Sandpoint settles for second
POCATELLO, Idaho – The Sandpoint High wrestling team finished with more individual state champs than Blackfoot.
In the end, though, there were more Broncos than Bulldogs. That explains why Blackfoot captured the State 4A championship with 178 points Saturday. Sandpoint finished second with 165.5 and Lakeland was eight points back in third.
Sandpoint had six in the state finals and four went home with gold medals. Blackfoot had two state champs.
“We gave them a scare, but we just didn’t have enough,” Sandpoint coach Mike Randles said. “I’d rather see all six win titles than win a team title because they just worked so hard.”
A crowd estimated at 8,000 watched the 50th high school championships at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.
Bulldogs Tim Pepperdine (103 pounds), Joey Fio (125), Kyle Meschko (152) and Jerod Morris (171) captured state titles and Alec Ward (112) and Taylor Morris (189) were second.
Lakeland sent three to the mats in title matches with Brandon Richardson (119) and Zach Horsley (145) capturing titles. As it was, the Hawks could have had just two state champs as Richardson and teammate Kyle McCrite faced off in an all-Hawks final.
Blackfoot qualified 18 to Sandpoint’s 13 to state. Eight Broncos earned medals to seven for Sandpoint.
The Bulldogs were chasing the Broncos from the outset. They pulled within a half point after Friday’s semifinals, but the back-door points proved too much for Sandpoint to overcome. The Bulldogs trailed the Broncos by 23.5 going into the finals.
“A year ago we were eighth. If you can go from eighth to just about winning, it obviously shows the kids did a whole lot of work because they were the same kids,” Randles said. “I don’t think most people would understand how much work they put in. The hardest thing was not having all six of them win state titles.”
Pepperdine pinned Andrew Uhl of Minico in 2 minutes, 39 seconds.
“He’s a man-child out there in that weight class,” Randles said of Pepperdine. “He’s got the strength of a 140-pound wrestler. Last year he simply got caught, otherwise he’d be a two-time state champion.”
Leave it to Fio to squeeze as much drama out of his career as possible – down to the final second. Believing his team needed the bonus points, Fio pinned Matt Durrant of Kuna with 1 second left.
The pin overshadowed a scary start for Fio, who found himself with his feet pointing toward the Holt Arena roof early in the first round when Durrant nearly got a pin.
“Sometimes I take a bad shot.” said Fio, who has signed with the University of Oklahoma. “It’s just the second time I’ve ever been put on my back.”
This season was a little bit of redemption for Fio, a senior. He saw his year end with a knee injury in the quarterfinals last year after he won a state title as a sophomore.
“This was like a whole new season for me,” Fio said. “My knee injury got me out of the limelight (last year). This means more than my sophomore year or signing my scholarship.”
For Meschko, it was also a year of redemption. The senior lost first-round matches at state last year and as a sophomore.
Meschko handled Tyler Dietrich of Preston in an 11-6 decision.
“It feels amazing,” Meschko said. “It’s four years of hard work. I should have been a two-time state champ. Everything paid off this year.”
Jerod Morris scored a decisive 13-8 win over J.C. Percy of Blackfoot. It was a bittersweet win for Morris, whose twin brother, Taylor, the top seed at 189, got knocked off 11-1 by Alfonso Hernandez of Blackfoot.
“It’s hard to watch one of the Morris twins win and one lose,” an emotional Randles said.
It was a great day for Lakeland.
Richardson stopped his friend McCrite 5-0.
“It was kind of bittersweet,” said Richardson, a freshman. “Most of the time when you win a big tournament like this, you want to jump up and yell as loud as you can. I really don’t know what to feel right now.”
Lakeland head coach Rob Edelblute and assistant Levi Cushman flipped a coin to see which would coach which. They also had the fathers of the wrestlers sit in the corner.
“Kyle stepped it up so much in the tournament,” Richardson said. “He beat the No. 1 seed.”
Richardson hopes to become Lakeland’s first four-time state champ.
“He’s on his way to doing it,” Edelblute said. “It was a great win. Kyle’s had a great season, too. He’s had to overcome huge obstacles.”
Horsley finished 40-0, scoring a 16-1 technical fall over Kyle Cooley of Rigby. Horsley left no doubt, winning two other matches by pin and another by technical fall.
“I feel I wrestled my best,” said Horsley, who is leaning toward attending Oregon State University. “It was a perfect season. It’s an amazing feeling.”