Wrestlers look strong after long week

The Mountain Home Tigers wrestling team swept home dual matches from Kimberly and Jerome, and finished fourth at the Dick Fleischmann Pocatello Duals over the weekend.

Mtn. Home 62

Kimberly 10

Mountain Home won 11 of 14 matches, eight by pins as they rolled to a 62-10 dual win over Kimberly last Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Winning by pins were T.J. Billinger (119 pounds), Tommy Miller (135), Nico Pinque (145), Kamron Spaulding (152), Tanner Carpenter (160), Chris Knudson (171), Matt Ward (189) and Colby Lord (215).

Devonte McClain (112) won by forfeit, Ty Kleffner (140) won by technical fall (15-0), and Kaeo Doronio (130) won an 8-2 decision.

Erwin Ruiz (125) lost a 15-3 major decision, and the Tigers forfeited at 285 pounds.

Mtn. Home 39

Jerome 31

Mountain Home had a battle on its hands with Jerome last Tuesday night, but they came through with a 39-31 win. The Tigers led 33-31 heading into the final match at 119 pounds, needing a win by T.J. Billinger to secure the win. The Tiger junior came through big time, getting a second-round pin for the win.

Other Tigers besides Billinger who won by pins were Chris Knudson (171), Kamron Spaulding (152) and Colby Lord (215). Kaeo Doronio (130) won by technical fall (15-0), Nico Pinque (145) and Matt Ward (189) both won major decisions, while Ty Kleffner (140) won a 7-1 decision.

Tanner Carpenter (160) lost a tough 7-6 decision, Devonte McClain lost by technical fall, Erwin Ruiz (125) and Tommy Miler (135) both lost by pins, and the Tigers forfeited at 103 and 285 pounds.

Tiger wrestling coach Lynn Knudson was pleased with the wins.

"I knew it was going to be tough against Jerome, and I felt our kids really stepped up to the plate and did the things they needed to do. I feel that we wrestle better after we get a match underneath us. A lot of the people didn't want to wrestle Kimberly first, but I just kind of felt that it would be kind of a warm-up thing for us.

"Not everything went our way, but overall, I thought we came back and wrestled Jerome really, really tough. They've got some good kids, they really do, and for us to beat some of them and we had a close one at 160 with Tanner and a 7-6 match, those are matches that we need to pick up and win, that's for sure, but it was a great effort by our kids to not quit, and T.J., coming into that last match, that's a lot of pressure, and he didn't flinch for a minute. He went after it and did what he needed to do, so it was great to see."

The Tigers scheduled conference dual at Kuna last Wednesday was postponed because of the weather. It has been rescheduled for tonight.

Mountain Home went to Pocatello for the Dick Fleischmann Pocatello Duals over the weekend,where they went 5-2, and finished fourth overall in the team standings.

Pocatello won the tourney with 415 total points, Highland of Pocatello was second with 360, Capital was third with 343, and Mountain Home next with 330. A total of 14 teams competed in the tourney.

Mountain Home 45

North Fremont 33

The Tigers opened against North Fremont Friday, and found themselves down, 33-0 after the first six matches, but won the final eight, five by pins and two forfeits to win it 45-33.

Picking up wins by pins against North Fremont were Nico Pinque (140 pounds), Calvin Vivier (145), Chris Knudson (171), Matt Ward (189) and Luke Loomis (215). Tanner Carpenter (160) and James Bailey (285) won by forfeit, and Kamron Spaulding won a 10-7 decision.

Kaeo Doronio (130) lost a tough, 2-1 decision, Devonte McClain (112), Zach Pomerantz (119) and Ty Kleffner (135) all lost by pins, and the Tigers forfeited at 103 and 125 pounds.

Mountain Home 48

Sugar-Salem 24

The Tigers battled back from an early 15-0 deficit to beat the Diggers 48-24 Friday.

Winning by pins were Kaeo Doronio (130), Ty Kleffner (135), Kamron Spaulding (152), and Tanner Carpenter (160). Nico Pinque (140), Calvin Vivier (145), Chris Knudson (171) and Matt Ward (189) all won by forfeit.

