Post by Alumni on Feb 12, 2007 18:19:24 GMT -5
State Champs — Again:
By RYAN HOPE
SPARKS — As a sign of team unity and solidarity, the Spring Creek wrestling team showed up at the state tournament with their hair dyed black.
On the mats, the Spartans proved how solid and unified they are Saturday, by winning their fourth consecutive 3A state title and fifth overall at Spanish Springs High School.
“Every year is a different challenge,” said Spring Creek coach Wade Pehrson. “This year we had a different group of kids and we had to work a little harder. We had to evolve our leadership roles and guys stepped in and did a great job. Those were our finalist guys. They stepped up and took that role and worked hard all season. Good things paid off at the end.”
Pehrson has been the Spartans’ head coach for the string of four titles. Senior Trinity Perkins, who won his fourth individual title Saturday, was one of four Spring Creek champions.
“This is pretty cool,” Perkins said. “It’s a big accomplishment.”
Perkins was a part of a monstrous first day for Spring Creek, that found the Spartans in the lead by 33 points Friday with six grapplers qualified for Saturday’s finals.
After three consolation rounds Saturday, Spring Creek’s lead had shrunk to just two points over second-place Pahrump Valley. But with four Spartans — Perkins, Nick Wooden, Bryar Saddoris and Kamas Wing — winning individual titles, Spring Creek’s lead widened. At the end, Spring Creek had 154 points and Pahrump Valley finished with 146.
Perkins, Wing, Saddoris and Wooden have been Spring Creek’s stalwarts all season, and were just that again Saturday.
Wooden and Perkins had the easiest run, pinning their way through the tournament, and ironically, both used a chicken wing to get their opponents on their shoulder blades for a first-period pin in the finals. Wooden pinned Lowry’s Matt Pike 47 seconds into the 119-pound final and Perkins needed only 1 minute, 28 seconds to do the same at 145 pounds against Lowry’s Trevor Grant.
Saddoris and Wing had tougher challenges in their final matches.
Saddoris began the season in the 135-pound class, but moved up to 140 to help the team by allowing another wrestler to compete at his old weight. At 140, Saddoris found the grapplers a bit stronger, as was the case in Saturday’s finals against J.P. Parker of Virgin Valley.
Parker wrestled a defensive match and Saddoris led just 5-3 in the third period. A hard-earned takedown increased Saddoris’ lead and allowed the sophomore to win his second state title.
Minutes after the match, Saddoris was on the phone relaying what happened to his older brother, Bryce, a four-time state champion for Spring Creek who lives on the East Coast and wrestles for the U.S. Naval Academy.
“I told him I took second, joking around with him,” Bryar said. “I gave him a call. He stayed up late to wait. It’s like 12-o’clock (a.m.) there.”
Wing found himself in another low-scoring match against Yerington’s Sean Watson at 171 pounds. It looked like Wing might escape with a 5-4 win, but Watson was awarded a late point for stalling on Wing, sending the match into overtime.
Watson shot at Wing’s legs in overtime, but Wing sprawled backward and spun around Watson to get a takedown and end the match.
“It’s pretty intense,” Wing said of the overtime match. “You definitely have the blood flowing. The adrenaline is rushing and takes over. That’s when it’s all on whether you want it or not.”
Junior Josh David (125) and senior Tyler Collins both wound up finishing second for Spring Creek after getting pinned in the finals.
David came close to winning his match against Fernley’s Kevin Martinez at 125 pounds. The two were tied at 4 and David threw Martinez down with time running out, but they were ruled out-of-bounds. Martinez pinned David in overtime.
One of the better stories of the tournament was unheralded Dustin Greener’s third-place finish at 103 pounds for Spring Creek. Greener was the third seed out of the north entering the tournament, but he had an upset win Friday and added two more pins Saturday to become the consolation champion.
Greener is one of 12 Spring Creek wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament and can return next season, meaning the future is bright for the Spartans.
“These young guys got a lot of experience,” Pehrson said. “Hopefully next year we can come in and get all of these guys to place and we could have a better team next year.”
Representing Elko County was Wells senior Marc Morrison, who won the 2A-1A 215-pound title with a 4-2 victory over Eureka’s David Groth. It was sweet revenge for Morrison, who lost to Groth a week earlier at a divisional tournament.
“It was probably the toughest match we’ve had all year,” Morrison said. “It was perfect. I couldn’t have had a better (opponent in the finals).”
Also in 2A-1A Independence’s Devontae Davis was fourth at 103 and Nicholas Brown finished third in the 145-pound class.
