Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 28,2009 - SEVEN
Two Heppner wrestlers crowned champions Tuesday night defeat for Lady Mustangs
The Mustang wres
tlers finished a busy week
by competing in the 11 team
Cougar Classic in Gervais.
After their home tournament
on Thursday, a five hour
crow ded bus ride shared
with the Irrigon K nights
on Friday and a short night
sleeping on the mats in the
Gervais gym, the Mustangs
got back into action on Sat
urday morning.
Four Heppner wres
tlers made it to. the tour
nament cham pionship on
Saturday night. John Nel
son, Jarreid Miller, Chance
Day and Wacy Coil battled
th e ir w ay through th eir
weight brackets to compete
on the finals mat. Nelson,
a freshman, and Miller, a
sophom ore, lost to more
experienced opponents to
each finish second. Miller
finished 3-1 on the day in
route to his second place
finish, including scoring a
takedown in the last second
o f the quarterfinals to pull
out a 7-6 decision over a
Waldport opponent. His loss
in the finals came from a
senior 3 A state placer from
Gervais.
D ay w'on e v e ry
match by pin or major deci
sion on his way to becoming
the cham pion o f the 145
pound weight bracket. Even
though the finals win came
by a score of 18-8, it was a
tough battle through most of
the match w ith the outcome
in jeopardy several times
until the third period when
Day was able to pull away
By Jennifer Wilson
With the game tied
at the end of the first half
it could have been either
team's win, but the Stanfield
Tigers edged out the Mus
tangs for a 47-34 win.
The trouble came in
the second half for the Lady
Mustangs. Scoring just 16
points in the second half, the
Mustangs couldn’t keep up
with the Tigers who posted
29 points.
Wacy Coil takes down an opponent during a wrestling match
last Thursday in Heppner. -Photo by Autumn Morgan
for the major decision.
Coil, seeded third
in the 160 pound bracket,
received a bye in the first
round, then proceeded to pin
his way through the bracket
including the number two
seed in the semi finals to
earn his way into the finals.
A fte r s tru g g lin g
through a scoreless first
period in the championship
bout, Coil started the second
period in the top position
when his Gervais opponent
chose down. Halfway into
the period and the score
still tied at 0-0, Coil saw
his opening and locked in
a cradle with his long arms.
He held on for the pin and
his first championship in a
major tournament.
T he sh o rth a n d e d
Tim Nelson each won all
o f their matches. Lemmon
had the largest bracket and
picked up four wins, three
by pin and one by technical
fall, with none of his oppo
nents scoring a point against
him. It was the first time
Smith or Nelson have won
first place in a tournament.
H arris and Lem m on are
Heppner's returning middle
school state qualifiers and
are undefeated in the Jr.
High’s last two meets.
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were forced to foul hoping
the Tigers would miss their
free throws so they could
regain possession o f the
ball. However, the Mustangs
weren't so lucky. The Tigers
came together and finished
the gam e with seven late
game free throws.
Erin Price and Bryn
na Rust led the Mustangs
with 10 points each, while
Matilda Hakannson added
nine.
Pilot Rock has hot hand in Friday night face-off
M u stan g s o n ly took 11
wrestlers to the tournament,
but seven o f those eleven
placed sixth or higher in
their weight class. The oth
er Heppner wrestlers that
placed were Zach Yocom
at fourth, Tyler Robinson
at sixth and Zach Hintz at
fourth. Hintz, a freshman
that only started wrestling
the final two weeks of last
season as an eighth grader,
had his personal best place
ment in a tournament after
winning by a pin in the con
solation semi finals.
A lso c o m p e tin g
for Heppner were Andrew
Bara, who won an exhibi
tion match by pin, Conner
Pappas, Garrett Gibbs and
Alex Fuentes.
Jr. High wrestlers compete in Boardman
T he H e p p n e r Jr.
High wrestling team was in
Boardman on Thursday to
compete against Riverside,
The D alles and Irrigon.
Twelve ju n io r M ustangs
made the trip including sev
eral that were competing for
the first time as wrestlers.
Overall, the team won 19
and lost 16 for the night. All
but two o f the Mustangs got
at least one w in.
Austin Harris, Jared
Lemmon, Alex Smith and
Matilda Hakannson
hit a free throw for a brief
Mustang lead in the third
quarter. Brynna Rust also
knocked dow n a three-point
shot to put the M ustangs
up by one later in the same
quarter. Shortly after that,
the Mustangs went score
less for more than seven
minutes, allowing the Tigers
to take the lead.
Down late in the
fourth quarter, the Mustangs
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also had a winning night
finishing 2-1 and second in
his bracket. Ross Cutsforth,
Wade Matthew, Earl Proph-
eter, Bryce Fowler and Ethan
Ashbeck all took third place
in their weight classes. Cody
Beam and John Propheter,
both sixth graders wrestling
for the Jr. High, also com
peted for the Mustangs.
Mustangs top
Tigers
By Jennifer Wilson
The Mustangs came
out Tuesday night trailing
the Stanfield Tigers by three
at half-time and had yet to
find “their” game. However,
the Mustangs came alive in
the third quarter and finished
the game with a 72-59 vic
tory.
Despite a flat start
to the game, the Mustangs
rallied together in the third
quarter and outscored the Ti
gers 24-6. “We changed the
defense at half-time, which
made the difference,” Coach
David Norton said.
The M ustangs fin
ished an impressive third
q u a rte r, but the T ig ers
w eren't done fighting and
came out with vengeance in
the final quarter.
T he T ig ers w ere
only down by 10 with more
than three minutes left in
the game. With Jared Hud
d lesto n p lay in g a good
gam e, but benched w ith
five fouls, the Tigers tried
to capitalize.
