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Determined Crater defends mat title Five individual crowns overcome Newberg, 225-221 By KRIS HENRY PORTLAND -- Don't ever count out the Crater wrestling team. The men in black stood toe-to-toe Saturday with second-ranked Newberg during the Class 4A wrestling tournament at Memorial Coliseum, neither team willing to give an inch as the Tigers entered the finals with a 207-205 advantage. Five individual state championships later, including two emotional wins over Newberg, Crater secured its second straight crown by five points in front of 5,946 onlookers. Morgan Hawkins (119), Justin Godley (135), Shane Webster (152), Matt Lee (160) and Mike Whitehead (189) each shined the brightest in the intense finals spotlight. "This is unprecedented," Crater coach Greg Haga said. "We have five state champions, that's unheard of. Five in the finals for us is unheard of. Who would think that a team like Newberg would have six guys in the finals and nine placers, doesn't win their state title. It's been an incredible tournament." Crater and Newberg entered the 189-pound final tied with 221 team points, only to have Whitehead add to the Tigers' misery with a dominating effort that lifted Crater (225) to the highest point total in the history of the Class 4A tournament. West Linn was a distant third with 111.5 points. Grants Pass finished fifth with 95 points, with Eagle Point sixth (90.5). Whitehead waited around all day knowing that should the cards continue falling Crater's way, his teammates would set him up to bring the championship back home to Central Point. Many athletes would have buckled under the pressure, but not Whitehead. "I knew how it was, nobody had to tell me," the senior said. "I wasn't going to let him win. The team was on the line, I was on the line, there's no way he was going to get past me." With the determined look of a caged tiger, Whitehead shook off an early 2-0 deficit to Sloan with an escape and takedown for a 3-2 lead entering the second round. The Crater senior added an escape and reversal for a 5-2 edge, then built himself a 7-3 lead seconds before the end of the second round. Whitehead then rode out Sloan for his first state championship, sending the Crater contingent into a frenzy of hugs. "I told my wife about a week and a half ago that Mike Whitehead would beat Jake Leair for us to win the state title," an ecstatic Haga said following Whitehead's match. "He didn't beat Jake Leair, but he did beat a kid for us to win the state title. It's unbelievable. When the pressure is on, character rises to the top and that's why my confidence was full in him." Hawkins got things off with a bang at 119, keeping Lance Wolters at bay long enough for a 4-3 decision. The junior went ahead 1-0 before Wolters stormed back to take a 2-1 lead into the second period. Hawkins immediately tied the score, then went ahead 4-2 when he put the Grants Pass senior on his back. Undaunted, Wolters earned an escape to cut his deficit to 4-3 heading into the final round. Neither wrestler could gain much advantage, with Hawkins shadowing every move by Wolters to close out the contest when time expired just as Wolters was working on a reversal. "I just knew I had to ride him out," said Hawkins, who edged Wolters in the district with a double overtime win. "I didn't want to go into overtime with him again." Godley gave a preview of good things to come at 135, getting a late escape to send the 4-4 match into overtime. After neither wrestler could score, Newberg's Tim Norman won the toss and elected the down position. With 30 seconds on the clock, Godley needed to keep Norman from escaping to win -- doing just that as the frustrated Tiger basically gave up in the waning seconds. "I knew I had the conditioning going in over him," Godley said of his overtime edge. "I know for a fact that I go through a lot more than he does." Norman had beaten Godley by three points a month ago at the Hillsboro tournament, but the Crater junior got the nod when it counted and dropped Norman to 36-1 on the season. Webster continued the Comet uprising with an 8-6 win in overtime over Milwaukie's Brian Duhrkoop, who finished fourth in state last year and a three-time district champion. The Crater sophomore trailed most of the match, sending the action into overtime with a beautiful spinning reversal. With only 14 seconds off the clock, Webster put the exclamation point on his stunning state run with a takedown. "I'm never going to forget this," he said. "It hasn't all sunk in yet, but it will. It's already been amazing." Lee set the final stage by capping an unblemished season with a 7-4 decision over Forest Grove's Luke Fritz, improving to 40-0 in a match completely dominated by the Crater senior. "There was a lot of added pressure on me going in, but that was probably a good thing. It made me work even harder." Crater set up its run for the title with a strong effort during Saturday morning's consolation round, with the Comets placing all five wrestlers. Chad Griffin (112) managed two decisions before falling to Ian Gadberry of Pendleton, 6-3, to finish fourth. Scott