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53 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, February 25, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend February 8, 2004 Roseburg�s Isaac Hebert, top, gets the upper hand over North Medford�s Josh Smith in the 145-pound title match. Hebert defeated Smith, 9-5. Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman Roseburg roars back for title Indians rally from 31½ -point deficit to win second SOC crown in three years By DON HUNT Mail Tribune GRANTS PASS — Two years ago, the Roseburg High wrestling team won its first Southern Oregon Conference district wrestling championship in a quarter-century. Saturday night, the Indians claimed another one. Leaning heavily on a juggernaut JV team that racked up huge points in the consolation rounds, Roseburg rallied from a 31½ -point deficit to overhaul defending champion Crater for the title. The Comets crowned six individual champions to the Indians’ four, but when the smoke cleared at Heater-Newman Memorial Gymnasium, Roseburg had 357.5 points compared to Crater’s 351. Grants Pass finished a distant third with 241.5 points, followed by Eagle Point (207.5), North Medford (171.5), Klamath Union (96) and South Medford (84). Advertisement Crater and Roseburg each qualified 11 competitors to the Class 4A state tournament, which runs Feb. 19-21 at Memorial Coliseum in Portland. "We had to be almost perfect today to overhaul those guys (Crater)," said Roseburg coach Steve Lander, who was mobbed by his wrestlers when the Indians’ win was announced. "We dug ourselves a pretty good hole (Friday) but we kept fighting and dug ourselves out. "It just shows what can happen when you don’t give up." The Indians got off to a bad start Friday when Aaron Suggs, their 112-pounder who was third-seeded, failed to make weight. They trailed the Comets by 24 points after Friday’s two championship and one consolation round, and the gap swelled to 31½ during Saturday morning’s championship semifinals. But the Indians wouldn’t quit. Their second-line grapplers pounded away in the consolation rounds and picked up a bundle of pins while doing it. "We’ve got a really strong senior class and we felt like we had to make a statement," said Kevin Beavers, who helped spark the Indians in the finals when he beat Crater’s Tyler Weathers to win the 119-pound title. "A bunch of us have been wrestling since we were little kids, and these are the moments you live for. "I know coach (Lander) was disappointed with us (Friday). You could see it in his eyes when we went home that night. "He’s built this program and put in so much time and effort and we weren’t going to let him down. The seniors got together with the younger guys and said, hey, everyone needs to crank it up a notch." Of the 28 wrestlers Roseburg entered in the tournament, 22 placed in the top six. For Crater, the numbers were 26 and 16. Comets coach Greg Haga was gracious in defeat. "Roseburg’s second men did the job," he said. "That was our concern going into the tournament. "But I’m not disappointed. We’re sending a stronger group to the state tournament than we did last year when we won it." In the championship round, Trevor Lofstedt pinned Grants Pass’ Tyler Baker at 112 pounds and Beavers followed with a 6-2 decision over Weathers at 119 to get Roseburg off to a good start. But the match that put the Indians over the hump came at 130 pounds, when sophomore Jake Spears pulled a 13-10 upset win over Grants Pass’ Chris Hotch. Spears, the No. 4 seed, beat top-seeded Eric Sedivy of the Cavemen in the semifinals before upending the second-seeded Hotch in the finals. "That was the toughest weight class in this tournament and our guy (Spears) won it," said Lander, noting that Sedivy and Hotch were both state placers last year. "What Spears did was huge." Isaac Hebert bagged the Indians’ other title when he notched a 9-5 victory over North Medford’s Josh Smith at 145. Capturing titles for Crater were Jake Vizzini (103), Bryson Gutches (135), Chase Maloney (152), Ron Lee (171), Cody Clark (189) and Taylor Wilkerson (275). Almost lost in the drama of the Crater-Roseburg tug-of-war were the rock-solid efforts of Grants Pass and North Medford. Andrew Ditty (215) won GP’s only individual title, but the Cavemen had three runners-up and advanced eight competitors to the state meet. The Tornado qualified six to state — five sophomores and senior sensation Rob Folsom, who ran his season record to 29-0 with an 18-10 win over Crater’s Cody Ponder. Folsom led Ponder just 8-7 late in the second period of their 160-pound title bout, but tallied a takedown late in the period and then dominated the final three minutes. "He (Ponder) slowed down my style in the first two rounds and I made some mistakes, but I amped it up in the third," Folsom said. Eagle Point placed five wrestlers in the finals and crowned two champions in 125-pound Jake McCoy and 140-pound Stephen Price. South Medford had five wrestlers vying for third place Saturday and the ticket to state that goes with it, but Joe Ziegler was the lone Panther to advance. The junior 140-pounder posted a 2-1 win over Bradley Meredith of Grants Pass. Juan Aguilar, the Panthers’ top wrestler all season, was thrown out of the tournament for poor conduct following his semifinal loss to Roseburg’s Colton Gow. The Panthers suffered another bad break later in the day when Travis Helman was disqualified for slamming Grants Pass’ Tanner Marval in their third-place bout. Marval suffered a concussion and couldn’t continue. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. 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