ashland (3). Along with Griffin, other Comets to emerge with individual titles were Morgan Hawkins (119), Justin Godley (135), Shane Webster (152), Matt Lee (160), Cameron Fjarli (215) and Burke Thomas (275). Mike Whitehead, the Comets No. 2-ranked 189-pounder, dropped a 3-2 decision to top-ranked Jake Leair of Grants Pass. Hawkins brought a large and noisy Crater throng to its feet with an exciting 4-3 double overtime win over Grants Pass' Lance Wolters. The match was tied 3-3 following the normal three periods and a two-minute overtime. In the second OT, Hawkins was in the down position and had 30 seconds to escape or lose the match. He needed a mere eight seconds to get away."I won the coin flip and chose to be in the down position," Hawkins said. "That's something we work on in practice -- to get away in 30 seconds. I knew I could get away from him and get the win." Whitehead and Leair, meanwhile, waged another down-to-the-wire feud. Whitehead's only two losses this season have come against the GP wrestler, and Leair's only setback has come against Whitehead. Whitehead twice burrowed into Leair's midsection late in Saturday's match and nearly got the winning takedown, but Leair fought him off both times. "I just didn't finish," a visibly distraught Whitehead said. "I'm sure we'll see each other again at the state tournament. I hope so." Crater's third-place finishers included Tanner Hillyer (171) and Anders Vetch (215), both of whom registered overtime wins to earn their tickets to state. Tanner squeaked out a 4-2 victory over Justin Klatt of Grants Pass, while Vetch recorded a 6-4 win over Trenton Ray, who pinned him the previous day. "Vetch kind of epitomizes what this team is all about," Haga said. "He gets pinned by a kid one day, and then with a trip to state on the line, he beats the same kid. Andy Oman (103), Joey Morgan (125), Matt Stratton (130), Scott Toney (189) and unheralded Austin Etchison also won their third-place matches. Etchison, who was third-string early in the season, earned his trip to state when North Medford's Brian Backstrom was injured and had to default. Eagle Point pushed Grants Pass the entire tournament for second place, but was edged out in the final round when four Cavemen walked off with individual titles compared to three for Eagle Point. Still, Eagles coach Bob Bergen was pleased. "We're taking nine kids to state and that's as many as we could have hoped for," he said. "We've got a young team but we wrestled tough." Bergen was especially pleased with 171-pound Evan Pogue, the No. 4 seed who upset Hillyer 4-2 in the semifinals and then pinned teammate Jason Welch in the finals. "Evan had a great tournament," Bergen said. "He's really come on in the practice room the last couple of weeks and we were hoping he would carry that over to district and he did." EP's other champions were B.J. McFall (130), who posted an 8-3 win over Grants Pass' Levi Fuller in the finals, and Matt Bray (145), who registered a 7-4 victory over GP's Chuck Martin. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford,