The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Two Outlaws wrestlers came out on top in action at the Madras Invitational last weekend. At the same time, Tyler “Daisy” Patterson competed at the Girl’s Southern Regional Championships at Thurston High School.

“This year’s tournament was full of some great competition,” Coach John Downs reported. “Daisy’s bracket alone had 21 girls and was one of the largest brackets at the tournament. Combined with the North Regional Championship at another high school location they totaled over 550 girls that are now competing in wrestling in the state of Oregon! It is a great and exciting time for the girls. Daisy hopes that with this exciting time in wrestling that Sisters High will be able to have its own team someday in the future, and so do I.”

Last Saturday the Outlaws wrestling team traveled to Madras High School to participate in the White Buffalo Invitational.

The Outlaws had an outstanding tournament even though it does not show in the team scores, where the squad finished fifth. Out of the 10 Outlaw wrestlers that competed, seven earned placing finishes. This include five in the first-place finals match.

“It is amazing to see the whole team starting to peak with only two weeks before district,” said Downs.

Sophomore Wyatt Maffey competed at 132 pounds and earned a first-place finish.

“He has been working harder and harder at practice and he is now starting to see the results,” Downs said. Maffey’s first match was against Venegas of Wilsonville. Wyatt dominated the match, winning by pin in 1:03. His next match he faced third-seed White from Madras. The match went all three rounds with Maffey winning by a 12-5 decision. This win placed him into the first-place match versus number-one seeded Muenzer from Hood River Valley.

“I was amazed by Wyatt’s speed keeping up with Muenzer’s experience and speed,” Downs said. “Wyatt’s conditioning paid off in the end. With just 51 seconds left in the final round Wyatt was able to turn and pin the Hood River wrestler and earn the pin. This will be the boost Wyatt will need to push harder in practice to get ready for the upcoming district tournament.”

The Outlaws had two wrestlers competing at 138. Junior Chaz Patterson, who had a tough weekend, was able to earn a match in the fifth-place finals but lost to Roberts of Molalla to take home sixth-place honors.

Senior Anthony Randolph battled for a first-place finish and came up just short.

“The first match for Anthony was a three-round warm-up for him and he earned the win by a score of 12-2,” Downs reported “His next match was against Switzler of Madras and Anthony won by fall with only 36 seconds left in the final round. He then had to face the first-seeded Quesada from Wilsonville. The match went almost all three rounds and Anthony wrestled hard but could just not keep up with the Wilsonville wrestler. Quesada did have trouble with Anthony, and Anthony did not quit and did not allow a pin.”

Quesada had to resort to earning points on Randolph instead and was able to earn the win with a score of 16-1.

“It was a tough loss for Anthony but I told him that it was just another learning experience that he can use to motivate himself in practice to continue to improve, and it is never a bad thing to take home a second place finish,” Downs said.

Junior Landon Nothiger was only one match away from the fifth-place match. Freshman Ben Cooper had a knee injury in the beginning of the regular season, but attended practices helping Downs coach. Finally cleared, he was ready to wrestle in a brace.

“His first match went by quickly with Ben winning by fall in 27 seconds,” Downs reported. “Then the wins continued for Ben as he won by decision over Bronson of Hood River 11-6. Ben then had to face the second-seeded wrestler Kallenbach of Madras. This was Ben’s first real test and he did amazing by pinning the seeded wrestler in just 37 seconds into the second round.

Cooper then faced the first-seeded wrestler Wynn from Molalla.

“Wynn is a senior and ranked 10th in the state with a record of 22-10, but none of this affected Ben’s mindset,” Downs said.” Ben was not intimidated and wrestled very hard versus the experienced senior for all three rounds.

In the last seconds of the final round the Molalla wrestler was ahead 4 to 2 and knew there was not much time left. So he let Ben up giving Ben one point and the Molalla wrestler was just going to keep away for the last few seconds but Ben was able to grab around Wynn, lift and throw him to the mat, and earn the two-point takedown in the last second, giving Ben the win with a 5-4 victory.

It was an amazing day for Ben.

Being a freshman, just getting to live wrestle for the first time three quarters through the season and earning a first-place finish.

You just don’t see that every day.”

The next couple wrestlers were also in the same weight class at 152 pounds. Sophomore Jared Miller was finally able to compete in this weight class. He had been at the 160-pound class all season and now was able to compete with smaller wrestlers.

“Jared only had a couple matches, but he felt a lot better in the smaller weight class and hopes to stay down for the rest of the season and compete at districts at the same weight,” Downs said.

Senior Dillon King went 2-2 on the day, earning a fifth-place finish over Comingore of The Dalles with a fall in 1:36 in the first round.

The 195-pound weight class was represented by Senior Ethan Martin, who had a great day, winning two matches in a row by fall and then he ended that day in the first-place match against the number-one seeded Zemke of Madras.

“Zemke has a record of 21-5 and is a pretty good wrestler at 220 pounds, and it seemed he decided to drop down to the 195 weight class,” Downs said.

“We knew that if Ethan had a good day he would meet Zemke in the finals and Ethan knew he would have to work very hard to earn a win.

I was impressed with Ethan’s go-get-them attitude and not being intimidated, but in the end Zemke was able to get the better of Ethan and win by fall.

I reminded Ethan that he still earned two pins today and took home second place.

If he wants that first place, then he is going have to continue to work hard in practice and he will get there.”

Sophomore Jacob Washington and senior Damien King had a good day. Jacob was able to earn a fifth-place finish and Damien had a couple great matches earning himself a shot in the first-place match against Yanez of Hood River. “Both Yanez and King where pretty evenly matched, and I knew this would be a tough final match,” Downs said. “The match went into the second round where Yanez was able to catch Damien with a hip toss and get Damien on his back for the pin. I told Damien that sometimes the best wrestler can get caught off guard, and that is what happened to him and that he should not feel bad for going home with second place.”