Three wrestlers grapple at state finals

Three Outlaws wrestlers competed at the state tournament held at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Thursday through Saturday, February 25-28. It was a first-time experience for senior Gilbert Porraz, sophomore Steven Nemer and freshman Josh O'Brien.

Scapoose took first place for championship honors, and Sweet Home was runner-up. North Marion was third and Phoenix placed fourth. O'Brien noted with a big smile, "and Sisters wasn't last. That's good, and next year we'll move up quite a ways."

O'Brien, a freshman, finished fourth at the district meet, but Brad Mclhose, who earned the third-place spot, suffered a concussion which prevented him from advancing to state. O'Brien was moved up as the third seed and was able to compete.

All three wrestlers had a tough first round on Thursday. Nemer (152 pounds) was pinned in his first match by junior TJ Sandstrom from Banks in round two, and then later in the evening was pinned by sophomore Luke Mills from Scapoose in round two.

"Steven wrestled his best match of the year against Sandstrom but was just outmatched," said Coach Gene O'Brien.

Porraz was well-matched against junior Eric Olsen, from Brookings Harbor, in his first competition of the tournament. However, in round three, Porraz made a fatal mistake and was pinned. Later in the day, Porraz wrestled freshman Brett Morris of Junction City. The match was very close until round three. Morris caught Porraz with an arm out and brought Porraz down for the pin.

"Gilbert wrestled great," said O'Brien. "He was just a bit nervous and made a few costly mistakes. But what a thrill to be here with him at the state tournament. I started coaching Gilbert in sixth grade in USA Wrestling, and to finish with him this year as a senior was awesome!"

Josh O'Brien (125) proved he deserved to wrestle at the state level. O'Brien's first match of the day was against senior Jacob Graber of Siuslaw, who finished the tournament in second place. O'Brien wrestled hard but was pinned in round two.

O'Brien came back in his second match of the day to defeat Alec Backer of Marist, who had defeated him a week earlier at the district meet.

O'Brien stated that there was no way he was going to lose the match with Backer and he was absolutely right. O'Brien won the match in a dominating 10-3 decision.

"Josh had Backer on his back and had virtually pinned him at one time. He rode Backer superbly. It was total domination," said Coach O'Brien.

O'Brien went on to wrestle senior Kris Renfro from Phoenix. It was a super match but unfortunately, O'Brien lost in a final 9-3 decision.

"Josh wrestled really well. He's a great leg rider and he's so fast. He does a great job with the grapevine pinning combination and when he finishes that properly his opponents are always in trouble. He's going to be a wrestler to be reckoned with," said Coach O'Brien.

The wrestling squad will miss their lone senior, Porraz, next year, but according to O'Brien the future looks bright.

O'Brien made special note of Gilbert Porraz, Sr., who videotaped every match of every wrestler on the team and also made DVDs for all.