Document text
45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, March 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 19, 2005 Pirates get raw deal with tough draw By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune SALEM — It’s been said that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. It certainly doesn’t work the other way around. Phoenix learned that lesson the hard way Friday night at the Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavilion. The Pirates advanced four standout wrestlers into Friday’s semifinals but came away with only one victory. They came up short against three grapplers ranked No. 1 in the state in their division. In every instance, the other semifinal was far more forgiving, but the bracketing just wasn’t in the cards for the Pirates. Advertisement "That’s the luck of the draw," said Phoenix head coach Harry Mondale. "There’s not much we can do about that." The OSAA handles the bracketing and grants high seeds to wrestlers who placed in that weight class the previous year, and then to those who placed at a lower weight class but have moved up. While it’s not a perfect scenario, it’s the one in place, and Mondale said his Pirates gave it all they had in setting themselves up for a potential trophy. "I think they did the best they could," said Mondale, who still has six of his nine Pirates remaining heading into today’s final rounds. "The competition was there, that’s all. It was good wrestling all around. There were just some good kids in there against them tonight." None better than Ricky Farrell, however. The 171-pound Phoenix senior lived up to his No. 1 ranking with a dominating, 13-2 major decision to earn his second straight trip to the championship finals. Farrell and Cascade junior Jarrod Kamstra wrestled to a scoreless stalemate until Farrell finally took charge with a takedown and three-point near fall inside the final minute of the second period for a 5-0 lead. The senior scored a reversal right away in the third and was relentless in working Kamstra’s head and arm until he had a 13-0 lead. Kamstra scored his lone points when Farrell gave up his hold and the junior worked his way around in the final two seconds. "He just has paid his dues," Mondale said of Farrell’s noticeable drive for a title. "He wrestled all summer and did what he had to do to make himself a winner. That’s where we’re at now. It’d be nice for him to get (a state title) because he deserves it. He’s really worked for it." Farrell lost in the 160-pound championship last year in Portland to Estacada’s Sean Stafford, and will face second-ranked Josh Gannon of Elmira tonight. While Farrell will be busy tonight working to rewrite history, his Pirate teammates will be striving to relive it as the team guns for its second straight top-three showing. Burns, which has no wrestler above 145 pounds, is a prohibitive favorite for its fourth straight Class 3A title after posting 205.5 points by the end of Friday’s session. Seven of Burns’ 10 state qualifiers advanced to tonight’s championship round, with the other three wrestlers still alive in the consolation bracket. Estacada is second with 141 points and will have four wrestlers in the finals — three against Burns — and three others in this morning’s consolation rounds. Sweet Home is third with 98 points, followed by a Skyline Conference contingent of Phoenix (87.5), Illinois Valley (82) and North Valley (81.5). "I’m hoping we can hang in there for fourth or maybe get lucky and jump up in there for third place," said Mondale, whose Pirates were third last year. Zach Pagnotta was the lone Illinois Valley wrestler to make it into tonight’s championship, scoring a 6-2 victory over sixth-ranked Chris Cirullo of Pleasant Hill for the junior’s second straight trip to the finals. Pagnotta lost a nail-biting, 4-3 decision to Molalla’s Steven Dailey last year and will face second-ranked Rainier senior Nick Byrd tonight. North Valley’s Zack Giesen will be looking to make school history tonight at 160 pounds as he goes for his third straight state crown. The top-ranked Giesen abused No. 2-ranked Josiah Sigler of Seaside, 13-1, in Friday’s semifinals. Giesen will be joined in the championship finals by teammate Brennon Olander, who lived up to his No. 1 ranking by pinning Mazama’s Jake Kerns in 2:02 of their semifinal. Even though those four advanced to the championship final, the match of the night involved Phoenix’s Nick Amuchastegui in a losing cause at 140. Looking for his first win in three tries against top-ranked Josh Stalcup of Estacada, No. 4-ranked Amuchastegui laid it all on the line in a thrilling 3-1 match. The other semifinal pitted the Nos. 10 and 12 wrestlers in the state. "The bracketing is terrible," said Stalcup, who also owns 5-3 and 8-5 wins over Amuchastegui. "We definitely had the top three kids in the state on our side of the bracket for sure. That match in the semis was the finals if you ask me." It was a sentiment the Estacada coaching staff echoed after the match, and one Stalcup made sure to reiterate to the Phoenix sophomore later outside the locker room. "I told him he’s the next best kid in the tournament," Stalcup said of their talk. "It sucks that we had to meet this early." For Amuchastegui, it was simply a case of having to beat Stalcup at some point so the timing wasn’t all that important. "We were pretty darn close," the Pirate said of the match. "He had a good day today, and I didn’t wrestle nearly as good as he did. He won fair and square. It was a good, clean match ... I just didn’t wrestle the best I could." Neither could gain the upper hand as each showed amazing ability to scramble out of trouble. The duo matched maneuvers for a 20-second stretch before Stalcup swooped around for a takedown with 20 seconds to go in the first. The rest of the scoring involved an escape by Amuchastegui in the first and when the Pirate cut his foe loose with 46 seconds to go in the third. "He’s a good scrambler," said Amuchastegui. "Most kids I can beat in a scramble, but he’s tough. He’s got good balance and he’s strong and he knows an awful lot about wrestling." "Last year I won my way back from the quarters to place third, and that’s what I plan on doing this year," added the sophomore. "I’m not going to let one loss set me all the way back." Also coming up short in the semifinals were Kris Kaufman (125) and Riley Gibson (189) of Phoenix and Sam Green (130) of Illinois Valley. Still in contention in this morning’s consolation rounds are Phoenix’s Zack Glanz (130) and Anthony Broskey (135); Illinois Valley’s Jacob Miller (119), Jesse Swift (130), Paulo Rocha (145) and Westcott Lynch (152); North Valley’s Jesse Kane (103) and Matt Wardlaw (112); Henley’s Beau Jackson (112), Pat Noonan (215) and Shayne Bourne (275); and Mazama’s Erik Lentz (171). Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s