Jan. 7, 2005: The Herald Journal

Lower Weights Key MC Victory
by Jason Turner

Even without the services of 2004 state placer Zeke Smethurst, Mountain Crest is pretty solid in its lower weight classes.

Not that the Mustangs weren't happy to have the sophomore for the first time this season in Thursday's Region 4 dual against valley rival Logan.

Smethurst capped off a 26-0 Mountain Crest run by beating Logan's Tommi Kitchens by technical fall as the Mustangs defeated the Grizzlies 47-21 at Crimson Gym.

"It's fun to be back," said Smethurst, who has been recovering from a broken right hand. "It was frustrating to be out for so long."

In other valley wrestling action, Sky View blew past Bonneville, 59-21, while Preston dropped a pair of duals to Skyview and Nampa.

Smethurst had a few hiccups in a 15-second stretch in the second period, by over-rotating and giving up a reversal and two-point near fall. However, the 130-pounder righted the ship in the final period, ending the match, 20-5, on a takedown with nine seconds to go.

"I did alright," said Smethurst, who added his hand bothered him a little bit. "I need to get in better shape and just keep on working and wrestling hard."

Wrestling hard is exactly what both head coaches felt their clubs did, notwithstanding the rustiness of a long Christmas break. It was both school's first dual since Dec. 18.

"(Logan has) got tough kids," MC coach Davie Swensen said. "They match up pretty well with us, but I thought our kids did pretty good. I don't want to give us too many accolades, but we wrestled hard."

And, picked up several timely pins to boot. The Mustangs won nine bouts to the Grizzlies' five, with two of MC's wins (12 points) coming via forfeit. The biggest difference is Mountain Crest won four matches by fall, plus Smethurst's technical fall, to Logan's two.

Needless to say, this was on the mind of Logan coach Andrew Semadeni following the match.

"We had several wins that were wins that could of or should have been pins," he said. "We rely on those pins in a team (dual) situation, and our guys were kind of happy just to win when they really should have been working for a pin."

Logan's Jon Schultz (135 pounds) and Curtis Fairbourn (160) both had opportunities to pin their opponents, but ended up settling for decisions.

The Grizzlies did get pins from Jake Harris (215) and Derrick Allsop (275). Harris improved to 20-0 on the season in the process.

However, the Mustangs were up to the challenge, as well, and it started with 140-pounder Trenton Morrill. Morrill quelled the momentum Logan gained by Schultz's win by beating Ford Chancellor by fall at the 3:38 mark.

"That was good for Trenton, because even though he's the big brother, he's kind almost in the shadow of his little brothers (Jake and Jarrett) a little bit," Swensen said. "He needed that, and we needed that fall, too."

Phillip Rutledge rebounded from Wednesday's gutwrenching loss in the All-Star Wrestling Classic to record a first-period pin over Logan's Parker Stoddard. Shawn Wengreen and Jake Morrill also won their duels by fall for the Mustangs.

For the second straight year against Mountain Crest, Logan's Trevor Nelson was involved in the biggest crowd-pleaser of the dual. The 145-pounder used a late takedown to seal a 5-1 victory over Jason Barker.

"It was just a really good match with low points, and I think that gets the crowd into it," Nelson said.

In the other nailbiter of a bout, Mustang Jeff Knudson jumped out to a 4-1 lead before holding on for a 4-3 decision over Grizzly Scott Milne.

"I thought we wrestled tough," Semadeni said. "We know Mountain Crest is tough. There were several matches we wrestled in that we lost that we felt we could have won, but ... we've just gotta make sure we make improvements by the time we hit region."

Bobcats 59, Lakers 21

At Washington Terrace, Sky View roughed up the hapless and short-handed -- Bonneville forfeited a whopping six bouts -- Lakers, but didn't look good doing so, coach Kyle Wright said.

"I thought we were not overly aggressive and not overly intimidating," he said. "Maybe we were thinking about the weekend (hosting the Bobcat Brawl)."

Anthony Elder (140), Don McMullin (152) and Tyler Low (171) recorded pins for the Bobcats, while Sheldon Wardwell (145) won by technical fall (15-0).

Nampa 42 (Idaho), Preston 32

Skyview (Idaho) 50, Preston 12

At Nampa, Idaho, Preston was swept by the idahosports.com top two ranked 4A clubs, but had its chances against No. 2 Nampa.

Unfortunately for the Indians, they lost a handful of close matches that head coach Jamie Holyoak felt could have went either way. Preston was also at a 12-point disadvantage, because it had to forfeit two bouts.

"We just did not finish in a couple of spots," Holyoak said. "... We just failed to win enough of the close ones."

Preston, which wasn't as fortunate against Skyview, might have lost the services of standout Brady Garner for the Rollie Lane Tournament this weekend as he reaggravated his right ankle injury.