Tiger matmen drop rare dual match

With the SIC 4A conference wrestling crown on the line last Thursday night at Kuna, the Mountain Home Tigers dropped a close, 34-32 match to the Kavemen.

A packed crowd got their money's worth in this one, which started at the 215-pound weight class.

Charles Davidson won a 14-4 major decision to get the Tigers off to a 4-0 lead.

Kuna came back to win first-round pins at heavyweight, and 103 pounds, as Tigers Robert Weed and Brandon Stempfley both lost. Kyle Hickerson dropped a tough 4-2 decision at 112 pounds, and the Kavemen had built up a 15-4 lead.

David Wise kept his season record unblemished with a 9-12 major decision to cut the margin to 15-8, but A.J. Hutchison lost a 15-7 major decision at 125 pounds, and the Kavemen lead was at 19-8, with eight matches to go.

Mike Ramsey earned a 17-2 technical fall at 130 pounds to narrow the gap to 19-13, and a third-round pin by James Greenfield at 135 pounds tied the match at 19-19.

Chris Hathaway held off his Kuna opponent, 12-8, at 140 pounds to put the Tigers up 22-19.

At 145 pounds, the Kavemen took the lead back, 23-22, as Tiger senior Garrett Wells dropped a 12-4 major decision.

Mountain Home got a big second round pin by freshman Kori Andrews at 152 pounds to regain the lead 28-23.

Tiger freshman Tyson Sessions staved off a pin at 160 pounds, but dropped a 15-0 technical fall, and the match was tied at 28-28 with two matches to go.

Kole Spaulding gave the Tigers the lead back, 32-28, with an 11-1 major decision at 171 pounds, but Kuna's Stephen Marsales needed just 29 seconds to pin Anthony Johnson, and the Kavemen pulled out a 34-32 win.

"We should have done better," said a disappointed Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson after the match.

"We did okay. There were a few disappointments, and I don't know, I'm not real happy. I know that we should have won that dual."

TIGERS FINISH 6TH AT WEISER, BRING HOME A CHAMPION

The Tigers came home from the two-day Weiser Invitational Wrestling Tournament with a sixth-place effort.

David Wise won the 119-pound weight class to keep his unbeaten streak going.

Marcos Ortiz finished second at 119 pounds as well, and Mike Ramsey finished second at 130 pounds. Kyle Hickerson finished third at 112 pounds, and Chris Hathaway had a third-place effort at 140 pounds for the Tigers.

Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was hoping for a better showing at Weiser.

"I was looking forward to a little bit better tournament than that, but overall, we didn't wrestle too bad. There were times that we should have done things a little bit better. We've got to get geared up and get our fire back and get ready for our two matches this week and then the following week into our districts, and we just got to get that fire back and start taking care of business again.

"This weekend (at Weiser), we'll just take it as a learning experience and continue on from there."

The Tigers hosted the Jerome Tigers last night, and close out their regular season schedule at home for Senior Night Friday night against Vallivue.

The District III 4A Wrestling Championships are Feb. 20-21 at Vallivue.