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South takes North to the mat If you can�t have quantity in your wrestling program, you might as well shoot for quality. With both South Medford and North Medford struggling to get kids into the wrestling room, Thursday�s match was more about which team is a step ahead in terms of future Southern Oregon Conference success. With a three-year head start at South, Ken Wharry�s crew managed to earn that honor over Kacey McNulty�s first-year program at North in a 48-27 contest that featured a pin or forfeit in all but three of the 14 weight classes. "The kids we have are quality kids," said Wharry, whose program has less than 20 grapplers this season. The Panthers used a mixture of pins and forfeits to open a 30-6 lead on the host Black Tornado. "It was a battle of forfeits for a while," said McNulty. "Then they just beat us on the mat. They did a good job. The numbers that they do have are doing all right for them and aren�t bad wrestlers." The Panthers� Evan Norris started things off with a pin over Chris Oetinger at 103, but the Black Tornado pulled even at 6-all after Sylvan Ulrey was awarded a forfeit at 112. Ian Rasmussen got South rolling again with a pin over H.D. Bragg at 119, improving his record to 8-0 this season. Panther wrestlers Kirk Case (125) and Donnie Jackson (130) followed with pins and Ryan Norris earned a forfeit at 135 to make the score 30-6. Matt McCoy kept up his end of the bargain at 140 for the Panthers, earning an 8-7 decision over Jimmy Ulrey. McCoy, who has wrestled up in weight much of the early season, was coming off a strong effort at the recent Battle of the Souths tourney where he stunned 11th-ranked Guy Gregory of South Salem in an 8-1 decision. North Medford�s Kyle Wells and Novie Bier were awarded forfeits at 145 and 152, respectively, to trim the Tornado�s deficit to 33-18. Kevin O�Shea helped halt North�s surge with a decision at 160 over freshman Rob Folsom, who is a recent addition to the Tornado squad after seeing action with North�s standout football team. After Andres Reed received a forfeit at 171 for South, Brock Smith of North won the most contested match of the night with an overtime takedown against freshman Jordan Fisher for an 11-9 decision at 189. Norris Bier kept the momentum for North with a pin of Ben Vandagrift at 215, but South�s Pierre Caballero fittingly closed out the night with a pin of Nick Smith in the battle of heavyweights. "It�s definitely a growing situtation here," said McNulty of his young program. "We have a total of three upperclassmen in the lineup this year and we only have two seniors, and they just came up from football. "We�re a little bit young and timid, but we�ll get there." South was missing two of its starters due to illness. Ken Myers, who took first at the Battle of the Souths and earned the most pins for the Panthers, was missing at 140/145, and Rob Swearingen was unavailable at 171. The Panthers have little time to soak in their victory over North as both teams travel to North Bend today to take part in the Coast Classic wrestling tournament. Other local teams competing at the Classic will be Eagle Point, Grants Pass, Roseburg, Klamath Union and Phoenix. 103 � Evan Norris, SM, pinned Chris Oetinger; 112 � Sylvan Ulrey, NM, won by forfeit; 119 � Ian Rasmussen, SM, pinned H.D. Bragg; 125 � Kirk Case, SM, pinned Jon Penny; 130 � Donnie Jackson, SM, pinned Paul Lecroy. 135 � Ryan Norris, SM, won by forfeit; 140 � Matt McCoy, SM, dec. Jimmy Ulrey, 8-7; 145 � Kyle Wells, NM, won by forfeit; 152 � Novie Bier, NM, won by forfeit; 160 � Kevin O�Shea, SM, dec. Rob Folsom, n/a. 171 � Andres Reed, SM, won by forfeit; 189 � Brock Smith, NM, dec. Jordan Fisher, 11-9 OT; 215 � Norris Bier, NM, pinned Ben Vandagrift; 275 � Pierre Caballero, SM, pinned Nick Smith. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.