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Area wrestlers snag individual titles Photo by Greg Wahl-Stephens / for the Mail Tribune Crater freshman Bryson Gutches, top, grapples with Ryan Stephenson of McNary in the 103-pound final on Saturday. Gutches won 8-6. Crater finishes fourth in the Class 4A tournament, thanks to titles won by Gutches and Dearmon By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune PORTLAND - Crater may not have provided the final chapter on the 2002 Class 4A state wrestling tournament, but the Comets certainly can lay claim to the bookends. While Thurston was busy using an outstanding morning round Saturday to edge Newberg for the Colts' first-ever 4A team wrestling title, the Comets scored at least one champion for the fifth straight season. Crater opened the championship finals with Bryson Gutches' win at 103 pounds and then closed the tournament in style as heavyweight Chris Dearmon notched a 2-1 win in double overtime at Memorial Coliseum. The bookend wins helped Crater earn a fourth-place trophy with 123 points, trailing only Thurston (145), Newberg (132.5) and Oregon City (123.5). Eagle Point finished eighth with 84.5 points. "We're just happy to be one of the top four teams," said Crater coach Greg Haga. "That was our goal when we started this year and we beat a lot of good teams to get here." Gutches made a little history for Crater High in the 103-pound final, becoming the school's first freshman to win a state title and only the third to place at the state meet. Gutches beat McNary's Ryan Stephenson, 8-6. Prior to his two straight titles in 1993 and 1994, Nolan Rubus finished sixth as a freshman. The other Comet placer is one of Gutches' peers: freshman Ron Lee placed sixth at 152. But as Gutches has shown all season, age is only a number. "He's like a freshman 23 hours a day until he steps on the wrestling mat," said Haga. Gutches calmly managed a 2-0 lead in the first period, then pulled off a nifty reversal into a cradle for a three-point near fall and 7-0 lead. The tension slowly built over the next three minutes as Stephenson, a fourth-ranked senior, gradually closed to 7-6. "I'm not sure what happened," Gutches said of the late slide. "I think I just died off a little bit." Showing composure well beyond his years, Gutches didn't flinch in keeping Stephenson at bay over the final minute of action. "I wasn't going to be denied," he said. "I was just wishing that the clock could run a little faster." The clock was an issue for Dearmon as well. His match with No. 1 seed Jeremy Herb of Hillsboro was a 1-1 stalemate through three periods and a one-minute overtime. But once the match went to double overtime, regardless of starting position, Dearmon knew his first state title was in hand. "It was just my time," he said. "I knew I could ride him, and I knew I could get away. I got away from him before and no one's been able to hold me down all year. That's just a mental thing. I won't get held down." A sense of fate seemingly prevailed for Eagle Point junior Tyson Nelson, who flirted with losses in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals but in each case came away victorious. Facing fourth-ranked Joey Briggs of Dallas, an active Nelson forced his weary counterpart into being penalized for a stalling point to pull their match even at 4-4 with 17 seconds remaining. Although Nelson continued to charge over the next few seconds, the match appeared destined for overtime until Briggs made a mistake and left the door open for Nelson. With four seconds to go, Briggs lunged forward in sluggish fashion and Nelson walked through the open door to earn a takedown and three-point near fall as time expired. "I'm thinking I score or nobody scores," Nelson said of the match's waning seconds. "I didn't want to mess around. I wanted to get it over with right there. "It was kind of like he came at me in slow motion, and when he went down he put his head down and I just went after it and jumped around." Eagle Point's Jake Phillips wasn't quite as fortunate in his championship final as Newberg's Colin Davis managed a 5-0 lead in the second period and held on for a 7-2 win. In the morning session, Eagle Point's Joe Lewis twice staved off impending defeat in a spectacular display of determination. Lewis, who lost a 7-2 decision to Pendleton's Jake Leino in Friday's semifinals, fell into a 3-0 hole against Sprague's James Montgomery Saturday morning. Undaunted, two escapes closed the gap to 3-2, and with 30 seconds to go in the match, Lewis worked around Montgomery, ranked No. 3, and dragged his heels just in time for a two-point takedown as Montgomery tried to flee the mat. Needing to keep Montgomery from escaping from the down position from that point on, the Eagle Point senior did just that in earning a 4-3 win to advance to the third-fourth finals. Lewis' bid for a second straight third-place finish appeared doomed seconds into his matchup with Barlow's Jeff Taylor. After taking a shot in the nose, Lewis struggled to stop the bleeding, finally settling on cotton in his nostrils and a tape job that went between his nose and mouth and circled his head. A handful of delays had Lewis running back to the trainer and assistant coach Chip Emigh to stop the bleeding in his nose as well as his mouth after taking another shot in the face by Taylor. Through the ordeal, Lewis managed a 3-0 lead on Taylor entering the final period. With only a dwindling blood time keeping Lewis from third place, he was able to hold off on all accounts for a 3-2 victory. Crater's Rudy Ramirez didn't fare quite as well in his third-place match as Clackamas' Scott Loescher controlled the match for a 21-6 technical fall with 11 seconds to go in their match. Overall, however, the Comets put forth a strong effort in the consolation finals, with Nate Gipson taking sixth at 130, Jeremy McLaughlin fifth at 135 and Lee sixth at 152. "We had some kids wrestle their hind ends off this whole tournament," said Haga. North Medford's Rob Folsom capped off a solid run in the state tournament by edging Eagle Point's Victor Shelton, 2-1, for seventh place at 160. Brian Alves of Grants Pass placed eighth at 171. Levi Thomas placed third for Roseburg at 189, while Trevor Lofstedt was sixth at 103 and Nick Shaffer sixth at 160. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.