Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 16, 2015 Mustang wrestling makes good showing in large tournament - THREE Heppner girls split busy week of play Heppner senior wins prestigious wrestling award Mustang Freshman Sabashtian Futter won a match for the team at his irst high-school tournament. –Photo by Kirsti Cason The Heppner wrestling team competed in the two- day, 22-team Muilenburg tournament in La Grande on Friday and Saturday. The tournament included teams from Oregon, Washington and Idaho ranging in clas- siication from 1A to 6A. The Mustangs fin- ished 15 th overall as a team with 11 wrestlers, seven of whom were freshmen. Even though all wrestlers compete individually head- to-head at the Muilenburg, larger schools may enter two team-point scorers in each of the 14 weight class- es, while 1A/2A schools are only allowed one. Heppner fell just one point short behind Burns in claiming the small school team champion trophy. The two teams traded the lead throughout the two-day tournament, and Heppner led after the end of com- petition Friday night. It all came down to the finals Saturday night, with each school having one wrestler contending for a irst place. After Ryan Smith’s win by fall in the championship at 113 pounds, Heppner had a three-point team lead, but a Burns champion in the very next match at 120 pounds earned four team points and secured the small school champion trophy. Senior Ryan Smith not only led the team by win- ning a gold medal, but he also led the entire tour- nament of 318 wrestlers. Smith did now allow a single point to be scored against him, and won all his matches by pin, including the championship match against a 6A opponent from Lake Oswego. Coaches from around the region nominated Smith as the “2015 Outstanding Wrestler - Muilenburg Tournament,” an award only given to the top performing athlete at the annual event. “I really have my coaches to thank for this honor,” said Smith. “I started wrestling when the program was very young in Heppner. Coaches like Ken Bailey, Mark and Brian Lemmon, Jeremy Lanthorn and Marc Sprague have given so much time to build it up. I am really looking forward to seeing the Mus- tang wrestling team grow and develop more district and state champions.” Junior Cord Flynn wrestled and won the most matches for the Mustangs, going 5-1 in the 32-man bracket at 220 pounds and earning a bronze medal. His only loss in the tourna- ment was to the eventual 220-pound champion from The Dalles in the semi- inals. Junior Tim Jaca had a personal best tournament with two wins by fall at 170 pounds, while freshman Trevor Chamberlin at 120 pounds also picked up two wins in his irst major high school tournament. L e o Wa i t e ( 1 2 6 pounds), Will Lutcher (160 pounds) and Sabashtian Futter (195 pounds) each won matches for the Mus- tangs. It was Futter’s irst Senior Ryan Smith of Hep- pner won an all-tournament award along with his gold medal at the Muilenburg tournament in La Grande. –Contributed photo Mustang Morgan Correa blocks a Knappa player during the Heppner Kick-Off tournament last week. The girls split their week of play, losing 18-40 to Arlington on Tuesday before heading to the Kick-Off on Friday. They defeated the Knappa Loggers 40-20 on Friday before falling to Crane 17-41 on Sat- urday. The girls’ next game is Friday at Imbler; game time is high school tournament 6 p.m. –Photo by Sandra Putman and win. Also competing for Heppner were Carson Bros- nan, Zach Bredield, Jacob Wallace and Charles Cason. The Mustang grapplers have their irst of only two The ifth annual Heppner Mustang alumni basketball home meets Thursday, Dec. game is set to tip off on Saturday, Dec. 26. Heppner alumni 17, beginning at 4 p.m. at are invited to play in the game and reconnect with old the Heppner High School friends and teammates. Many of the past years’ games gymnasium. have been high-scoring and illed with lots of action and excitement. The game will have both a men’s and women’s divi- sion. The cost to play is $25 and will include a Mustang t-shirt. The event is a fundraiser for the HHS boys’ bas- ketball team. For more information call coach Jeremy Rosenbalm at 541-256-0515. tournament would be a challenge. The Loggers out of reach early. They 1 rebound and 5 assists. returned many of the play- outscored Crane 20-7 and Steagall came in and scored ers off last year’s team did not look back. Heppner 4 points and had a rebound. and were certainly a high- led 31-16 at halftime and Lindsay hit a 3-pointer and quality early-season oppo- 49-23 at the end of three. had 