Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 2008)
FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 10, 2008 Mustang wrestling team takes fifth place in G rant Union Tournament Dillon l.utcher takes down his oponent during a match at River side High School last Tuesday night. -Photo by Autumn Morgan On S aturday, De- cember 6, the Heppner Mus tangs' wrestling team trav eled to John Day to compete in the 5,h annual Grant Union Kick-off Tournament. The teams that competed were Bums, Crane, Grant Union, H eppner, La P ine, Pine Eagle and Ontario. Despite missing three varsity team m em bers, the M ustangs finished fifth after holding third place for most o f the tournament. H eppner had five wrestlers earn silver medals, including three freshm en making their varsity debuts. Freshman Seth Palmer start ed it off at 112 pounds when he advanced to the finals by pinning his opponent from Ontario. Curtis Martin, also a freshman, won his way to the championship round at 130 pounds by beating wrestlers from Ontario and Crane. Conner Pappas was the third freshman wrestler to compete in the finals at 145 pounds. Also bringing home second place medals were senior Grant Smith at 119 and sophomore Jarreid Miller at 135. Wacy Coil finished third at 171 pounds, argu ably the toughest bracket in the tournament with wres tlers that included a state placer, two state qualifiers and four d istrict placers from previous years. The M ustangs’ next highest placer was freshman John Nelson who finished 2-2 on the day and won fourth place while compet ing as a non-team point scorer at 130 pounds. H eppner got sixth place finishes from Busta Al/ante, Andrew Bara, Tyler Robinson and Drew Bran non. Also competing for the Mustangs was Zaeh Yocom, Cody Nelson, Garrett Gibbs, Alex Fuentes, Jonathan Von and Zach Hintz. Justin Yocom wres tled in two exhibition match es where he finished 1 -1. His w in came in a high scoring bout where the lead changed several times. Yocom finally prevailed with a fall late in the third round. Coach Troy Morgan was pleased w ith his young team ’s perform ance. “ We came here w ith a lot o f kids that had never wrestled in a high school tournament. We competed well w ith schools that have long w restling traditions. Everyone on our team contributes. Even guys that don’t win a match still contribute team points by helping th eir team m ates get better in the practice room. Nobody should hang their head with the way we w restled today. We were just a few points from third place and gave up some oppor tunities because our wres tlers were focused on just w inning the match rather than on adding team bonus points. Later in the season they’ll understand that bet ter.” The Mustangs’ wres tling team travels next to La Grande to compete in the two day Mullenburg tour nament on December 12,h and 13Ih. lone boys lose first two games of season The lone boys’ var sity kicked o ff their bas ketball season at the lone B asketball B onanza last weekend, losing a close one to Riverside on Friday night and a not-so-close one to Enterprise on Saturday. F riday’s gam e did not look like a first game of the season for the Cardinals as they came out looking sharp. Matt Hams put up 13 points in the first quarter and only a Riverside three pointer at the buzzer kept the Pirates in front 21-20. Freshman, Zac Orem made seven o f his game high 24 points in the second quarter and the Cards trailed 34-37 at the half. The Cards kept it close in the third quarter but could never quite regain the lead. They also lost Matt Hams to a double technical foul ejection when he and a Riverside player exchanged an elbow at the conclusion o f a play. The C ardinals could not get closer than three points in the fourth as fatigue started to affect shots and the Pirates took the win 65-59. “ R eb o u n d in g and free throws were the dif ference in the game,” noted Coach Dennis Stefani. Riv erside made 15 o f 24 free throw attem pts w hile the Cardinals were able to con nect on just four o f their nine attempts. Also the Pirates had 39 rebounds to the Car dinals’ 29. “We were mov ing the ball in that game and we shot fairly decent from the field,” said Stefani. He also commended Zac Orem for his efforts as a freshman starting his first high school Top Photo: Clay Morter tips off at the lone versus Riverside Game on Friday night, December S. Bottom Photo: Matt