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Phoenix dominates again Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Phoenix�s Tyler McCarty, left, pulls down Illinois Valley freshman Mike Pagnotta in the 135-pound championship on Saturday. McCarty won 7-5. By Don Hunt MURPHY � Phoenix High wrestler Brian Murphy didn�t fare too well when he met Illinois Valley�s Ryan Emery in a dual meet last week. Emery, No. 2 in the Class 3A rankings at 171 pounds, registered a handful of takedowns and a couple of near falls on the way to a 23-8 technical fall victory. But Murphy turned the tables on Emery at the Skyline Conference district tournament here Saturday. Murphy broke a 3-3 tie with a takedown in the final 25 seconds of the match to tally a stunning 5-3 victory in the semifinal round. Murphy later edged teammate Shawn Farrell 6-4 in overtime in the finals, personifying a sharp showing by the Pirates throughout the tournament. Phoenix captured five individual titles, qualified 15 competitors to next week�s Class 3A state tournament and amassed 413� points along the way. Runner-up Illinois Valley crowned three champions and advanced nine wrestlers to state while scoring 283 points. Rounding out the field were Mazama (227), Hidden Valley (155), North Valley (107), Lakeview (106), Rogue River (83) and Henley (67). Murphy, who was seeded fourth at 171, worked with Phoenix assistant coach John Farmer in practice last week to iron out the mistakes he made during his lopsided loss to Emery. "He (Emery) worked me over when I was in the bottom position and so that�s what I focused on in practice," Murphy said. "I worked on keeping my arms in and all those little things that get you beat against a good wrestler. "I wrestled a lot smarter match today. I think I took him by surprise." Murphy, a junior who finished fifth at district the past two seasons, is among the hardest workers in coach Harry Mondale�s wrestling room. Mondale said he knew Murphy had come of age when he finished second at a big tournament at Arcata, Calif., in December. "Murphy knocked off a couple of highly-ranked California kids in that tournament and came within a whisker of winning it," Mondale said. "I won a steak dinner from the tournament director. He bet me that Brian wouldn�t touch those guys. "Now I need to see that guy again so I can collect my bet." The runner-up finish at the 26-team holiday tournament gave an already confident Murphy even more reason to think big. "I�ve had a mind switch since last year," he said. "I�m not thinking about losing anymore. I�m just wrestling as hard as I can for three periods and seeing where that takes me." With Murphy leading the way, the Pirates broke the tournament wide open during the semifinals Saturday afternoon when they won 13 of 16 matches. Ryan Staten posted the other upset in the round as the Pirates� 145-pounder pinned No. 2 seed Ryan Miller of Illinois Valley in 43 seconds. "We had some gutsy performances out there today," Mondale said. "We had some kids wrestle their best matches of the season, and this is the time to do that." In addition to Murphy, other Pirates to walk off with titles were Tyler McCarty (135), Brandon Sousa (145), Kyle Kaufman (152) and Nick Acord (160). McCarty, the No. 1 seed at 135 and a runner-up finisher at last year�s state tournament, had his hands full with Illinois Valley freshman Mike Pagnotta but emerged with a 7-5 victory. Sousa rolled to a 9-2 win over Phoenix teammate Ryan Staten, Kaufman edged Pirate teammate Forest Jacobs 4-3 and Acord coasted to an 18-2 technical fall victory over Mazama�s Matt Teeples. Matt Britt (125), Eddie Middleton (130) and Jesse Camp (140) took home individual titles for Illinois Valley. Rogue River�s Nick Minard and North Valley�s Brenden McLean were the tournament�s most valuable wrestlers at the lower and upper weights, respectively, while Illinois Valley�s Jay Miller won coach of the year honors. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.