Y-C boys take second at Gary McDaniel tournament
Pirates take fourth at Philomath
The youthful Tigers stacked up points with senior Quintin McAvoy of Yamhill-Carlton winning the 215-pound weight class for his varsity debut, at the Gary McDaniel Tournament in Scio on Dec. 13. A total of eight Yamhill-Carlton wrestlers placed.
Taking second was Talan Bryant (113), Kalob Dallas (126) and Arich Torres (132).
Finishing in third was two-time state qualifier August Brunner (190) and in fourth place was Joseph Petraitis (106), Jonathan Hernandez-Rubio (138) and Gavin Smith (285).
This year’s team is young, as a majority of the team’s veteran wrestlers graduated last year. The Tigers had won the Gary McDaniel tournament the past four years.
Before the tournament Yamhill-Carlton coach Sean Nonamaker guessed the Tigers would finish in the top three.
“With the seeding we knew we’d have a shot,” he said. “Our guys are young, but are still competitive when facing schools our size. For the young guys placing and being in the finales is definitely a confidence booster.”
Nonamaker said that several wrestlers that were shy of the finals were just short of tipping the Tigers to first place. Additionally, Y-C was down Lexton King (120) due to illness and could have been the fifth Tiger in the finals.
This year Oregon wrestling introduced new take down rules, making referee’s swipes of a hand worth more. Two swipes used to be worth two with three to five being worth five points. Now five swipes can equal up to seven points.
“Joe Petraitis at 106 was winning and had 13 points by the semis,” Nonamaker said. “He got pinned at 55 seconds but was right there to be in the finals.”
With King on the mat and if some Tigers had scored a few more points, Yamhill-Carlton could have passed Santiam Christian, which won with 186 points compared to Y-C at 162.
Nonamaker added that if seeding had been different in the 190-weight class, keeping Brunner (7-2) as the first seed and Jason Kelley (190, 4-4) as the second seed they could have score more points or both placed.
Overall, he was impressed by the team’s effort, especially veteran wrestlers and younger athletes getting themselves in the position to win.
Looking at the season the Tigers are eyeing Santiam Christian, as they are projected to be strong this year. Up next for Y-C is the Bill Hagerty Invite in Cloverdale. Nonamaker expects the tournament will give young wrestlers quality matches and the mat time they need.
Like all teams, Y-C is focused on staying healthy and getting stronger over winter break.
The Spartan heavyweights came out in full force, with Joseph Trammell (285) claiming second and Alessandro DePiero (215) taking third at the Gary McDaniel tournament and leading the Sheridan team to 11th place.
Trammell won his first match due to his opponent sustaining an injury. He won by a 7-1 decision in the semi-finals and fell in the championship round by a 11-6 major decision on Carl Orchard of Corbett. He finished the tournament 2-1.
DePiero won his first match, but then fell against Kyren Carr of Taft. DePiero went on to battle it out in the consolation bracket. The left side of the bracket is called the blood round for a reason, as DePiero did what had to be done to place. He went back to the mat and won his next five matches, cinching third place.
On the girls side of the tournament, some weight brackets were smaller due to a lack of competitors. After only one match Libby Martin (170) won by fall over Sarah Harris of Taft, taking first and Peylin Chidress (115) finished in second after falling to her sole opponent.
The 155-weight class had larger participation with Sydenn Cummins (144) competing in four matches and taking fifth. Cummins went 0-4 and had to forfeit her final match.
Sheridan will compete at the Bill Hagerty Invite on Dec. 21.
Stanton takes sixth for Willamina at Rose City Championship
Adonijah Stanton (132) of Willamina finished in sixth at the Rose City Championship in Portland on Dec. 14. Stanton went 4-3, earning18 team points in the 37-man bracket and tournament that touts some of the toughest programs in Oregon and southern Washington.
Stanton started the tournament with a bye and then won three matches by technical fall and won against Sully Hill of Dallas, a teammate in club wrestling.
“Last year Stanton and Hill went 1-1,” Willamina head coach Ariah Fasana said about the friendly rivalry.
In the semi-finals, Stanton was pitted against Skyview’s Jonas DesRoches (61-7, 14-0), Washington Region 3 champion and Washington State Wrestling Association 2024 Greco and Freestyle champ.
Stanton lost by a 14-0 major decision and entered the consolation bracket where he fell in his next two matches for a sixth-place finish.
“He was out-classed in the finals, but gained more experience,” Fasana said.
A total of 17 Bulldogs competed at Rose City on the boys side of the tournament taking 15th with 131.5 points (see other story for the War of the Roses tournament featuring girl wrestlers).
The Bulldogs will compete at the Hadden Invite at Sprague High School in Salem on Dec. 21.
“It’ll be another tough tourney and we’ll face Harrisburg the No.1 3A school as well as 6A programs,” Fasana said. “We’ll be the underdogs again, but I like the team to wrestle the best in Oregon and Washington in order to be more prepared for districts and state.”
McMinnville also competed at the Rose City Championship, with Grizzly junior McMinnville Nelson Campos (138, 7-3) winning his first two matches by fall, but then he too was defeated by DesRoches from the Bend school.
Twenty-two Grizzlies competed at the tournament, but none were able to place. Mac finished 26th with 103 points.
The top three teams were Thurston at 407, Sweet Home at 359 and Newberg at 280.
Both Pirate teams take fourth at Warrior Classic
Dayton boys and girls finished in fourth at the Warrior Classic in Philomath on Dec. 14, with Danika Moody (155), Aliyah Sauccedo (190), Joe Schmidt (120) and Pedro Cisneros (190) taking first in their weight classes.
The Pirates racked up placers and team points with Angel Guerrero (138), Samuel Walsh (150) and Alejandro Magana (175) finishing in second.
Taking third was Asher Maxwell (157) and Isabella Velez (190).
Up next the Pirates will travel to southern Oregon to the Grant Pass Winter Kickoff on Dec. 20-21, where they will face competition from Oregon and California.
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