HeppnerGazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 17,2014 -TH R E E
Smith takes first at
La Grande tournament
H eppner M ustangs
competed at the Muilen-
burg wrestling tournament
in La Grande Friday and
Saturday. The Muilenburg
included 22 teams from
Oregon, Washington and
Idaho ranging in size from
6A down to 1A with many
weight classes involving
32-man brackets.
The Restore College
Wrestling committee had
chosen to feature this year's
Muilenburg tournament in
its campaign and had in
attendance several hall-of-
fame coaches and wrestlers,
state politicians and the
president of Eastern Oregon
University.
The M ustangs fin
ished second behind Bums
among the eight 1A/2A
Heppner’s first-ever Muilen
burg Tournament champion
Ryan Smith on the podium at
the La Grande tournament
last Saturday. It was also
Ryan’s 17th birthday. -C on
tributed photo
teams. Overall Heppner
was fourteenth and ahead
o f 4A Baker and 5A The
Dalles-Wahtonka. Six of
the seven Mustangs who
competed won matches;
five won at least two.
It was ju n io r Ryan
Smith’s birthday on Sat
urday and he celebrated
by winning a Muilenburg
championship. And he did
it in dramatic fashion. The
returning state champion
and number-one ranked
wrestler breezed through
his 113-pound bracket on
Friday. In the Saturday
morning semifinal bout,
how ever, Smith trailed
Mustang boys gallop away
with tournament title
Mustang w restler Jorgen Anderson grapples with an opponent
during the La Grande tournament last weekend. Anderson, an
exchange student from Norway, had no exposure to wrestling
before attending Heppner High School. With only a week of
practice prior to the wrestling season, he seems to be catching
on w ith a couple of pins under his belt. -Photo by Kandy Boyd
home-town La G rande’s
Corey Isaacson 2-0 with
just six seconds left in the
match. When the official
restarted the action. Smith
did a granby roll on the
whistle to come up with
a two-point reversal plus
three-point near fall and a
berth to the finals.
“ That was about as
improbable as running a
final play kick-off back
for a touchdown and the
win,” Coach Mark Lem
mon said o f Smith’s semi
finals match. “We actually
worked on that scenario in
practice this week and Ryan
struggled with the timing
and execution. It's a pretty
high level move that many
wrestlers only succeed in
their dreams. For him to
pull that off on that stage,
in that situation, would be
too incredible for a fictional
story. There are a bunch
of hall-of-famers that now
know where Heppner is.”
In the championship
bout Smith faced Tristan
Hinkley from Weiser in a
back and forth battle that
included four lead changes.
In the end Smith was on top
8-6 and the owner o f the
coveted Muilenburg cham
pion’s belt buckle.
Senior Jesse Boyd won
two matches by fall in the
138-pound championship
rounds and Will Lutcher
(145 lbs) and Jacob Moses
(152 lbs) also contributed
team bonus points with pins
in championship brackets.
Cord Flynn (195 lbs) and
John Propheter (220 lbs)
had two wins apiece on the
consolation side. Jorgen
Andersen also competed for
the Mustangs.
Heppner wrestlers have
a busy week ahead with
a home meet at 4 p.m. on
Thursday and the Mac Hi
Christmas tournament at
10 a.m. Saturday in Milton-
Freewater.
Jacob Moses works to pin an opponent during the La Grande
tournament over the weekend. While only Ryan Smith brought
home a medal in his weight bracket this week, all of the boys
wrestled hard, with several improving their performance over
last year's experience at this tournament. -Photo by Kandy Boyd
The Heppner Mustangs
boys basketball team kept
their record perfect (4-0)
with a sweep o f games
at the Heppner Kick-Off
Tournament this weekend.
The M ustangs won the
championship of their own
tournament by beating the
Crane Mustangs by a score
of 76-35 and then defeating
the Dufur Rangers 72-57.
In the game with
Crane, Heppner shot 51
percent from the field and
had 21 assists on the 30
baskets they made in the
game. The tough man-to
man defense that the Mus
tangs played held Crane to
no more than 10 points in
each quarter. Heppner led
21-10 after one and 40-19
at halftime. They stretched
the lead to 59-29 after three
quarters and cruised the rest
of the way to get the victory
76-35.
Logan Grieb had the
hot hand for the Mustangs,
as the sophomore guard
scored 20 points in the
game. He also recorded 7
rebounds and 7 assists. Pat
rick Collins had a double
double with 16 points and
12 rebounds. CJ Kindle had
12 points and 4 assists to go
along with 2 rebounds in the
game. Jesse Corbin scored 9
points and had 6 rebounds,
4 steals and 2 assists on the
night. Weston Putman tal
lied 7 points and crashed
the boards for 11 big re
bounds. Ross Cutsforth
was next with 5 points and
6 rebounds, while Jeremiah
Petzoldt had 3 points and
3 rebounds. Kevin Murray
and Kolby Currin each had
2 points for the Mustangs.