However, the Mus
tangs found themselves at
the line a lot in the remain-
ing minutes ot the game to
help seal the win.
Chris Lien led the
Mustangs w ith a career-high
28 points, while Cody Orr
chipped in 14.
217 North Main • Heppner • Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426
Serving Heppner, Lexington & lone
By Jennifer Wilson
Tied for first in the
Blue Mountain Conference
league, with one loss a piece,
the Heppner Mustangs faced
off against the Pilot Rock
Rockets last Friday night.
Despite a hard fought game
by the Mustangs, the Rock
ets left with a 73-69 win.
The Mustangs came
out strong and led by three
after the first quarter. Chris
Lien and Jared Huddleston
had three consecutive three-
pointers to end the quarter.
With two o f Pilot
Rocks most dangerous play
ers in foul trouble, the Mus
tangs recognized what they
had to do. The Mustangs
earned some quick points
from some one on one play
to help close a fourth quarter
deficit.
The game was tied
three separate times through
out the game. The last tie
happened with 21 seconds
left in the fourth quarter
with the score 67-67. Brent
Eckman scored a two point
basket to put the Mustangs
within two points for the
tie, but was then forced to
foul to put the Rockets at
the line with seconds to go
in the game. Closing out the
win was Pilot Rock with two
last points.
Pilot Rock shot an
outstanding 53% from the
field. Any team with a per-
Brent Eckman puts up a shot during the basketball game against
Pilot Rock Friday night. -Photo by Sandy Matthews
centage like that is going
to be hard to beat, but the
Mustangs came within four
close points. It could have
been either team's win, but
the luck happened to fall in
the hands of the Rockets.
The Mustangs move
down to second in the Blue
Mountain Conference league
but still get one more chance
to beat the Rockets later in
the season.
High scorer for the
Mustangs was Chris Lien
w ith 18 points, 12 o f which
were from behind the three
point line. Cody Orr helped
out the Mustangs with 17
points.
lone boys take win over Cascade Locks, lose to Echo
The lone boys split
their games over the week-
end, taking a “feel good”
w in over Cascade Locks on
Friday night but falling in
a lackluster game against
Echo on Saturday. The Car
dinals are holding on to the
top spot in the E3ig Sky East
with a 7-2 record.
It was another slow
start when the C ardinals
hosted Cascade Locks on
Friday night. The Pirates
jumped out to a 10-2 lead
before the C ardinals got
dow n to business. M att
Hams had eight and Zac
Orem had six in the first
quarter but the Cards trailed
14-16 at its conclusion. The
Cards opened the second
quarter w ith a 17-4 run and
finished the quarter outscor-
ing the Pirates 19-8 to take a
33-24 lead. The second half
was all Cardinal as the team
held Cascade Locks to three
points in the third quarter
and cruised to a 76-43 win.
Matt Hams led all
scorers w ith 28 points. Also
in double figures was Zac
Orem with 16 and Clay
Morter with 13. R.I Ramos
added nine.
“ We started slow
in the first quarter but got
things rolling and never
looked back,” said Coach
Dennis Stefani. “Coming
down the stretch we need
all these games but the ones
against the other side of the
league always prove to be
huge at the end.”
Clay Morter notched
another double-double w ith
12 rebounds to go along
w ith his 13 points. He also
had seven assists, three
steals and two blocked shots
to lead in those statistical
categories. The team shot
54% from the field and even
better, 60%, from behind the
three point line. The Cards
also held their turnovers to
ten.
On S atu rd ay , the
C ards tra v e le d to Echo
for their second m eeting
this season with the C ou
gars. Playing in Echo is al
ways tough for the Cards and
this game was no exception
as the Cardinals struggled
in their shooting straight out
o f the gate. Down 15-9 after
one, the Cards went stone
cold in the second quarter,
making just eight points
to the Cougars' 19 and not
even getting a score on the
board until five minutes had
elapsed. The Cougars led
34-17 at the half. The Cards
pulled to within 11 in the
third but could never close
the gap to seriously threaten
the Echo lead. Echo w on the
contest 53-41.
Matt Hams led the
Cardinals in scoring with
16. Zac Orem had ten and
Clay M orter added nine.
M orter led the C ardinal
rebounding effort with 12
boards and added fiv e steals
and three blocked shots.
Cory Peterson paced the
team in assists w ith three.
“We just didn't show
up,” said Coach Stefani.
“Echo beat us in all aspects
o f the game. I give Echo
credit— they came out and
played hard and aggressive
from start to finish.”
“ We need to put this
one behind us and move on.
There is still a lot o f basket
ball to play."
The Cardinals trav
el to Horizon Christian in
Hood River on Friday and
host C ondon/W heeler on
Saturday.
A win for the Lady Mustangs in OT
By Jennifer Wilson
The Lady Mustangs
have e x p erien c e d som e
tough losses in the past few
weeks but that all changed
last Saturday w hen the Mus-
tangs brought hom e the
win. The Mustangs beat the
Weston-McEwen TigerScots
44-41 in over-time.
With the Mustangs
leading by nine at the end
of the first quarter and then
down by one at the end
o f the half, the Mustangs
needed to come out ready
to play.
They came out tough
in the third quarter, outscor-
ing the TigerScots by seven
points.
The fourth quarter
was a catch-up game for the
TigerScots, needing to make
up a six point deficit. At the
end of the fourth quarter, the
game was tied 39-39.
In over-tim e play,
the Mustangs allowed just
two points for the Tiger
Scots while they racked up
five for the w in.
JoAnna Patton led
the Mustangs w ith 12 points.
Jessica Hughes chipped in
11 and Erin Price added nine
points and six assists.
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