Central Oregonian

Crook County tops Ontario, Crater

Cowboys tune up for Oregon Wrestling Classic with easy wins

LON AUSTIN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Dawson Barber works to control his opponent from Crater. Barber went on to win the 145-pound match as the Cowboys won the dual 39-21.

Lon Austin

January 21, 2013

The Crook County High School wrestling squad continued their perfect dual meet season with a pair of victories Thursday over Ontario and Crater.

With the Oregon Wrestling Classic coming up on Friday and Saturday, most teams take Thursday off — but not the Cowboys. Each year, they bring a select group of teams to Prineville the night before the Classic to get in some extra wrestling.

“I thought it was great preparation for the Classic to get in there in a tense environment like that and fight,” Crook County head coach Jake Huffman said. “I know our kids are going to be strong and their best wrestling is yet to come.”

In the first match of the night, Crook County rolled over the Ontario Tigers 57-12. Then, in the nightcap, Crook County pulled away late to defeat the Class 6A Crater Comets 39-21.

“They know how to win,” Huffman said of Crater. “They have a good young team, so that was a quality win for us — especially with the lineup we had. We gutted that one out.”

Against Ontario, Johnny Avina started things off with a first-round pin at 113 pounds to give the Cowboys a 6-0 lead. Crook County forfeited the 120-pound match, tying the score. Then the Cowboys rolled off 10 consecutive wins to lead 57-6, before Ontario was finally able to win the final two matches of the night.

Cole Ovens (132), Ryder Shinkle (138), and Gunnar Robirts (220) all picked up falls in the match while Aaron Swindle (170) and Gunner Crawford (195) each picked up major decisions.

Wrestling at 120 pounds, Avina opened the Crater match with his second fall of the evening. When Grayson Munn won his 126-pound match 9-6, the Cowboys held a 9-0 lead and it looked like they were rolling to another easy win.

The Comets won the next two matches to take a 10-9 lead. Dawson Barber gave the Cowboys the lead again with a narrow 6-4 decision at 145 pounds. Then Alex Urrea pinned his 152-pound opponent in the first round as the Cowboys extended their lead to 18-10.

However, the Comets battled back, taking major decisions in the 160-and 170-pound matches to tie the dual at 18-18.

That’s when Crook County took over the match. Dylan Blasius earned an exciting 4-3 victory in his 182-pound match to give the Cowboys the lead for good. Gunner Crawford (195), and Gunnar Robirts (220) both earned wins giving Crook County a 30-18 lead.

“It was a good dual,” Robirts said of the match. “We wrestled hard and I think it prepared us for the Classic. Crater is tough. My opponent was really strong, but I kept fighting. I couldn’t let my teammates down.”

When Crater earned a win in the heavyweight match, they still had a chance to win the dual.

However, Terrin Libolt earned a fall at 106 pounds and Trey Shores took a 1-0 victory at 113 pounds as the Cowboys pulled away for the victory.

Crook County has been wrestling short-handed for the past couple of weeks, and Thursday was no exception. Against Crater, four of the Cowboys starters were missing, but it didn’t matter as the Cowboys were able to take advantage of their superior depth.

“Our big guys kind of picked up the slack,”?Huffman said. “Then, on the lower end, we had a couple of those freshmen step up again, which is huge. It’s so nice to have young kids that we can count on.”