Document text
No. 1 Crater wrestling edges Thurston Crater's Logan Meek wraps up Thurston's Cody Martell en route to victory during the Midwestern League dual at Crater High on Wednesday. [DENISE BARATTA/MAIL TRIBUNE] Thursday Jan 25, 2018 at 2:00 AM Jan 25, 2018 at 9:44 AM Kris Henry Mail Tribune @Kris_Henry CENTRAL POINT — Every step forward Crater and its wrestlers can make as the season winds down toward a potential repeat Class 5A state title is meaningful, but Wednesday offered an extra special moment for the hopeful Comets. With the spotlight on seniors Zeth Brower, Dallas Howard, Logan Meek and Beau Crawford in a final Midwestern League dual in front of their hometown fans, the quartet delivered against Thurston and helped propel Crater to a 36-30 win in a matchup of top 5A programs. Fresh off earning repeat titles at the Reser’s Tournament of Champions, Brower (120 pounds) and Meek (160) each earned first-round pins while Howard (145) scored a fall in the second round and recent returnee Crawford (220) held on for a 5-3 decision to make the most of Senior Night at Crater High. “I thought all our seniors did a great job out there,” said Crater head coach Greg Haga, whose team is ranked No. 1 in 5A. Thurston is ranked fourth. “This was a win that I was very impressed that we pulled off. We had some kids that in defeat had to wrestle hard and not give up some things.” The moment was not lost on the Crater seniors, who knew full well how dangerous the visiting Colts would be. “They’re one of the top teams in the state so for us to beat them just feels good,” said the Oregon State-bound Meek, who ran his record to 32-0 with 24 pins. Meek offered up a different look on Wednesday, needing to wear a full protective mask after he suffered a broken nose during his 152-pound semifinal match at Reser’s TOC. The injury didn’t faze him as he wrapped up that tournament, but his new mask came off 10 seconds into his dual Wednesday against Codey Martell after being bumped up to 160 pounds. Following a quick tape job by Haga to secure the mask to his headgear, Meek went about business as usual in scoring a fall in 1 minute, 39 seconds. “That (mask) is brand new, we just got it today, so we weren’t sure how it was going to hold up and it didn’t,” said Meek, “But we got it figured and moved on.” Meek, a two-time state champion, had initially been slated to move up and wrestle Thurston junior Austin Watson, ranked No. 1 at 160, but that match didn’t materialize as the Colts instead opted to push Watson up to 170 at the last minute. Another potentially exciting matchup didn’t materialize at 145, where Howard was set to meet Seth Morales in battle of top-10 foes but, again, the Colts used their advantage from the opening flip to make a late change and put Howard up against Isaiah Contreras. “If we would’ve gotten the flip, my full intent — and I told their coach because I’ve known him since he was a high school wrestler — was that Logan was going to wrestle Austin,” said Haga. “That was one that I was hoping for. Dual meet aside, that’s a great match for the other kid, too. He needs those matches at this time of the year, too. But we didn’t win the flip.” Howard went on to score his pin in 2:44 in a dominant showing, while Morales edged Nathan Santoni 6-0 at 152 and Watson pinned Logan Lowder in 1:28 to wrap up the dual. Brower’s match was a study in patience and then timely pressure as he stalked Stewart for an opening takedown midway through the first round and then put the clamps in to score a fall in 1:53. “I knew he was going to come out hard,” said Brower, who ran his record to 29-0 with 23 pins. “A lot of these guys on (Thurston) just come after you and then try and pin you so I knew I had to just be ready. It felt pretty good to get the pin in the first round. It was sad being my last time wrestling here under the lights but I know I’m going to move on to better things so I’m excited about what’s to come.” For Brower, it was also a night to show that he has more in the tank after successfully topping Roseburg’s Hunter Sparks, a two-time state finalist at the 6A level, 4-2 in overtime last weekend in Hillsboro. “It definitely gives you some confidence, especially coming up on (the state tournament),” said Brower of his big Reser’s win. “It really just gave me that extra push that you can’t stop now just because you won that. It’s going to help push me to go harder and get that win at state.” Crater also scored a pin from Jacob Banry (106) and got decisions by Tanner Ulrey (113), Isaiah Griffith (138) and Tony Flores (182). Griffith’s win was especially exciting after he was bumped up a weight and faced Shane Teigen, who jumped ahead early but gave up an escape and takedown by Griffith in the final 70 seconds of the third round to ultimately fall 5-4. “If Isaiah stays in the match and gives himself a chance, he’s pretty tough to beat in six minutes,” said Haga. “As long as he’s going hard, he’s hard to beat in six minutes. That’s what he did, he just kept going hard and fighting and scratching — and there were positions that would’ve hurt my knee that he was in — but he got in those weird positions and just kept fighting out of it.” Crater will return to its home mats at 10:30 a.m. for the Crater Duals with Grants Pass and Ashland and California squads Del Norte and Anderson. TEAM SCORE: Crater 36, Thurston 30. 106 — Jacob Banry, Cra, pinned Trevor Selby, 3:23; 113 — Tanner Ulrey, Cra, dec. Gavin Sherrill, 6-2; 120 — Zeth Brower, Cra, pinned Zane Stewart, 1:53; 126 — Manuel Monroy, Thu, dec. Hunter Hiatt, 5-4; 132 — Cade Ezell, Thu, pinned Jalen Solesbee, :47. 138 — Isaiah Griffith, Cra, dec. Shane Teigen, 5-4; 145 — Dallas Howard, Cra, pinned Isaiah Contreras, 2:44; 152 — Seth Morales, Thu, dec. Nathan Santoni, 6-0; 160 — Logan Meek, Cra, pinned Codey Martell, 1:39. 170 — Austin Watson, Thu, pinned Logan Lowder, 1:28; *182 — Tony Flores, Cra, dec. Kaleb Roach, 13-6; 195 — Avery Jaramillo, Thu, pinned Cody Fisher, :52; 220 — Beau Crawford, Cra, dec. Colten Hallett, 5-3; 285 — Brian Jenkins, Thu, pinned Isaiah Mays, 2:25. * starting weight Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry