Titans edged in gripping finish
Perhaps it’s a preview of what could be just as tight of a finish at the Washington 4A state wrestling tournament in mid February.
Technically, University didn’t take the team trophy home Saturday. Technically, University and defending 4A Washington champ Lake Stevens finished deadlocked with 189.5 points in the Suplay-Wrestler’s World Tri-State tournament. Officially, Lake Stevens went home with the title trophy because it had three individual champs to U-Hi’s two.
This much is certain: Both teams are gunning for bigger game in February, and they’ll have each other in their sights.
In the tightest finish in the 33-year Tri-State history, Lake Stevens captured its third team title in seven years based on criteria.
And the finish couldn’t have been more dramatic. In the heavyweight final, the last match of the tourney before an estimated crowd of 1,300 at North Idaho College’s Christianson Gym, Clint Osborn of Lake Stevens needed to pin Mic Goad of Springdale.
Just before the match began, a dozen or so U-Hi wrestlers and friends walked over to Goad’s side of the mat to give Goad support.
For at least a period, Goad, the underdog, withstood what most thought was inevitable. Both heavyweights leaned on each other with little movement for the opening 2 minutes. But 45 seconds into the second period, Osborn struck, throwing Goad to the mat. Another 42 seconds later, Osborn had Goad helpless on his back as the referee slapped his hand on the mat.
Anything less than a pin and the Titans would have captured their first Tri-State title.
“He knew what he had to do,” Lake Stevens coach Brent Barnes said, moments after huddling with his team to put the Tri-State title in perspective and emphasize the end-of-season goal is much more important.
Going into the tourney, Barnes knew he had the makings of a solid team. He just didn’t know how good.
U-Hi entered the second day of the tourney with 14 still competing. Lake Stevens had 12.
“It’s the most kids I’ve ever had alive on the second day of Tri-State,” Barnes said. “This is special to me because I wrestled here (at NIC). It’s special too because (U-Hi coach) Donny Owen was one of my coaches when I was here and he’s a close friend of mine. We had a great battle down to the end. To be able to beat a team like (U-Hi), a team that’s definitely loaded, is special. We’re going to have some more battles. This is definitely not over.”
Sophomore Kelly Kubec got things started for Lake Stevens with a 7-3 victory over Michael Mangrum of Auburn in the final at 112. Shortly thereafter, Lester Brown pulled Lake Stevens within one point of U-Hi with a convincing 7-1 win over defending Tri-State champ Josh Manes of Coeur d’Alene at 135.
U-Hi senior Jeremy Montang gave his team a chance to finish in no less than a tie when he scored a 12-3 decision over Dustin Packard of Mountain View in Meridian, Idaho, at 140.
To get an extra team point, Montang scored a takedown with 7 seconds remaining.
The drama was postponed until the heavyweight final. And while disappointed, Owen did his best to mask it afterward.
“I’m happy with my kids,” Owen said. “We wrestled for two days at a high level and finished with (184.5 points). I’m pleased. It’s two great teams that battled.”
Owen wasn’t about to think about what could have been.
“The middle of the day today we had a stretch where we lost a couple of matches,” Owen said. “We just needed to win one match somewhere. But we won a lot of matches, too, so I’m not going to say anything negative at all about our kids’ effort. We did everything but outright win the tournament.”
U-Hi fans were treated to the future, too. Freshman Brian Owen, the coach’s nephew and the youngest child of former NIC and current Central Valley coach John Owen, displayed the poise and ability of an upperclassman throughout the tourney.
Born in Coeur d’Alene, Brian Owen crawled around on the mats every year at Tri-State. He admitted to stepping up on the awards podium in the past, pretending to accept a trophy for winning an individual title.
Saturday, Owen experienced it for real for the first time. In a technically flawless final at 103, he shut out Kyle Johnson of Lakeside 3-0.
“My entire life I’ve watched everyone else (climb the awards stand),” Owen said. “I’ve thought about whether it’s going to be me someday. Every year I’d hop up there and act like it was me.
“In the match I was just real cautious hoping I could win. The entire tournament I was high explosive until the final. I was trying to pin kids every match. This one, I might have had a chance to put him on his back again, but I would have had to roll through on my back to do it. I just decided it wasn’t worth the risk.”
In one of the more entertaining finals, Levi Jones of Lakeside rallied with a takedown and three-point nearfall with 21 seconds left for a 7-4 decision over Zaine Zetterberg of Polson, Mont., at 125.
Two North Idaho wrestlers prevailed. Sophomore Joey Fio of Sandpoint, a transfer from near Sacramento, Calif., handled Preston Gentry of Meridian 8-4 at 119.
Both Fio and Gentry knocked off defending Tri-State champs in the semifinals. Fio topped Cory Fish of U-Hi 11-3 and Gentry downed Anthony Vela of Moses Lake 9-1.
Adam Hall of Bonners Ferry captured his second straight Tri-State title, breezing to victory in the 152-pound class. Hall, who competed with a broken rib suffered in a tourney last weekend, handled Camren Ebat of CV 15-6.
CdA advanced two to the finals. In addition to Manes, teammate Ryan Allen was a finalist at 189 where he fell 6-3 to Jake Cranford of Clackamas, Ore. Cranford had to earn his way into the tourney by winning a pigtail match early Friday.
In other finals, Vance Beeson repeated by pinning Jared Imes of East Valley (3:39) at 130; Andrew Johnson of Tahoma stopped Shane Onufer of Auburn 11-8 at 145; Mikey Sewell became a two-time Tri-State champ with a 12-5 win over Logan Kugler of Polson at 160; and Johnson’s older brother, Mike, captured his third Tri-State title with a 5-0 win over Clayton Foster of Kamiah, Idaho, at 171; and Daniel Erekson of Eagle, Idaho, needed just 39 seconds to pin Sheldon Cramer of Sandpoint at 215.
Sewell was named the tourney’s outstanding wrestler. Clackamas, in its first trip to Tri-State, captured the title for partial teams (with six or fewer wrestlers).