DeVonte McClain (112) and Luke Loomis (215) lost decisions, Zach Pomerantz (119) and James Bailey (285) lost by pins, and the Tigers forfeited at 125 pounds.

Mountain Home 38

Hillcrest 30

Down 15-0 early, the Tigers battled back to down the Knights 38-30.

Picking up pins for the Tigers were Calvin Vivier (145), Tanner Carpenter (160), Chris Knudson (171) and Matt Ward (189). Nico Pinque (140) and Luke Loomis (215) won by major decisions, and Ty Kleffner (135), and Kamron Spaulding (152) won by decision.

Kaeo Doronio (130) and Devonte McClain lost decisions, James Bailey (285) lost by pin, and the Tigers forfeited at 103, 119 and 125 pounds.

Mountain Home 63

Preston 18

The Tigers won 11 of 14 matches against the Indians from Preston in rolling to a 63-18 win.

Winning by pins were Kaeo Doronio (130), Ty Kleffner ( 135), Nico Pinque (140), Tanner Carpenter (160) and Luke Loomis (215). Kamron Spaulding (152), Chris Knudson (171), Matt Ward (189), James Bailey (285) and Devonte McClain (112) all won by forfeits, and Calvin Vivier (145) won an 8-3 decision.

Zach Pomerants (119) lost by pin, and the Tigers forfeited at 103 and 125 pounds.

Highland 42

Mountain Home 30

Mountain Home led, 30-6, after eight matches, but lost the last six matches, four by pins, to lose the match to the Rams, 42-30.

Picking up pins for the Tigers were Nico Pinque (140), Kamron Spaulding (152) and Chris Knudson (171). Winning decisions for the Tigers were Kaeo Doronio (130), Ty Kleffner (135), Calvin Vivier (145), and Matt Ward (189).

Losing by pins were Tanner Carpenter (160), Luke Loomis (215), James Bailey (285), Devonte McClain (112), and Zach Pomerantz (119). The Tigers also forfeited at 103 and 125 pounds.

Pocatello 45

Mtn. Home 24

The Tigers were up 18-9 after the first seven matches, but picked up just six points the rest of the way to lose to Pocatello, 45-24.

Picking up wins by pins for the Tigers were Nico Pinque (140), Tanner Carpenter (160) and Kaeo Doronio (130). Chris Knudson (171) and Matt Ward (189) won decisions.

Ty Kleffner (135), Calvin Vivier (145) and Kamron Spaulding (152) lost decisions, Vivier's was 3-2 in double overtime. Losing by pins were Luke Loomis (215), Devonte McClain (112) and Zach Pomerantz (119). The Tigers forfeited at 103, 125 and 285 pounds.

Mtn. Home 66

Century 12

Century gave up nine forfeits to the Tigers as Mountain Home won 11 of the 14 matches to win 66-1, in their final match of the tournament.

Matt Ward (215) and Ty Kleffner (135) won by pins, while Nico Pinque (140), Calvin Vivier (145), Kamron Spaulding (152), Tanner Carpenter (160), Chris Knudson (171), Luke Loomis (189), Devonte McClain (112), Zach Pomerantz (119), and Kaeo Doronio (130) all won by forfeits. The Tigers forfeited at 125 and 285 pounds.

"It was a very good tournament and I'm very proud of how our guy wrestled," said Coach Knudson of their efforts at Pocatello.

"We went down there short a couple of our varsity guys, but put things together and we had a pretty excellent tournament, really. I think we had a chance to beat both Highland and Pocatello, but without those starters we were lacking that level of wrestlers, so as it turned out we ended up fourth with a 5-2 record.

"We ended up also with three undefeated wrestlers, Nico Pinque at 140, Chris Knudson at 171 and Matt Ward at 189, so that was a great effort on their part.

"Cal Vivier ended up going 6-1, as did Tanner Carpenter, and that was an excellent showing by them, and a number of kids went 5-2, so it was a great effort by our team."

The Tigers hosted Middleton for Senior Night last night, go to Kuna tonight in a makeup of last week's match, and go to Meridian Thursday to close out their regular season schedule.

The district tournament runs Feb. 14-15 at Kuna.