Tiger wrestlers open strong

The Mountain Home Tigers began their quest for the State wrestling title with a season opening 52-16 dual match win over Borah in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home last Friday night.

Five Mountain Home Tigers won by pins, while four won by decision, as the Tigers picked up wins in 10 of the 14 matches against the 5A Lions.

James Greenfield and Garrett Wells both won by first-round pins, Greenfield at 135 pounds and Wells at 145. A.J. Hutchison (125 pounds) and Mike Ramsey (130) won by second-round pins, and Tyson Sessions pinned his Borah opponent in the third round. Brandon Stempfly won by forfeit.

Chris Hathaway won an 18-4 major decision at 140 pounds. At 112 pounds, Bobby Cornford won a 7-1 decision. David Wise won 13-8 at 119 pounds, and Robert Weed won a 6-3 decision at heavyweight.

Three Tigers lost by decision, one by pin. Kole Spaulding lost a tough 11-8 decision at 171 pounds, Charles Davidson (215) lost a 10-3 decision, Anthony Pomerlee (152) dropped a 12-4 major decision, and, at 189, Anthony Johnson lost by a first-round pin.

Mountain Home Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was pleased with their first effort of the season.

"It was a very good effort. Hopefully, it's a good sign of when you have a program like we did last year, and then you come out like that, and the way these guys stepped up tonight, that's a tradition and it's great to see. It's great to see how the kids wrestled, and how they listened from the corner and did all the right things that they needed to do to beat Borah that bad, so it's a good night JV-wise and varsity.

"The JV team won eight of the 14 matches against Borah, and won all seven of the matches against Glenns Ferry, and then we won 10 of the varsity matches against Borah, so it was a good night for Mountain Home."

TIGERS WIN FROSH-SOPH WRESTLING TOURNEY

Mountain Home dominated the annual Frosh-Soph Wrestling Tourney last Saturday in Mountain Home, picking up 229 points to far outdistance second-place Mountain View, which had 112 points. In all, 12 teams competed in the tournament.

Mountain Home had seven champions crowned, and placed a total of 20 in the top six. Winning championships were Daniel Doronio at 112 pounds, David Wise at 119, Marco Ortiz at 125, A.J. Hutchison at 130, James Greenfield at 135, Kori Andrews at 171, and Abel Castro at unlimited heavyweight.

Second place efforts went to Charles Davidson at 215 pounds, and Robert Weed at unlimited heavyweight.

Three Tigers placed third, as Ryan Hammer finished third at 119 pounds, Tyson Sessions at 160, and Cory Baum at unlimited heavyweight.

Fourth-place efforts went to Brandon Jones at 98 pounds, Amanda McAlpin at 103, Daniel Mason at 130, Jim Hoffman at 160, Jeff Vogl at 189, and Josh Schwartz at 215.

Finishing in sixth place were Alex Billinger at 103 pounds, and Braden Lawson at 125.

"The freshmen and sophomores stepped up big again," said Coach Knudson after the tourney. "We had good numbers in the tournament for Mountain Home, and they did what we expected them to do, and won the tournament for the second straight year.

"From the mat time that these wrestlers are getting, the experience, good things are going to happen to these kids as they get the mat time and keep improving as they get the mat time. I'm expecting some big things from them, and hopefully, that depth thing that we always talk about will improve us towards that State Tournament championship that we're in the hunt for."

MOUNTAIN HOME PLACES THIRD IN JUNIOR HIGH DISTRICT WRESTLING TOURNEY

Showing a promise of the future of Mountain Home Tiger wrestling, Mountain Home finished third at the two-day District Junior High Wrestling Tournament at Kuna Junior High School Saturday.

Mountain Home had nine wrestlers place, and brought home four champions. Nico Pinque won the 112 pound weight class, Calvin Vivier took first at 125, Matt Ward was first at 140, and Chris Knudson was first at 145 pounds.

Finishing second was Tanner Carpenter at 119 pounds.

Third place efforts went to Kaeo Doronio at 91 pounds and Ty Klefner at 130, and fourth place efforts went to Nico Handman at 85 pounds and Ty Charters at 215.

"It was a great team effort," said Mountain Home assistant junior high wrestling coach Steve Cardiel.

"The whole team got each wrestler ready to go for each match, so it was a great team effort."