A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2021
SPORTS
BAKER WRESTLING
Baker wins Pendleton tourney
Baker City Herald
PENDLETON — Baker’s
boys wrestling team gave
itself a nice early Christmas
present by fi nishing fi rst
out of 15 teams at the Rollin
Schimmel Memorial tourna-
ment on Dec. 22.
Baker had four individual
champions, and one of those,
senior Jaden Martin at 285
pounds, was named the
tournament’s outstanding
wrestler.
“We feel like we have just
woken a sleeping giant,” Bak-
er coach Brandon Young said
of the Bulldogs’ performance.
“Now we just have to believe it
and keep pushing forward.”
Baker amassed 252 points
to easily outdistance second-
place Burns, with 184.
Young emphasized the
team effort that brought
Baker fi rst place in the team
standings.
The Bulldogs had one
wrestler in the top four in 10
weight classes.
“This was also the fi rst
tournament we were allowed
to have two scorers per weight
class and the extra depth that
our team has this year really
added to the team points,”
Young said.
In addition to Martin,
Baker’s other individual
champions were fellow seniors
Gavin Stone at 152 pounds,
Alex Ritter at 220 and Gauge
Bloomer at 195.
Young said Stone competed
in one of the toughest classes
at the tournament.
“Gavin had to work for it
every match,” Young said.
Stone defeated Wyatt
Maffey of Sisters 7-5 in the
championship match, gaining
a measure of revenge for a
couple of losses to Maffey last
year.
“It was nice to see Gavin go
out there with intensity and
wrestle his match, rather than
worry about what the other
guy might do,” Young said.
Bloomer, a defending state
Brandon Young/Contributed Photo
Baker’s individual champions at the Rollin Schimmel
Memorial wrestling tournament Dec. 22 in Pendleton.
From left, Gavin Stone, Alex Ritter, Gauge Bloomer
and Jaden Martin. Baker fi nished fi rst in the team
standings.
champion, continued to domi-
nate most of his opponents,
Young said.
Bloomer pinned Nyssa’s
Alec Carey in the fi nal match.
Ritter wrestled three On-
tario opponents out of his four
matches, including two state
qualifi ers from last season.
He defeated Ontario’s Manny
Ramirez in the fi nals.
“Alex is wrestling really
tough right now,” Young said.
Martin pinned Pendleton’s
Jacob Griffi n, one of the top
Class 5A wrestlers in the
state, in the championship
match.
“It’s not often that you
will see a heavyweight get
voted outstanding wrestler of
the tournament, but that is
exactly what Jaden Martin
did as he pinned all of his op-
ponents,” Young said.
Another Baker senior,
Adrian Allen, fi nished fourth
at 182 pounds, losing by fall
to Madras’ Reece White in the
fi nals.
Baker’s other wrestlers
at 182 pounds also had great
tournaments, Young said, with
Cody Eskew placing third,
Connor Jensen fourth, Ethan
Morgan fi fth and Jacob Mills
seventh.
Other Baker individual
results:
• Marcus Chamberlain,
sophomore, 2-1, third, 106
pounds.
• Aldo Duran, freshman,
2-1, third, 120
• Riley Martin, sopho-
more, 2-1, third, 132
• Joey Duncan, sopho-
more, 2-2, fourth, 113
• River Clark, junior, 0-2,
fourth, 120
• Cole Hester, sophomore,
2-2, fourth, 138
• Sage Darlington, sopho-
more, 2-2, 126
• Michael Endersby, fresh-
man, 1-3, 126
• Samuel Nelson, fresh-
man, 1-2, 132
• Ben Coburn, sophomore,
2-2, 160
• Ryan Brown, junior, 2-2,
170
• Billy Kargianis, senior,
0-03, 220
• Russell Walden, sopho-
more, 2-2, 220
After Christmas, Baker
headed south to the Sierra
Nevada Classic in Reno, Ne-
vada, today and Wednesday,
Dec. 29.
The varsity girls and JV
boys will compete Dec. 30 at
Boardman.