Murray also had 3 rebounds
and Currin grabbed 1. Ca-
den Hedman recorded 3
rebounds and 4 assists in
the game and Jake Lindsay
snagged 1 rebound and also
had an assist.
In the matchup with
Dufur, the Mustangs knew
they would be in for a tough
contest. The Rangers like
to press, run a fast break,
and they shoot the ball
well. Dufur did all of those
Heppner's Patrick Collins (#15) brings it home over the heads
of the Rangers. Collins had the hot hand with two double
doubles over the weekend, scoring 16 points and 12 rebounds
versus the Crane Mustangs and 33 points with 17 rebounds
during the contest against the Dufur Rangers. -Photo by San
dra Putman
things to start the game and
led 23-16 after one quar
ter of play. The Mustangs
made some adjustments, at
tacked the Ranger press and
scored many uncontested
layups. Heppner outscored
the Rangers 17-11 in the
second quarter to trail at
halftime 34-33.
The second half was
a back and forth contest
that saw the lead change
many times. Heppner out-
scored Dufur 18-12 in the
third quarter and 21-11 in
the fourth to get the win
by the score of 72-57. The
Mustangs shot 52 percent
from the field for the game
and out-rebounded Dufur
38-20.
Having a m onster
game for the M ustangs
was Patrick Collins. He
scored many of his points
early and often on great
passes after Heppner broke
the Dufur press. He scored
33 points and had 17 re
bounds on the night. Grieb
was next with 18 points,
7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Grieb made 6 crucial free
throws down the stretch to
help put the game out of
reach. Putman came up big
again with 11 points, 5 re
bounds and 2 steals. Kindle
and Cutsforth both had 4
points and 3 assists in the
game. Cutsforth also had 2
rebounds. Hedman scored 2
points, had 2 rebounds and
2 assists. Corbin was big on
the boards with 5 rebounds
and he also had an assist.
The H eppner boys
team has a busy schedule
coming up. They host the
Imbler Panthers on Friday
night and then travel to John
Day on Saturday to take on
the Grant Union Prospec
tors. They then face the
South Wasco County Red-
sides at home on Monday
night, December 22.
Local players fill ranks of all-state teams
Eight Heppner players receive all-state honors; Collins named Defensive Player o f the Year
Several Heppner play
ers have received the hon
or of being named to the
2014 All-State 2A Football
Teams.
Heppner junior Patrick
Collins has been awarded
2014 Defensive Player of
the Year. Burns collected
other yearly honors, with
Bums seniors Austin Feist
and Clayton Bentz receiv
ing Offensive Player of the
Year and Lineman o f the
Year, respectively. Bums
coach Terry Graham was
named Coach of the Year.
Heppner players also
filled the ranks of the All-
State teams, as follows:
For 2A All-State First
It’s time to start planning for next year’s season.
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¿f a h ea lth y and/protperovoyNew Year!
We/loxyh fxyrward/to yervlrtg-yow itv 2015 !
Team Offense: Brian Rill,
Running Back; CJ Kindle,
Wide Receiver; Patrick
Collins and John Propheter,
Offensive Lineman.
For 2A All-State Sec
ond Team Offense: Kaden
Clark, Quarterback.
For 2A All-State Hon
For 2A All-State Sec-
ond Team Defense: John
Propheter, Defensive Line-
man; Weston Putman, Line-
backer.
For 2A All-State Hon-
orable Mention Defense:
Logan Grieb, Defensive
Back.
Heppner boys start young to
master wrestling
H eppner boy K eegan
Chitty (right) grapples with
an opponent at the ORWAY
(Oregon Wrestling Associa
tion for Youth) tournament in
Union last Saturday.
Along with Keegan, local
youth Carson Brosnan, Blane
Mahoney and Jace Coe also
wrestled com petitors from
Pendleton, La Grande, John
Day, and Baker City. All the
boys wrestled well, and the
Heppner team came away with
one first-place and one second-
place finish.
The Union tournament
was the last of ORWAY's regular season. Regional finals will be held Dec. 20 in Baker City.
-Photo by Damon Brosnan
B i r t h d a y !
j o in
Heppner 541-676-9125
lone 541-422-7466
orable Mention Offense:
Jesse Corbin, Wide Re
ceiver.
For 2A All-State First
Team Defense: Patrick Col
lins, Defensive Lineman;
CJ Kindle, Linebacker;
Jesse Corbin, Defensive
Back.
US!
Ron Haguewoocfs
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Bank of
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