FEBRUARY 15, 2003 SMOKE SIGNALS
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Effort Bulldog Senior Zach Bainter wrestles during the District 1 Wrestling Meet, held in Willamina on January 31
Photos by Peta Tinda
The Dalles, with the state championships
planned for the Coliseum in Portland on Febru
ary 21 and 22.
For the State tournament this year, Fasana
said, "Lee (Wilson) has a fairly good shot, or Brett
(Leno)." Leno will wrestle at 119 at state and
could face Wilson in this weight class.
Other standouts for the team this year expected
to compete at State include senior Corey Bryant,
140 pounds, a state champ last year. Junior Vince
Fagundes, 130 pounds, also competed at State
last year. Junior Steve Schussman, 135 pounds,
placed fifth in state as a freshman, but was de
feated last year for a state berth by teammate
Fagundes. Senior Jake Harper, 152 pounds,
also went to state last year. Fasana also named
Jared Staben (112) as a likely contender.
"There are a few others that have outside
chances," Fasana said. "Zach Bainter at 130
and possibly Travis Schloder at 215."
With a 23-member squad, Fasana noted,
"There are a handful of others that are good,
solid kids and will do well."
"Wrestling's kind of strange," said Fasana.
"You wrestle all year for the very end. (Earlier
matches) add to your ranking, but if you don't
win at district, you don't go to state."
"We're solid. No weak spots. No phenomenal
all-stars, either. We have good balance this
year. We really do. Our main thing is trying to
get everyone healthy. There were a lot of bugs
going around the last couple of weeks. We're
trying to push real hard to get them into shape
for the tournament." B
Gaining Experience 189-pound Freshman Brody
Collins ties up with an opponent at the recent District 1
Wrestling meet held in Willamina on Friday, January 31.
S
Champ Willamina Senior Corey Bryant, the defend
ing state champion wrestling in the 140-pound weight
class, attempts to turn an opponent with an arm bar.
Willamina Boys Basketball Has Hopes And Chances
Opening league play at 2-2 could have been better.
By Ron Karten
With 19 games under their belt and four left, the
Bulldogs have played "average at best," according to
Head Coach Cliff Toney, who supervises the Com
munity Service Program for Yamhill County Juve
nile Corrections during the day. "Not quite where
we want to be. The kids have put a lot of expecta
tions and hopes on themselves, to make it to state, a
goal still attainable, but we've dug ourselves a little
hole."
The team is 4-6 in league play, still fourth in the
league, which is enough to get them into the play
offs, but "we anticipated that we'd be 7-3 at this
point."
Leading scorer for the team is senior and Tribal
member Matt Zimbrick, who averages 17 points and
9 rebounds a game. "He's our go-to guy," said Toney.
"One of the top three players in the league. An ex
tremely talented kid. An extremely good kid. He's
playing real well for us."
Tribal member Kevin Ruggles, who plays post
under the basket, "has been playing very well
lately." In the last three games, Ruggles has aver
aged 7 points and 8 rebounds a game. "He's been
doing pretty well for us," said Toney.
Also performing well for the team is senior and
Tribal member Nick Kimsey, who averages 4 points
and 4 rebounds a game.
Team leader Freddie Ayala, point guard, aver
ages 14 points and five steals a game.
Last year, the Bulldogs went to the league play
offs and lost to league champ, Dayton. This year,
Toney is a little more low key. "With only four
games left, I don't know if it's going to happen any
more."
He pointed to play in the early season game against
Amity to show that the team has the right stuff.
"We were down by 14 points at the half. We trailed
by 11 going into the fourth quarter. We got it to a
ill''
Skywalker Tribal member and All-league player Matt Zimbrick leaps clear of his opponent to win the opening
tip in a game against Nestucca. Zimbrick scored a career-high 28 points in the loss to Nestucca. Zimbrick scored 18
points, had 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots in a win over Gaston.
Solid Tribal member Kevin Ruggles (right) has been
a solid, steady presence on the Willamina Basketball Team
this season. Ruggles has been a solid scorer and clutch
rebounder for the Bulldogs and recently scored 9 points
and had 8 rebounds in a victory over Catlin Gable.
tie with 17 seconds left. We fouled a kid with 11
seconds left, and thought we had fouled the right
kid because he hadn't made a free throw all game.
He knocked both of them down. We had 1 1 seconds
to play. We drove down ....,
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hit every part of the bas
ket but didn't quite go in,
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said. "But not enough of '"i
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