COVID outbreaks scutt le Fenway, Military bowls
By JIMMY GOLEN
Associated Press
BOSTON — The Fenway
Bowl and Military Bowl
were both canceled due to
the pandemic on Sunday,
Dec. 26 as coronavirus
outbreaks at Virginia and
Boston College forced them
to call off their postseason
plans.
The game scheduled
for Wednesday, Dec. 29 at
Fenway Park was to pit the
Cavaliers against SMU.
The Military Bowl sched-
uled for Monday, Dec. 27 at
Navy-Marine Corps Memo-
rial Stadium in Annapolis,
Maryland, between Boston
College and East Carolina
was canceled because of posi-
tive COVID-19 tests at BC.
Also Sunday, Miami said
it would not play in the Sun
Bowl, which was scheduled
for Friday, Dec. 31 against
Washington State. The Hur-
ricanes have been dealing
with a virus outbreak for
several days.
“This is not the way we
wanted to see this season
come to an end,” Eagles
coach Jeff Hafl ey said. “We
just do not have enough
players to safely play a
game. My heart goes out
to our seniors who will not
have one fi nal opportunity to
wear a BC jersey and I can’t
thank them enough for all
the contributions they made
to our program.”
The Fenway Bowl was
supposed to bring a college
football postseason game to
the century-old home of the
Boston Red Sox, but those
plans have been stymied
twice by the pandemic. It
was to be the last game
for Virginia coach Bronco
Mendenhall, who announced
his resignation after the
Cavaliers concluded a 6-6
regular season.
But leading up to the
team’s planned departure
on Christmas Day, players
began showing symptoms
of COVID-19 and tested
positive. The full team was
tested in the morning, and
additional positive results
came back on Sunday.
“Playing this game was
something our team very
much looked forward to
and it is unfortunate Coach
Mendenhall will not have
one last opportunity to coach
this group,” Virginia athletic
director Carla Williams said.
“We appreciate all of the
hard work by our team and
coaching staff. They earned
this bowl invitation, and it is
unfortunate they will not be
able to compete in the game
to complete the season.”
It’s the second year in a
row that the pandemic has
spoiled bowl bids for Boston
College and SMU.
“I’m disappointed for our
fans, and even more disap-
pointed for our players, that
we will be unable to play in
a bowl game for the second
straight season,” Mustangs
AD Rick Hart said. “We are,
however, sympathetic to Vir-
ginia’s situation, having had
to withdraw from our bowl
last season due to COVID.
We hope those impacted get
well soon.”
The BC players voted not
to go to a postseason game
last year because of the
emotional toll the pandemic
season had taken. This
year’s team went 6-6 (2-6
Atlantic Coast Conference)
to gain bowl eligibility and
had already traveled to the
Washington, D.C., area for
Monday’s game.
But athletic director Pat
Kraft said more than 40
players were unavailable
due to COVID-19, injuries,
opt-outs and transfers.
“We just do not have
enough players to fi eld a
team,” he said. “We are dis-
appointed not to be able to
fi nish the season together as
a team, but the health and
safety of our program is our
highest priority.”
Washington State arrived
in El Paso, Texas on Sunday
for the Sun Bowl. Miami was
hoping to try to get there
later this week.
“But due to the number of
COVID-19 cases impacting
our roster we do not have
enough student-athletes
to safely compete, and the
health and safety of our
student-athletes will always
be our top priority,” Miami
deputy athletic director Jen-
nifer Strawley said.
The Hawaii Bowl was
canceled earlier after Hawaii
withdrew from its game
against Memphis on the
eve of Thursday’s contest
because of COVID-19,
season-ending injuries and
transfers.
And Rutgers will replace
Texas A&M in the Gator
Bowl against Wake Forest
on New Year’s Eve after the
Aggies pulled out because of
a lack of available players.
The UConn women’s bas-
ketball game against Mar-
quette on Dec. 29 was also
canceled on Sunday because
of coronavirus issues within
the Marquette program.
Maryland’s men announced
that they will face Lehigh
on Tuesday night after a
previously scheduled game
against in-state opponent
Loyola was called off because
of COVID-19 protocols
within the Loyola program.
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