Nyssa wrestlers finally have Burns in their sights
By: Donovan Brink
Special to the Argus Observer
Friday, February 27, 2009 11:02 AM PST
PORTLAND—The year was 2006.
The Nyssa Bulldogs capped off a seventh consecutive year of dominating Oregon’s Class 2A state wrestling tournament. Burns was doing the same to the Class 3A level, adding its fifth straight team title.
As the team trophies were handed out that Saturday night, the buzz around the Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavilion in Salem – at least among Oregon’s small-school wrestling fans – what would happen the next year when Nyssa and Burns would not only fall into the same classification, but into the same district.
Burns went on to win two more state titles at the new Class 3A level to match Nyssa’s record of seven in a row.
Which brings us to today.
When the Bulldogs and Hilanders hit the mats this morning at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum, both figure to be locked in a head-to-head battle for history: the Hilanders looking for their eighth straight championship (and ninth overall), and Nyssa hoping to join Newberg in second place on Oregon’s all-time list with 10 team championships (Class 2A Lowell is the all-time leader with 13 titles).
“It should be interesting, to say the least,” Bulldogs head coach Luke Cleaver said. “This is the first year since the reclassification that we’ve been ready to compete with them. When (statewide reclassification took place), it was the weakest we had been as a program in 10 years.”
The Bulldogs had graduated nine seniors from their 2006 championship team and were without a bulk of experienced wrestlers coming back.
But now, coming off back-to-back district championship victories over the Hilanders, Nyssa appears poised – at least on paper – to make a run at the reigning champs.
Richard Rockwell, of The Oregon Wrestling Forum, has the Hilanders ranked No. 1 in the 3A classification with 112 points, with Nyssa ranked No. 2 with 111 points.
For perspective, Rockwell has Myrtle Point ranked No. 3 with 95 points.
“We’ve spent a long time talking about being in the situation to compete for a state trophy and possibly the championship,” Cleaver said. “For a long time, people seemed to kind of take it for granted that we were just going to win the title, and sometimes it’s a long road back. We’ve been on that road for three years, but I think we are finally able to make that run.”
The Bulldogs will mount their state championship charge today behind a quartet of returning state placers, led by defending 119-pound state champion Landon Hartley.
Hartley enters the tournament with a 40-1 record on the season, but also faces one of the tougher brackets in the tournament with two other state champions from 2008 in Rainier’s Tyler Strenke (103) and Neah-Kah-Nie’s Kameah Stetzel (112).
Senior Kyle Schoorl enters with a No. 2 ranking and is the No. 2 seed in the 130-pound bracket, looking to improve on his back-to-back third-place finishes at the state tournament.
Sophomore Rocky Garcia, who lost to Strenke in last year’s 103-pound final, is a No. 2 seed for the Bulldogs at 112, and senior John Iverson is the No. 1 seed in that weight class, although district rivals Carlos Garcia (Riverside) and Mike Schaff (Burns) loom in that bracket.
But, while the Bulldogs can expect to lean on that previous state success, they also realize their younger wrestlers -five are getting their first taste of state championship competition this weekend - will make the difference in the trophy hunt.
“These guys have been to the big meets,” Cleaver said. “They’ve drawn a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and these guys aren’t going to worry about the other guy’s name. It’s just another six minutes. The younger guys understand that tournaments are won on the back (consolation) side. We’re going to get our champions, and Burns is going to get their champions, but it’s those role-player kind of guys who are going to decide which trophy we come home with.”