Toney (189) placed seventh, while Burk Thomas and Austin Etchison finished fifth and sixth, respectively, at 275. Jayson Stratton (130) mounted one of the toughest comebacks in the tournament, rebounding from an opening loss on Thursday to place fourth. Stratton nearly ran the table in the consolation bracket, trimming a 9-4 deficit to Devin Morrison of Dallas to 9-8 in the third period. Trailing 10-8, Stratton maneuvered Morrison to his back with three seconds remaining but no points were awarded by the referee. Eagle Point's B.J. McFall (130) and Grants Pass' Jeremy Conner (140) lost in the finals. In the Class 3A championship finals, both Garett Romele of Rogue River and Nick Gentry of North Valley fell shy of their goal. Gentry was edged 7-4 by Clint Sieminski of Sweet Home, while Romele was topped by Cascade's Mike Unger, 11-4. Jed Pennell of Illinois Valley claimed the lone 3A state championship -- his third straight -- for the local contingent with his 11-3 decision over Mazama's Ken Holmes at 171. Sweet Home (144.5) outlasted The Dalles for the Class 3A crown, scoring a 19.5-point advantage. Mazama finished sixth in the team standings at 72.5, followed by Rogue River (12th), Illinois Valley (19th), Phoenix (22nd) and North Valley (23rd). Nick Minard of Rogue River dominated Saturday's consolation bracket to place third, while teammate Brian Cotner (135) placed seventh with a 3-1 overtime decision. Brandon Sousa paced the efforts for Phoenix by finishing fourth at 125, with teammate Bryon Monical placing sixth at 140. Other Skyline placers were Bob White of Illinois Valley (fifth at 112); Chad Jackson of Mazama (fourth, 119); Josh White of North Valley (seventh, 140); Pat Dee of Mazama (sixth, 152); Doug Howland of Henley (eighth, 160); and Andy Morehouse of Mazama (seventh, 215). CLASS 4A RESULTS PORTLAND -- Results from Saturday's local action at the Class 4A/3A state tournament at Memorial Coliseum: TOP 10 TEAM SCORES 1, Crater, 225; 2, Newberg, 220; 3, West Linn, 111.5; 4, La Grande, 96.5; 5, Grants Pass, 95; 6, Eagle Point, 90.5; 7, Crook County, 77; 8, Sprague, 75; 9, Pendleton, 74.5; 10, Barlow, 74. INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 103 CHAMPIONSHIP -- Morgan Hawkins, Crater, d. Lance Wolter, Grants Pass, 4-3. CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Weston Lerwill, Redmond, pinned Joey Rossknecht, Grants Pass, 4:50; SEVENTH-EIGHTH FINAL -- Rossknecht, GP, d. Pat Richen, Beaverton, 12-5. 112 CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Chad Griffin, Crater, d. Syphanna Kuch, Tigard, 8-4; Griffin, C, d. Chris Sanford, McNary, 8-2; THIRD-FOURTH -- Ian Gadberry, Pendleton, d. Griffin, C, 6-3. 125 CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Marshall Cooley, Crook County, d. Jeremy McLean, Grants Pass, 3-2; FOURTH-FIFTH -- McLean, GP, d. Luke Kleck, La Grande, 8-6. 130 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL -- Jordan Barich, Newberg, d. B.J. McFall, Eagle Point, 3-2; CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Jayson Stratton, Crater, d. Chris Clevenger, Sandy, 2-1; Devin Morrison, Dallas, pinned Levi Fuller, Grants Pass, 1:40; Stratton, C, d. Dan Figueras, West Linn, 10-3; THIRD-FOURTH -- Morrison, Dallas, d. Stratton, C, 10-8. 135 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL -- Justin Godley, Crater, d. Tim Norman, Newberg, 4-4, OT criteria. 140 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL -- Jaci Fabrycki, Newberg, d. Jeremy Conner, Grants Pass, 3-2. 145 CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Ryan Thomas, Sandy, d. Matt Bray, Eagle Point, 3-0; Dustin Forrest, Roseburg, d. Wes Price, Pendleton, 11-4. THIRD-FOURTH -- Thomas, Sandy, d. Forrest, R, 1-0; FIFTH-SIXTH -- Bray, EP, d. Price, Pendleton, 5-3. 152 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL -- Shane Webster, Crater, d. Brian Duhrkoop, Milwaukie, 8-6 OT; CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Paul Brookens, Barlow, d. Jamie Mannenbach, Eagle Point, 5-1; SEVENTH-EIGHTH -- Matt Redpath, Hillsboro, d. Mannenbach, EP, 6-2. 160 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL -- Matt Lee, Crater, d. Luke Fritz, Forest Grove, 7-3. 189 CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL -- Mike Whitehead, Crater, d. Ryan Sloan, Newberg, 7-4. CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Jake Leair, Grants Pass, d. Scott Toney, Crater, 6-2; Leair, GP, d. Robert Dyer, Sprague, 2-1; THIRD-FOURTH -- Leair, GP, pinned Tony King, Milwaukie, 3:57; SEVENTH-EIGHTH -- Toney, C, d. Matt Greiling, Centennial, 3-1 OT. 215 CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Carlos Alvarez, Eagle Point, d. Robert Sauter, Bend, 3-1; Alvarez, EP, d. Jared Mitchell, Lakeridge, 5-0; THIRD-FOURTH --Alvarez, EP, d. Thomas Bates, Oregon City, 11-3. 275 CONSOLATION BRACKET -- Austin Etchison, Crater, d. Jacob Nacoste, Franklin, 3-2; Eric Mustoe, Lebanon, pinned Burk Thomas, Crater, 3:42; Blake Cam, Eagle Point, pinned Etchison, C, 1:34; THIRD-FOURTH -- Cam, EP, d. Mustoe, Lebanon, 5-1; FIFTH-SIXTH -- Thomas, C, d. Etchison, C, 17-12. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.