By RYAN HOPE
SPARKS — As a sign of team unity and solidarity, the Spring Creek wrestling team showed up at the state tournament with their hair dyed black.
On the mats, the Spartans proved how solid and unified they are Saturday, by winning their fourth consecutive 3A state title and fifth overall at Spanish Springs High School.
“Every year is a different challenge,” said Spring Creek coach Wade Pehrson. “This year we had a different group of kids and we had to work a little harder. We had to evolve our leadership roles and guys stepped in and did a great job. Those were our finalist guys. They stepped up and took that role and worked hard all season. Good things paid off at the end.”
Pehrson has been the Spartans’ head coach for the string of four titles. Senior Trinity Perkins, who won his fourth individual title Saturday, was one of four Spring Creek champions.
“This is pretty cool,” Perkins said. “It’s a big accomplishment.”
Perkins was a part of a monstrous first day for Spring Creek, that found the Spartans in the lead by 33 points Friday with six grapplers qualified for Saturday’s finals.
After three consolation rounds Saturday, Spring Creek’s lead had shrunk to just two points over second-place Pahrump Valley. But with four Spartans — Perkins, Nick Wooden, Bryar Saddoris and Kamas Wing — winning individual titles, Spring Creek’s lead widened. At the end, Spring Creek had 154 points and Pahrump Valley finished with 146.
Perkins, Wing, Saddoris and Wooden have been Spring Creek’s stalwarts all season, and were just that again Saturday.
Wooden and Perkins had the easiest run, pinning their way through the tournament, and ironically, both used a chicken wing to get their opponents on their shoulder blades for a first-period pin in the finals. Wooden pinned Lowry’s Matt Pike 47 seconds into the 119-pound final and Perkins needed only 1 minute, 28 seconds to do the same at 145 pounds against Lowry’s Trevor Grant.
Saddoris and Wing had tougher challenges in their final matches.
Saddoris began the season in the 135-pound class, but moved up to 140 to help the team by allowing another wrestler to compete at his old weight. At 140, Saddoris found the grapplers a bit stronger, as was the case in Saturday’s finals against J.P. Parker of Virgin Valley.
Parker wrestled a defensive match and Saddoris led just 5-3 in the third period. A hard-earned takedown increased Saddoris’ lead and allowed the sophomore to win his second state title.
Minutes after the match, Saddoris was on the phone relaying what happened to his older brother, Bryce, a four-time state champion for Spring Creek who lives on the East Coast and wrestles for the U.S. Naval Academy.
“I told him I took second, joking around with him,” Bryar said. “I gave him a call. He stayed up late to wait. It’s like 12-o’clock (a.m.) there.”
Wing found himself in another low-scoring match against Yerington’s Sean Watson at 171 pounds. It looked like Wing might escape with a 5-4 win, but Watson was awarded a late point for stalling on Wing, sending the match into overtime.
Watson shot at Wing’s legs in overtime, but Wing sprawled backward and spun around Watson to get a takedown and end the match.
“It’s pretty intense,” Wing said of the overtime match. “You definitely have the blood flowing. The adrenaline is rushing and takes over. That’s when it’s all on whether you want it or not.”
Junior Josh David (125) and senior Tyler Collins both wound up finishing second for Spring Creek after getting pinned in the finals.
David came close to winning his match against Fernley’s Kevin Martinez at 125 pounds. The two were tied at 4 and David threw Martinez down with time running out, but they were ruled out-of-bounds. Martinez pinned David in overtime.
One of the better stories of the tournament was unheralded Dustin Greener’s third-place finish at 103 pounds for Spring Creek. Greener was the third seed out of the north entering the tournament, but he had an upset win Friday and added two more pins Saturday to become the consolation champion.
Greener is one of 12 Spring Creek wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament and can return next season, meaning the future is bright for the Spartans.
“These young guys got a lot of experience,” Pehrson said. “Hopefully next year we can come in and get all of these guys to place and we could have a better team next year.”
Representing Elko County was Wells senior Marc Morrison, who won the 2A-1A 215-pound title with a 4-2 victory over Eureka’s David Groth. It was sweet revenge for Morrison, who lost to Groth a week earlier at a divisional tournament.
“It was probably the toughest match we’ve had all year,” Morrison said. “It was perfect. I couldn’t have had a better (opponent in the finals).”
Also in 2A-1A Independence’s Devontae Davis was fourth at 103 and Nicholas Brown finished third in the 145-pound class.