B2
SPORTS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Grapplers to hit the big time at state
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County showed the rest of its wres-
tling neighbors about the meaning of toughness
after sending six of its toughest grapplers to Port-
land over the weekend of Feb. 22-23 to compete at
the state championships.
The Enterprise Outlaws brought six wrestlers to
the meet with four placing and two going to state.
Trace Evans, wrestling at 138 pounds, wrestled his
way to second place before meeting his match in a
Culver wrestler.
Senior heavyweight, Klint Norton also gath-
ered in the silver before being stopped by the state
champion from Grant Union.
Coach Forrest Wilson said that the champi-
onship round at 138 pounds was the first loss for
Evans at the 1A/2A level.
“We’ll see what happens at state,” Wilson said.
“District is so much pressure.”
Shane Lund blitzed his way to third place at
132 pounds and Drew Widener made his way to
fifth place at 220 pounds.
“When you take six and place four, that’s
good,” Wilson said.
The Joseph/Wallowa squad brought eight wres-
tlers to meet. Four are going to state.
Mighty Steven Beckman, apparently fully
recovered from his elbow injury, landed on top
of the heap, defeating all-comers with ease at 113
pounds. Beckman is going to state as the number
one seed to try for his third consecutive state title.
“I’m pretty excited about how he’s coming
along,” said coach Tim Kiesecker. “He’s going to
need it down there. He’s wrestling well.”
Sophomore Zeb Ramsden at 132 pounds sur-
prised some when he walked away with the gold
after defeating Shane Lund from the Outlaws
squad and Anthony Hood from Culver for the
title. Hood and Lund were seeded at first and sec-
ond respectively for the meet while Ramsden was
seeded third. He is now seeded third at state.
Coach Tim Kiesecker called it the highlight of
the meet.
Austin Brockamp at 170 pounds and Jonah
Staigle at 195 pounds both took home the silver
and won a state berth themselves.
“The whole team wrestled outstanding, whether
they placed or didn’t,” Kiesecker said.
The state championships will take place on Feb.
22-23 at the Moda Center in Portland.
Courtesy Photo
Another one bites the dust — Joseph Charter School wrestler Steven Beckman pins yet another 113 pound opponent on
his way to a third district championship and a number-one-seed at state. Beckman will try for his third consecutive state
championship in Portland on Feb. 22-23.
Shane Lund of Enterprise.
Zeb Ramsden of Joseph.
Outlaws girls shoot the way to
state while boys stay home
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ellen Morris Bishop
Joseph’s Madelyn Nelson, 14, puts on the pressure with
impressive defensive play.
Eagle girls and
boys soar to state
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Both the boys and girls
Joseph Charter School
basketball squads are on
the highway to state after
successful district play in
Baker the past weekend.
The top-ranked girls went
1-1 over the weekend,
missing out on first place
to Powder Valley, a team
they had previously beaten
twice. The boys went 2-1,
only losing to fifth ranked
Nixyaawii.
A last-seconds shot from
Eagles player Chase Mur-
ray put his team over the
top in a 35-34 heart-stop-
per over Imbler in the first
round of the Old Oregon
League District playoffs on
Thursday, Feb. 14.
“It was a really ugly
game,” Coach Olan Fulfer
said with a laugh. “I was
shaking for awhile after the
game.”
The game, a mostly see-
saw affair, saw Joseph with
the lead in the first half
while virtually coasting
through the third quarter,
eventually giving up the
lead. Imbler led by seven
points with only 3:40
remaining in the battle.
In the waning minutes,
Imbler had the ball while
nursing a three-point lead.
Tyler Homan forced a
turnover capitalizing on a
layup, narrowing the gap
to one. With only a four
seconds remaining, Mur-
ray scored a bucket after
two failed attempts by
teammates.
The ecstatic Eagles cel-
ebrated, apparently think-
ing the win was theirs.
However, when the game
resumed, Imbler got the
ball to their sharpshooter,
who was fouled on a three-
point attempt.
Only a second remained
in the game, and because
the shot was from behind
the paint, the Panthers
player had three shots to tie
and possibly even win the
game. He missed all three
shots, and the victory went
to the Eagles.
