Prep, U-Hi Dominate Finals

REPLAY: from Sports, February 8, 1999, page C2: The wrestling photograph in Sunday’s Spokane edition showed a semifinal match, not a championship match.

District 4A wrestling

It wasn’t until the seventh match of the District 8 4A wrestling tournament finals that a pairing befitted its championship status.

The finals in most weight classes were uncharacteristically one-sided.

But the 148-pound contest between returning state placers Ben Osborn of University and Sean Malone of Gonzaga Prep was worth the wait.

It had all the elements a match could have. The action was non-stop, the defensive counters brilliant and the outcome stunning.

Osborn beat Malone for the first time in four outings. He scored a takedown with 2 seconds remaining to force an overtime period then claimed a 5-3 triumph.

Osborn’s victory produced one of four individual championships for the Titans, all against Gonzaga Prep wrestlers. But the Bullpups had a tremendous afternoon round to win their third straight district team title.

The Bullpups sent eight wrestlers into the finals and qualified 12 for next weekend’s Region IV tourney.

They scored 264 points to runner-up U-Hi’s 253. Rogers finished third with 220.5, and Central Valley was fourth with 212.

Much of the suspense of the regional qualifying event at Mt. Spokane High came early in the day.

More than half a dozen regional qualifying matches were decided in overtime or on last-second moves. The night’s finals were seldom close.

Nine of 14 champions scored an average of 15 points per match with an 11-point average victory margin. Two others were settled by pin.

Thrillers, in the night’s final two matches, were both decided in double overtime. Then there was the match between Osborn and Malone.

The scoreless first round was thrust and parry with Malone countering everything Osborn threw at him.

“I couldn’t stop for a second,” said Osborn. “Six minutes of wrestling was all I could do.”

A lesser wrestler would have withered under Osborn’s attack, but Malone tore lose for a second-round escape and countered for a takedown and 3-0 lead.

Osborn escaped in the third round and, with time running out, had no recourse but to shoot for the tie.

“I just took advantage,” he said. “Sean turned his hips to me and I got around for the points.”

Osborn got an overtime takedown for the upset.

The 215-pound and 275-pound overtime matches were determined by the flip of a coin.

After Central Valley’s Tyree Clowe and Ferris’s Aaron Sedler finished regulation and the first OT at 1-1, Clowe won the toss, chose down and escaped for a 2-1 victory.

The next match, between Ferris’ Dan Durham and Mead’s Mike Schneider also finished deadlocked, at 3-3, and went into a second overtime. Schneider was penalized a point for locking hands while trying to prevent Durham’s escape and Durham won 4-3.

The other champions breezed.

“I expected the matches to be close,” said Mead’s Jesse McCarty, a 12-point winner at 135 pounds. “You could definitely tell who was prepared for this.”

At 101, Ferris’s Doug Baker won 13-6 after falling behind 5-0 at the outset. The next five champions, including Rogers’ Ben Houk, 108, U-Hi’s Tommy Owen, 115, Mead’s Mark Denholm, 122, and Gonzaga Prep’s Rudy Cavasier, 129, toyed with their foes. Houk and Denholm won by 16-0 technical falls.

Pinners were U-Hi’s Conor Jordan, 141, and Prep’s Travis Pascoe, 190.

Shadle Park’s Ty Schuetzle, 158, U-Hi’s Reggie Lee, 168 and CV’s Blair Alderman, 178, also won easily.

Although Gonzaga had just two title-winners in eight tries, coach Phil McLean was pleased.

“During the day’s competition to get to go to regionals, the guys did a great job,” he said. “And winning a third straight district title is probably most significant. That’s good stuff.”

Besides Gonzaga’s 12 regional entrants, University advanced nine. Central Valley and Rogers had excellent tournaments and qualify eight and six wrestlers respectively.

Ferris and Mead have five each, North Central and Shadle Park have four. Mt. Spokane has its first two regional qualifiers in Bobby LaBelle and Adam Gumke. LC has one.