Bulldog, Pirate wrestlers fight for top five team performances in Redmond and Florence

Wrestlers from Yamhill County’s 3A programs were spread throughout the state over the weekend, taking over Redmond for the Oregon Wrestling Classic, and living with seaside views at the Nick Lutz Invitational in Florence.

Amity, Dayton, Willamina and Yamhill Carlton were all represented with championship-caliber performances to mark the halfway point of the season as district duals heat up in the coming weeks.

Dayton

The Pirates boys and girls gave their all at the Nick Lutz Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Dayton’s girls finished as one the top schools in Florence, placing second out of 32 teams with 103 points. North Eugene claimed first with 107 points.

Danika Moody (155), Aliyah Sauceda (170), Mia Lopez (235) and Kaylin Dickerson (235) represented the Pirates with placements.

Lopez and Dickerson placed first and second, respectively, in the 235-pound weight class. They both wrestled with unblemished records until meeting each other in the 235-pound final, where Lopez was able to pin Dickerson in the second period.

Moody and Sauceda each went 3-0, taking first place with all their matches ending in a fall.

Dayton’s boys placed 18th out of 31 teams with two placers in Joe Schmidt (120) and Micah Alvarez (215).

Schmidt was able to rebound from an opening loss with three straight victories before falling in his final two matches to go 3-3 overall. He placed sixth.

Alvarez finished third, going 5-1 and blowing through his opponents after suffering a loss in his second bout.

Both Pirates squads are back in business on Thursday, Jan. 22, with duals in Dayton beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Willamina

Julian Gnos (157) went 3-0 with three pins to lead the Bulldogs to a perfect 3-0 duals record on day one of the Oregon Wrestling Classic.

Devon Wright (132), Adoniyah Stanton (132), Kisor Savage (144), Jacob Bazzy (157) and Landon Risseeuw (285) also went undefeated on Friday as Willamina swept through 3A Pool B with victories over Rainer (54-19), McLoughlin (50-30) and Sutherlin (61-15).

Willamina’s boys battled hard on day two in the 3A Saturday Championship bracket, beginning with a 66-15 victory over Yamhill Carlton. The Bulldogs topped the Tigers 11-3 over 14 matches, three of which were negated due to forfeits with teams not having wrestlers in the weight class.

The Bulldog victory pushed them to the semifinals, where they fell 45-35 to Burns.

Willamina grappled with Banks in the third/fourth place match but was defeated 45-24 to claim fourth as a team.

Stanton and Savage both went 6-0 on the weekend.

Willamina’s boys will face YC again on Saturday, Jan. 24, during Blake’s Battle for the Golden Yam at YCHS.

Yamhill Carlton

The Tiger boys had a different route to their eventual match with Willamina on Saturday, facing Santiam Christian, Douglas and Banks in 3A Pool C.

YC started their duals in Redmond with a 44-30 victory over Santiam Christian and followed up with nearly identical scoring in a 44-35 win over Douglas. Friday ended with an 80-0 loss to Banks where all but one Tiger fought through the entirety of three periods.

Saturday opened with the Tigers seeing three wins against the Bulldogs in their team loss. One victory was via forfeit. The other two were courtesy of Johnathan Hernandez-Rubio (126) and Tyler Pond (190).

Hernandez-Rubio defeated Devon Wright via 10-1 decision, and Pond beat Mahiashlok Eaglepipe with an 8-4 decision.

YC was able to knock off Sisters with a score of 51-30 in the consolation round to reach the fifth/sixth place title duals. There, Kalob Dallas (126) — who went 5-1 overall — pinned his opponent in 49 seconds. Pond, Wesley Cicoria (157) and Gavin Smith (285) also earned victories with falls forced in under 1:30.

However, it was not enough to overcome nine individual victories from Coquille, who won 48-30. The Tigers placed sixth.

Concurrently, the YC girls battled with all their might. They dueled six different teams from various classes on Friday but found team victories hard to come by as they were unable to fill every weight class and surrendered 24 automatic points with four forfeits in each match.

Friday resulted in a 0-6 record, but the Tigers never wavered.

YC was placed in the Gold Classic Cup on Saturday, where they dropped two consecutive duals to Grants Pass (54-23) and Sprague (54-36).

The day ended with one final dual versus Illinois Valley, and with the opponent holding less wrestlers on the roster, the Tigers worked to a 30-30 split and claimed victory for a seventh place finish in the bracket.

YC will host Molalla, North Marion, Phoenix and Willamina for a series of boys and girls bouts on Saturday at YCHS.

YC, Willamina and Amity boys will also face off back in Willamina for a Special District 1 meet on Thursday.

Amity

Seven Warrior wrestlers made the trip to the Nick Lutz Invitational and three finished with placements.

The Amity girls placed 16th as a team, led by top placements from Cristal Martinez (100) and Edith Betts (135).

Martinez went 2-0, winning both her bouts via fall to claim champion status in her weight class. Betts went 3-2, losing her first match, but finding three consecutive victories to fight for third/fourth place. She lost the match to claim fourth.

Matthew Trunde (157) was the lone Warrior boy to place. He went 2-0 with wins via pin before losing two straight. Trunde ended his day with a tight 14-13 win by decision to claim fifth.

Amity’s boys and girls will meet local rivals at the Special District 1 meet on Thursday in Willamina.