Murray led the scoring
with 14 points while Tyler
Homan knocked in six and
Trey Wandschneider and
Kade Kilgore collected
five points each. Mason
Ferre had a particularly
important three-pointer in
the fourth quarter that put
the Eagles to within four of
the Panthers.
See Joseph, Page B9
The Enterprise Outlaws
had a mixed weekend, Feb.
15-16, at the Blue Mountain
Conference district play-
offs in Pendleton. The girls,
after suffering a surprise loss
to Heppner in their open-
ing game, set things right
defeating Union two days
later to ensure a shot at state.
The girls met Heppner on
Friday, Feb. 15, emerging
from the battle with a 41-33
loss. After splitting regular
season games, Enterprise
entered the tournament as
the higher seed because of
overall win percentage.
Coach Mike Crawford
said it was a good game that
got away from the ladies.
The girls shot just over
25 percent from the floor
while shooting just 5 of 9 for
free throws. Although Hep-
pner didn’t shoot much bet-
ter, three-pointers made the
difference.
None of the girls scored
in double digits, but both
Carsyn Miller and Shelby
Moncrief scored eight points
each with Miller the only
player shooting above 50
percent from the floor. Ash-
lyn Gray and Karli Bedard
added six points apiece with
Gray snagging an amaz-
ing 13 rebounds, more than
twice as many as any other
Outlaw.
The battle against Union
on Saturday was more to
Crawford’s liking as the
girls prevailed 46-34. Still,
Crawford said the game was
much closer than the score
indicates.
“It was a close game right
until the middle of the fourth
quarter, and that’s when we
stretched it out,” he said.
“We played a much better
game than the day before.”
“I believe it’s difficult to
beat a team three times in
the season, but we did that,”
he said. “The funny thing is,
Union beat Heppner twice,
who later became the district
champion. It shows we’re
pretty balanced.”
The Outlaws ladies shot
an impressive 41 percent
Staff photo by Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Stanfield’s Cody Griffin (2) goes up for a shot as Dylan Marr, of Enterprise, defends during
Friday’s Blue Mountain District playoff game at the Pendleton Convention Center.
from the floor with Mon-
crief’s 17 points leading
the way and Carsyn Miller
donating 10 points to the
cause. Gray and Bedard
scored six points each.
Lexie Gassett harvested 10
rebounds.
Because four of the teams
in the Blue Mountain Con-
ference are in the state play-
offs, the schedule is set to
avoid repeats of districts
games in the first round.
Crawford is happy about
that, but he knows the ladies
need to win.
“If we win, we’re in the
final eight. If we lose, we’re
done.”
The lady Outlaws next
play Portland Christian in
Portland on Saturday, Feb.
23 in the first round of the
state playoffs.
Outlaws boys:
The Enterprise boys sea-
son came to a sad end during
their first and only game at
district playoffs versus Stan-
field. The Outlaws came up
on the short end of a 53-41
score at district playoffs in
Pendleton on Friday, Feb.
15. Coach Larry Wells said
the loss was a disappointing
way to end the season.
However several play-
ers put up impressive stats
that included double-scor-
ing. Devin Greer nailed
14 points and Dylan Marr
found his way to 13 through
the hoop. Cason Kirkland
scored eight, the only other
Outlaws player to score
more than five points.
The Outlaws racked up
23 turnovers through the
contest with 12 in the first
half. The 14 calls for travel-
ing also didn’t help matters.
However, that was only one
of the issues. According to
Wells, the Outlaws kept up
well through the first half.
“Our defense was good,
but we couldn’t get any scor-
ing in the second half,” he
said. “Stanfield improved –
they just kept getting better
every time we played them.
I really thought we were
going to beat them, because
we were meeting them on a
neutral court.”
The coach noted it was a
difficult season with point
guard Riley Masters revis-
iting the concussion issues
that cost so much court time
last year as well. The squad
also lost several players who
were suspended for vaping.
“We had a lot of games
we played well in, where we
could have controlled our
own destiny, but it didn’t
work out for the boys,” he
said. “We have a pretty good
league, and we couldn’t
compete down the stretch.”
For a note of consolation,
both Greer and Marr were
selected for second-team
honors in the Blue Moun-
tain Conference. The squad
and fans will also receive
the league’s sportsmanship
award.