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A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports TAKE DOWN STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero (22) goes up for a shot during Friday’s game against The Dalles. Dawgs bounce back from loss to Bucks By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ STAFF WRITER STAFF PHOTOS BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s A.J. Tuia attempts to cradle Pendleton’s Blake Davis in the 145-pound match of the Bulldogs’ 42-30 win against the Bucks on Wednesday in Pendleton. Buckaroos hang around, fall short against Bulldogs By ERIC SINGER STAFF WRITER P ENDLETON — Over the past decade, Hermiston has fully established itself as a wrestling powerhouse in the state of Oregon with 10 team state champi- onships and numerous individual titles. However, as roster turnover over the past few seasons has left holes in the lineup, the Bulldogs have had to mix and match with the weight classes and be patient with some young faces. And with their Class 5A dis- trict tournament on the horizon next week, the Bulldogs showed they still have a lot of work to do following Wednesday night’s 42-30 dual victory over Pendleton at War- berg Court. “I think we took these guys a little bit for granted,” Hermiston’s Zach Kirkpatrick said afterwards. “I think we need to come out more focused next time we’re out here with more intensity throughout the entire match.” The Hermiston-Pendleton matchups have been one-sided for the Bulldogs for awhile, with Hermiston winning by a com- bined score of 174-46 in the three previ- ous years. But the Bulldogs gave away 12 points with two forfeits at 132 and 138, lost two matches by fall and two by decision. “Some guys wrestled tough, some guys I thought could’ve done a little better,” Hermiston head coach Kyle Larson said. “I think in a few matches we kind of stood around and were okay with just a decision. I think we could’ve pushed the pace a lit- tle bit more in some matches, maybe we’ll fix that this week before we go to districts.” Hermiston’s Joey Gutierrez (195) had the most impressive win of the night as he Pendleton’s Chris Chambers puts a cross face on Hermiston’s Gage Shipley in the 126-pound match of the Bulldogs’ 42-30 win against the Bucks on Wednesday in Pendleton. pinned Cezar Medina in a quick 26 sec- onds. Gutierrez attacked quickly after the whistle, scoring a takedown just five sec- onds before flipping Medina to his back and securing the pin. Gutierrez’s win was one of four pins for Hermiston on the night. At 145, AJ Tuia pinned Blake Davis at 3:41, Kirkpatrick (170) pinned Ian Bannister at 4:26 and Sean Stewart (220) pinned Aiden Henderson at 3:19. Kirkpatrick battled with Bannister into the third round, holding a 3-1 lead, though the match featured little action as both wrestlers spent a lot of time dancing around and trying to find their shot. But as they started the third round, Bannister chose to start the crouch on the bottom, and Kirk- patrick saw an opportunity. As soon as the starting whistle blew, Kirkpatrick held Ban- nister, got in position and secured the pin 15 seconds into the period. “The guy was kind of making me upset, kept backing out,” Kirkpatrick said of his match. “So when he chose down, I know I’m tough on top and thought ‘I’m just going to pin this kid.’ And you saw, I just got him over and got him down. “I was relieved. The team needed it, so it felt pretty good.” Stewart’s pin against Pendleton’s Hen- derson was also impressive. Henderson controlled the match through the first period and led 4-1 early in the second period. But while Henderson had Stewart in a hold, he hesitated for a moment, which allowed Stewart to get some leverage and flip Hen- derson on his back to secure the win. HERMISTON — After the Hermiston girls basketball team dropped its first league game to Pendleton on Jan. 30, the Bull- dogs needed to quickly shift gears and prepare to welcome another Columbia River Con- ference opponent Friday. For the fans that were in the stands at the Dawg House for Hermiston’s two home games last week, their blood pres- sure likely rose as the visit- ing schools kept things close against the Bulldogs. Last Tuesday, in the final three minutes of play, the Bull- dogs (6-12, 2-1) came close to having the advantage over the Buckaroos by tying the score again at 45-45 with 58.7 left. But the Bucks were able to make some last second bas- kets from the charity stripe to stretch their narrow lead. Pend- leton defeated Hermiston 49-45 to move the Bulldogs to 3-1 in league. On Friday night, however, Hermiston was able to stop two of The Dalles’ big runs to hold on for a 52-46 victory. Now more than a third of the way through CRC play, the Bulldogs (7-12 overall) will take any win they can get — even if it’s not the prettiest. “You could definitely tell there was a little bit of a hang- over (from Tuesday),” head coach Juan Rodriguez said. “There was a lot of disappoint- ment where we played a pretty good game and just didn’t finish the game off and you could tell that tonight. “It’s a little bit of a trap game when you beat a team by 30 the first time at their place and you’re coming off a tough loss, and you end up playing like that.” Hermiston entered the third quarter up 25-16 after a 13-4 run left the Riverhawks (6-12, 0-4) in the dust. But The Dalles seemed to have left its shoot- ing woes in the locker room and came out firing, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers — all off the hands of senior Paulina Finn. See GIRLS, A11 SCHEDULE Area schools notch five first place finishers Irrigon takes seven wrestlers to state, Riverside six, Echo five By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ STAFF WRITER BOARDMAN — Echo senior Logan Butler took the mat at Sat- urday’s Class 3A Special District 3 tournament with his one and only trip to the state championship meet on the line. Butler, at 182 pounds, was knocked into the consolation bracket after getting pinned by a Nyssa Bulldog in just 33 seconds. With a bye in the next round, But- ler had time to recoup and went on to defeat senior Chris Ramirez of Nyssa by 7-0 decision. He was then pitted against Irrigon’s Reece Sheller, with the winner of the third place bout advancing to state. The two scoped each other out for the first 30 seconds of the match, and then Butler made his first move — a lunge at the feet of Sheller. No points came from those efforts, but he would later get two points for a take down and then build his lead to 4-1 after the first round. Through the second, Butler had a 9-2 advantage and he eventually ended things in 5:06 for the win and the third place finish. “I saw that he was getting tired and I figured mentally I was ahead of him and I knew I’d be alright,” Butler said. “It’s my senior year See WRESTLING, A11 Local slate PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Thursday Umatilla at Riverside, 7:30 p.m. Friday Hermiston at Pendleton, 7 p.m. Vale at Irrigon, 7:30 p.m. Stanfield at Weston-McEwen, 7:30 p.m. Pilot Rock at Heppner, 7:30 p.m. Saturday Pilot Rock at Stanfield, 5:30 p.m. Nyssa at Riverside, 5:30 p.m. Cove at Echo, 5:30 p.m. Burns at Umatilla, 6:30 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Thursday Umatilla at Riverside, 6 p.m. Friday Echo at Wallowa, 5 p.m. Hermiston at Pendleton, 5:30 p.m. Vale at Irrigon, 6 p.m. Stanfield at Weston-McEwen, 6 p.m. Pilot Rock at Heppner, 6 p.m. Saturday Cove at Echo, 3:30 p.m. Pilot Rock at Stanfield, 4 p.m. Nyssa at Riverside, 4 p.m. Burns at Umatilla, 5 p.m. PREP SWIMMING Saturday Hermiston, Pendleton at District Meet (at Hood River), 10 a.m. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Riverside’s Andrew Barker attempts to pin Nyssa’s Raul Ruiz in the 120-pound match at the 3A district 3 tournament Saturday in Boardman. PREP WRESTLING Friday Hermiston, Pendleton at Districts (at Red- mond), 2 p.m. Saturday Hermiston, Pendleton at Districts (at Red- mond), 9 a.m.
