Symbolic of a final appearance during the regular season, Philomath High senior River Sandstrom on Wednesday evening left his shoes on the mat — a traditional gesture among top wrestlers about to wrap up their high school careers — following two decisive victories in a home appearance against Cottage Grove and North Marion.
“It’s to resemble that they left it all out there on the mat and that they’ll never forget their times (as a wrestler),” PHS coach Troy Woosley said.
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The Benton County Sheriff’s Office responds to reckless driving complaints, identity fraud reports and a social media scam in the Philomath area.
Sandstrom still has more memories to come with the upcoming regional and state tournaments, assuming he qualifies for the latter trip to Portland.
“River was so excited to wrestle,” Woosley said. “It was good to see him close it out with a couple of dominating performances. He’s on a roll right now and can’t wait for regionals.”
Sandstrom had been among the team’s athletes that missed time competing because of illness.
“He’s starting to get his air back and be very offensive,” Woosley said. “He’s hard to beat when he’s offensive.”
Wrestling at 120 pounds, Sandstrom pinned both of his opponents in the second period.
Another PHS senior, JJ Lewis, also was back on the mat after missing time and had an impressive performance at 175 against Cottage Grove’s Clayton Dewitt with a 20-3 technical fall. Lewis didn’t wrestle vs. North Marion with a forfeit win.
“It was great to see him in the lineup,” Woosley said. “He was just glowing with excitement to be back on the mat this last time.”
The Warriors won both duals on the scoreboard — 41-30 over Cottage Grove and 43-19 over North Marion. Cottage Grove beat North Marion, 41-30.
Among the others that had wins in single appearances for the Warriors, junior Lukas Hernandez was a winner by pin in 1:28 over North Marion’s Carlos Espinoza at 138 pounds. At 150, junior Porter Compton pinned Cottage Grove’s Ben Miller in 2:57. Junior Liam Bennett picked up a win at 165 over Cottage Grove’s Luke Fery in 1:43.
Junior Lake Mulberry split the two matches he wrestled at 215 — pinning Cottage Grove’s Seth Hill in 3:11 but losing on a 4-1 decision to North Marion’s Jesus Tarula with his opponent getting a takedown in the final seconds. Sophomore Wyatt Barrett went 1-1 at 144 with his win coming on a 13-7 decision over North Marion’s Kiegun Mosqueda. Senior Ryder Zitlau also split with his victory being a major decision over North Marion’s Ethan Shepherd, 11-0.
“Ryder wrestled well,” Woosley said. “He had a really good kid (vs. Cottage Grove) and lost there but he came back and wrestled a pretty good kid and beat him.”
Philomath High’s wrestling program overall has been hit hard by illness and injuries this season. Just this week on Monday, Woosley said he had zero athletes missing from practice for the first time since Dec. 13.
“I think we’re around the corner, knock on wood, and over the sickness,” he said. “Now we just have a few injuries that are lingering and we’re trying to heal up for regionals.”
Among the regulars missing from the varsity lineup Wednesday were junior Riley Barrett and sophomore Odin Compton.
In addition to Sandstrom, Lewis and Zitlau, other seniors include Michael Novak and Peter Reed.
“It was a great night for our seniors,” Woosley said. “They all saw success and the atmosphere was good. It just went really well.”
The seniors that were able to wrestle won four of five of the varsity matches. Reed competed in an exhibition match. Novak wasn’t able to get on the mat.
The Warriors now turn their full attention to the regional tournament, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 22 at Philomath High. The action will begin at 10 a.m.
“There’s a lot of strategy going on right now,” Woosley said. “We’re still determining where to put kids for regionals.”
Philomath High’s girls did not wrestle Wednesday with their regional tournament coming up Friday and Saturday. Although not yet finalized, weather and travel conditions could impact the schedule with the tournament possibly being shortened to a single day on Saturday.
The 4A/3A/2A/1A girls and the 4A boys state tournaments are scheduled for Feb. 27-28 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