Hams takes a shot during the lone versus Enterprise game on Saturday, December 6, -Photos by Teresa Crawford game. “Zac put together a heck o f a ball game. He did a good job asking for the ball and went right at them.” Zac O rem led all scorers with 24 points. Matt H am s ad d ed 15 and RJ Ramos was also in double figures with 12. Clay Morter had 10 rebounds to lead that eff ort and Cory Peterson had six assists. Coach Stefani also noted that although the team had 19 turnovers in the game, they only had five in the second half. S a t u r d a y n ig h t looked more like a first game for lone when they took on Enterprise. Down 15-2 early, the Cards looked tired from the get-go while Enterprise was red hot from the field hitting five three pointers in the first half. Zac Orem had 12 points in the first half but it was not enough as the Cards were down 38-22 at the half. Things never re ally improved in the second half and lone lost the game 70-43. Zac Orem again led the team in scoring with 16 points. Matt Hams had eight and C ory Peterson added six. “ We were just slow,” said Coach Dennis Stefani. “It looked like we were wearing cement shoes. They w ere g ettin g w ide open looks and we had a heck o f a time getting back on defense.” Enterprise had a 38- 22 rebounding advantage. The Cards were led by Matt Hams w ith six and Clay M orter with five. Gunner Jessen had three assists and Clay Morter had four steals to lead those categories. "We have got to play to g eth er and we have to have ball movement," said Coach Dennis Stefani. “We got behind early and the wheels kind o f fell off.” O v e ra ll, th o u g h , Stefani was pleased with the first weekend o f play. “Our perform ance Friday night was incredible. Saturday we had tired legs and tired minds but we have to learn to play through it.” Lady Cards drop opening weekend games The lone Lady Car dinals dusted off their game for the new season, losing two games at the lone Bas ketball Bonanza. The Cards fell to Umatilla on Friday 32-51 and watched a close one get away in the closing minutes, falling to Riverside on Saturday, 32-38. Playing their first game o f the season under the direction o f first year head coach, M ike G arrett, the Lady Cardinals looked a tad rusty. Umatilla’s squad in cluded a 6 ’2 post player who used her size advantage to put up 12 points. The Cards trailed 27-16 at the half, Tyree Svetich takes a shot during the lone versus Riverside game on Saturday December 6. Photo by Teresa Crawford IES SCHWAB TRAINED TECHNICIANS I f you’re experiencing ANY o f these symptoms, stop by fo r a FREE BRAKE INSPECTION. We’re proud to service dom estic and im port cars and trucks. 25,000 Mill WARRANTY ON DRAKE PARTS AND IAD0R . i P ACI 1 2 * NB. H12. MB M l? 0V IR 415 keeping the game w ithin reach but Umatilla pulled away in the second half for the final 51-32 margin. Beth Morter led the team in scoring with eight p o in ts. T iana C am arillo added six and Brianna Pe terson and Brenna Rietmann each had five. lone made six o f 18 free throw attempts for 32% while Umatilla got 42 chances at the line, connect ing on 19. “ We are glad to get our first game under our b e lt,” com m ented Coach Mike G arrett. “ We had a significant mismatch in size playing against a 6 ’2” girl but 1 liked our intensity. It was a good team effort.” On S atu rd ay , the Lady Cardinals faced Riv erside. The Lady Pirates took the early lead, jumping out to a 10-4 first quarter advantage. lone outscored R iv ersid e in the second quarter 13-9 to make the game 19-17 in favor o f the STORES THROUGHOUT Find a store near you at www.LesSchwab.com! ^ C 000 THRU DECEMBER 31. 3008 Les Schwab Tire Center 124 North Main S t, Heppner 676-9481 / visitors. After sticking close in the third, the Lady Cards had th eir chances in the fourth, attempting 12 free throws but converting just three as Riverside pulled away for the 38-32 win. B renna R ietm ann led the team in scoring with nine points. Stefanie Archer had eight and Beth Morter added six. Rietmann also led the rebounding effort with nine boards. “ It was a good de fensive game for us," said Coach Garrett. “Our shots were just not dropping. Our field goal and free throw' p e rc e n ta g e is dow n but that’s because o f the style o f play and being early in the season.” S u m m i n g up the w eekend. 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