Wrestlers crush Jerome, Caldwell; place at Halverson

Friday, February 6, 2015

The Mountain Home Tigers picked up a couple more dual match wins last Tuesday and went on to place seventh overall at the Red Halverson Tourney at Minico High School over the weekend.

Mountain Home 74, Jerome 9

Mountain Home jumped out to a 30-0 lead on Jerome last Tuesday on its way to a 74-9 non-conference win on the mats in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home won 13 of 15 matches with Jerome; six by forfeit and four by pins. Winning by forfeits were Jacob Ryan at 195 pounds, Hunter McCluskey (98), Pierce Mederios (106), Tyler Heath (132), Tanner Sessions (145) and Taylor Ogaard (182).

Meanwhile, Josh Deal (220), Seth Dolan (113), Brad Keierleber (152) and Jeremy Essl (160) won by pins. Jacob Lucas won by technical fall (16-0) at 120 pounds while Jose Ortiz (285) and Tyler Hardin (138) won decisions. Tyler McCall lost by decision (12-9) at 170 pounds, and David Welle lost by pin at 126 pounds.

"We knew that they were going to be down as they've lost a few kids," said Tigers wrestling coach Lynn Knudson. "But I just wanted to see that we were doing things correct with them, and it went really well."

Mountain Home 54, Caldwell 19

After Caldwell beat Jerome in a decisive 68-12 contest, the Tigers faced Caldwell in the nightcap, coming came away with a 54-19 conference win over the Cougars.

Mountain Home won 11 of its 15 matches against the Cougars. Winning by pins for the Tigers were Hunter McCluskey (98 pounds), Pierce Mederios (106), Tanner Sessions (145) and Taylor Ogaard (182). Winning by forfeits were David Welle (126) and Aaron Spencer (195).

Wining by major decisions were Kanoa Doronio (113), Tyler Heath (132) and Brad Keierleber (152). Tyler McCall (170) and Jacob Ryan (220) won by decisions.

Jacob Lucas dropped at 5-2 decision at 120 pounds. Tyler Hardin (138) lost by major decision while Josh Deal (285) and Jeremy Essl (160) lost by pins.

"We know that we can wrestle better," Coach Knudson said. "We knew that when we were at the tournament at Parma last weekend, and some of the matches that we ended up wrestling and ended up maybe too close, or maybe we lost, we could have won or could have done a little bit better job and win by a different score.

"We knew we could wrestle better, and that's what we need to continue to do until we get into districts and state," the coach added. That's our goal that we keep on talking to them, and they keep on picking up little things, and that's what has to happen, and they're buying into it and things are looking good."

The Tigers went to the Red Halverson Tournament over the weekend, finishing seventh overall behind five 5A schools with 26 teams competing at the two-day tourney.

Bonneville of Idaho Falls won the tournament with 214.5 points. Highland of Pocatello was second with 198.5. Kuna was the only 4A team above the Tigers, finishing third with 192.5 points. Centennial (146.5), Nampa (140.5) and Borah (129), were ahead of the Tigers, which earned 128 points.

Five of Mountain Home's wrestlers placed in the top five in their weight classes. Pierce Mederios won the 106-pound weight class. Hunter McCluskey and Tanner Sessions both finished third, McCluskey at 98 pounds and Sessions at 145 pounds. Dallin Dearing had a fourth-place finish at 220 pounds and Kanoa Doronio was fifth at 113 pounds.

Coach Knudson was pleased with the efforts of his wrestlers at the prestigious tournament.

"The Red Halverson Tournament at Minico is always a real test of any wrestler's abilities and endurance," the coach said. "We only took 11 weight classes to the tournament and were able to get into the top 10 as far as team scores, placing only five wrestlers. We still have room for improvement, but we also need to get and stay healthy. I'm very proud of all five placers and their efforts and willingness to fight through all the aches and pains to keep our team in the spotlight of wrestling."

In related news, the Mountain Home's junior varsity wrestling squad went to the George McAdams Invitational Junior Varsity Tournament at Kimberly. The Tigers finished second out of the 12 competing teams with 10 wrestlers placing, including three champions.

Highland won the George McAdams Tourney with 179.5 points -- 2.5 points more than Mountain Home's 177.

Champions at the tournament were Seth Dolan at 106 pounds, Tyler Hardin at 138 and Daniel Cruz at 182. Second-place efforts went to Dallas Mayhew at 113 pounds, Anthony Humphus at 138, Jayde Sexton at 170 and Tim Goodale at 182. Third-place efforts went to Zack Slack at 132 pounds, Andrew Thornburg at 145 and Jonathan Kaiser at 285.

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