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Crater hangs on for district wrestling title By KRIS HENRY ROSEBURG -- The Crater wrestlers stood in suspense for the first time in years Saturday night. Seeking their ninth district title in 11 years, the Comets set themselves up with a gutty performance in the semifinal and consolation rounds, only to have Eagle Point rally in the final session with five champions. When the dust settled, Crater still had enough in reserve to walk away with its fourth straight district title by a slim 14-point margin over Eagle Point, 373.5-359.5. Roseburg finished third with 260.5 points, followed by Grants Pass (162), South Medford (139), North Medford (112.5), Klamath Union (76) and Ashland (39). "It doesn't get tiring, but it does get tougher," Crater coach Greg Haga said of the chore each year to come out on top. "Complacency sets in, you go through a run of kids and you get new people in at other schools to get them all fired up. It's still a good one to get each time." Crater managed a 10-point lead over Eagle Point heading into Saturday, with both teams advancing 22 wrestlers. But when the time to shine in the morning rounds came, the Comets grabbed the spotlight and the Eagles were rudely dismissed at almost every turn. "I'm not unhappy because our kids competed hard," said Eagle Point coach Brad McBee, who shared coach-of-the-year honors with Haga and Roseburg's Doug Tovey. "We just made some young mistakes in that semifinal round with the pressure on us and didn't win. We were in a position to control our own destiny and I guess we did, just not in the way we wanted." Despite the close finish, Crater still managed to advance 14 wrestlers to the state tournament, including district champions Morgan Hawkins at 130 pounds, Shane Webster at 160 and Scott Toney at 189. "Fourteen is amazing for me," said Haga. "I thought 12 or 13 would be a bunch for us. Everything got pulled out and with 14 I think we set ourselves up to go and compete at the state meet." The Eagles will send 10 to state, including five on a winning streak thanks to some strong efforts in the finals. Justin Winner (103), B.J. McFall (135), Chet McBee (145), James Mannenbach (171) and Blake Cam (275) all garnered district titles for Eagle Point. "They stepped it up tonight," coach McBee said. "Those kids have been our leaders all year long and I think it was pretty important for them to win the district wrestling title." It was most important for his son Chet, a junior who finally got the monkey off his back with a 10-6 win over Crater's Justin Godley at 145. The senior Comet had controlled their prior two meetings for close wins, but McBee was able to turn the tide in Saturday's final. "The third time's the charm, I guess," a relieved Chet McBee said following his upset. "It's hard to beat anybody three straight times. There's not a bigger win for me right now than this one right here." McBee managed a takedown to score first, only to have Godley match that with an escape and a takedown for a 3-2 lead. Trailing 4-2, McBee earned a timely takedown with two seconds remaining in the second period to tie the match at 4-all heading into the third. Godley allowed McBee to escape to open the third but appeared destined for a takedown before the Eagle wrestler turned the trick for his own takedown. Trailing 7-4, Godley pulled off a reversal and allowed McBee to escape in the last 15 seconds. But with the clock winding down, Godley missed his shot and McBee countered with a takedown to close the match. "Right now I'm on the first-place stand. You don't want to come down from there," McBee said of how the upset sets him up for state. "It's got to make (Godley) think twice, but I'm sure he still thinks he can beat me." South Medford and Roseburg each crowned two champions, with the Panthers finishing first at 140 and 215 thanks to outstanding outings from Cory Sweet and Ian Taylor, respectively. South's T.J. Winningham advanced to the finals at 152 but was forced to bow out before the second period after spraining his right shoulder against Roseburg's Levi Thomas. John Peckham earned the Indians' other title at 112. North Medford's Josh Tarolli earned the crown at 119, while Grants Pass' Jeremy McLean gained the final title at 125. Taylor was left in tears of joy after his stunning pin of Crater's Anders Vetch, ranked No. 1 in the state at 215. Taylor controlled the tempo before catching Vetch in a vulnerable spot with a belly-to-belly suplex. "I really wasn't looking for the throw," said the South senior. "My coach said shoot, shoot, shoot and if the throw is there take it, but don't go looking for it. Sure enough it just came up the way I dreamed about it. "This has been definitely the most emotional win for me. This has been what I've been waiting for. It couldn't have been any better." Taylor and Vetch went to junior high together and have been battling back and forth throughout their high school careers. Vetch held the advantage up until Saturday night. "He played into Taylor's game," Haga said of Vetch's effort in the finals. "Anders got out of it once and that should have been a warning shot but he fell for it again. We'll go back to the drawing board." Even though some of his top wrestlers didn't cap their district runs with titles, Haga said he was pleased with his team's performance, especially considering the talent level of the eventual winners. "You look at the guys who we wrestled in the finals and those are some of the best wrestlers in the state," said the Crater coach. "Guys like McFall, McBee, Mannenbach. When you're losing close matches to those guys that's like a state final, so it's good practice for us." And if there ever were a time to fall short, Saturday was it. "It's better to have stuff that's bad to happen here than in a week and a half," Haga said in alluding to the state tourney in Portland Feb. 24-26. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA