By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The McNary-West Salem Boys Wrestling Dual came down to the 175 pound match between the Titans Ryder Nelson and the Celtics Dominic Reyes Hampton.
West Salem led the Central Valley Conference dual 26-24 at the start of the match. The Celtics having to change up their lineup a bit due to illness, rose to the occasion.
“We’re missing a couple of guys, and I know they’re missing a couple of guys too. But I got to be happy with how the kids are stepping up and competing. I got kids moving up in weight, ‘yes coach, I’m more than happy’ and they’re competing and that’s all you could ask for,” said McNary Head Coach Sam Martin.
“We had guys moving weight classes and fighting through sickness. I believe that Martin said, that if we didn’t have those guys make that sacrifice and wrestle through it, we’d had six forfeits, but we ended up having one because of our teammates doing a great job,” adds Dillon Shepard.
Luis Martinez (120), Shepard (144) and Seth Patton (150) each picked up victories in their respective weight classes in the dual Thursday after picking up a forfeit victory at 106 and 120.
The Titans picked up a forfeit victory at 113 before Travis Armstrong (126), Trevor Armstrong (132) and Griffin Goffier at 138 picked up victories. West Salem wheeled off two wins at 157 and 165 by decision and pin to set up the all crucial 175 bout. With McNary giving up a forfeit at 285 and West Salem giving up forfeits at 190 and 215, whoever won the match would go on to win the dual on this night at West Salem High School.
The match started. and Nelson picked up a takedown and went to work. The Titan senior built a 7-0 lead after one period and led 10-0 early in the second period before managing to turn Reyes Hampton over for the second round pin to help West Salem take a 32-24 lead.
“It was just another match, just go out there and give it my all and I came away with the victory. My head position, I got it on my offense and got the first takedown and that was a big confidence boost. Then I got the second takedown, ran the bar a few times and failed. Then I got it, I think the third time, third times the charm and I got it done,” said Nelson of his match.
For Nelson, It was a bumpy start to the season, starting up at 190 pounds before working his way to 175. But the experience has helped him prepare as he enters the second half of his senior season at West Salem.
“It definitely got me stronger, wrestling those bigger guys and then coming down to 175 where I belong and kicking butt,” Nelson said.
And despite the forfeits at 190 and 215, that put McNary up 36-32 going into the 285 bout, West Salem taking the forfeit victory at 285 helped the Titans bring home the victory 38-36.
Girls Dual.
The McNary Girls Wrestling team jumped out to a 30-0 lead en route to 48-30 victory over West Salem behind three forfeit victories and a pin by Marlina Martinez at 120 pounds. The Titans got on the board in the 125 pound bout by way of a Marisol Bishara pin. The two squad’s traded wins at 130 and 135 with McNary’s Citali Perez winning her match with a very intense 14-8 decision at 135 pounds, before West Salem’s Courtney Gills won her match at 135 pounds by pin before trading forfeit victories at 140 and 145.
The Celtics McKenna Unger worked towards a 10-4 decision over West Salem’s Mia Olson and West Salem’s Sophia Zuniga picked up a pin victory at 190 pounds in the CVC dual on Thursday night.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