1 rebound, 2 assists and nent. A back-and-forth irst Crane did outscore Heppner 1 steal in the game. Murray quarter ended with the score 15-9 in the fourth quarter scored 2 points and had 2 tied 11-11. Heppner began but it was not enough. Hep- rebounds. Clark played a to pull away in the second pner won the game 58-38. good game and finished quarter and led 25-16 at A scrappy defensive effort with 6 rebounds, 2 steals the break. The Mustangs held Crane to 34 percent and a block. Currin re- then outscored the Loggers shooting in the game and corded 1 rebound and had 1 27-22 in the second half to Heppner also won the re- assist. Bredield contributed get the win by the score of bounding battle 37-20 an assist for the Mustangs 52-38. It was a great team Once again Collins led and Smith had a rebound. defensive effort to hold a the team in scoring with 17. Another busy week is team like Knappa to 28 per- He also had 12 rebounds in store for the Mustangs. cent shooting for the game. and a blocked shot in the On Tuesday they host the Heppner also outrebounded game. Kindle had a hot Sherman County Huskies. the Loggers 48-26. hand and inished with 14 On Friday the 18 th they Collins dominated points. He also pulled down travel to Imbler to take on in the paint and scored 24 8 rebounds, had 1 assist and the Panthers. They then points and hauled down 18 3 steals. Putman inished inish off the week on Sat- rebounds. He also had 5 as- with 13 points, 6 rebounds, urday by hosting the Grant sists, 1 steal and 3 blocked 3 assists and 2 steals. Hed- Union Prospectors. shots in the game. Putman man scored 5 points, had followed with 7 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for the team. Kindle was next with 5 points. He also re- corded 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal. Clark, Hedman, Murray and Currin each had 4 points in the game. Clark also had 3 rebounds and 1 steal. Hedman had 2 rebounds and a steal while Murray pulled down 8 re- bounds and Currin had 3. Lindsay, Kevin Smith and Wyatt Steagall each had 1 rebound in the game. In the game with Crane, a big first quarter saw Heppner put the game Mustang alumni game set for Dec. 26 Mustangs win three to maintain perfect record Heppner’s CJ Kindle rises above the competition during the Heppner Kick-Off Tournament last weekend. The team swept both tournament games, handily defeating Knappa and Crane. -Photo by Sandra Putman The Heppner Mustang boys’ basketball team won three games last week to stay undefeated. The team went on the road and beat the Arlington Honkers by a score of 58-42. They then hosted the Heppner Kick- Off Classic and defeated the Knappa Loggers 52-38 CUSTOM VINYL LETTERING READY-TO-APPLY GRAPHICS AND LETTERING CAN BE APPLIED TO A VARIETY OF SURFACES ● Vinyl is cut, pre-masked and ready for application ● Great for windows, registration numbers, company's logo, ect. ● Can be applied to a variety of surfaces and offer flexibility while serving a wide range of uses. and downed the Crane Mus- tangs 58-38. In the game against Arlington, the score was tied 14-14 at the end of the irst quarter. Heppner then picked up the pace and outscored the Honkers 15-4 to take a 29-18 lead at halftime. In the second half of the game the Mustangs worked on some different player combinations and tried out some new plays. They outpaced the Honkers 19-14 in the half to win by the score of 58-42. Patrick Collins led the team with 16 points, 7 re- bounds and 3 steals. Weston Putman scored 12 points and had 4 rebounds and an assist. CJ Kindle played a complete game with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 6 as- sists and 4 steals. Caden Hedman had 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Kaden Clark, Kevin Murray and Jake Lindsay all scored 4 points for the team. Clark also had 2 re- bounds and 2 steals. Murray inished with 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Lindsay also contributed 1 rebound, 1 assist and 3 steals. Tommy Bredield had 2 rebounds and 1 steal in the game. Kolby Currin recorded 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal for the Mustangs. Facing the tradition- rich Knappa team that the Mustangs beat in the irst game of last year’s state Weston Putman pushes through the Honkers press during the game versus Arlington last week. The game was the irst of three victories for the Mustangs last week. -Photo by Sandra Putman Loop to meet Jan. 5 The Loop Morrow County Transportation Advisory Committee monthly meeting for January will be Jan. 5, 2016 at Lexington Town Hall at 2:30 p.m.