By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– It came down to one or two matches to decide the South Salem-West Salem Boys Wrestling Dual Meet on Thursday night at South Salem High School. A match that went in the favor of the Saxons on their Senior Night 44-36.
The Titans led 18-6 early in the match. Taking the 113 and 120 pound weight classes by pin before taking the 126 pound title by forfeit following giving the Saxons a forfeit victory at 106 pounds.
But. Starting at 126 pounds, that was when South Salem began to get back into the dual. The Saxons took the ’26 pound match by decision, followed that up with pins at 138 and 144 to eventually take a 22-18 lead following Ashenafi Kolb’s pin of West Salem’s Elliot Baker in the second round.
“I just cut down to 138, so I was a little more exhausted than I wanted to be, but I was trying to end it earlier. He was really aggressive, I think later on in the season, at Districts, it’ll be a lot easier because I can fuel up. It’ll be a lot better in the future,” said Kolb. “I feel like I got the strength, but I also got to get my stamina up as well.”
The Saxons added to their lead after Kolb’s match. Bridger Haider got the pin at 150, Damian Zaragoza got a Major Decision at 157 and Nolan Crosno added another pin at 165 that had South Salem ahead of the Titans 38-18 before Ryder Nelson got West Salem back on the board with a first round pin at 175 pounds.
West Salem, between 175 and 285, won three of four matches, with Kit Shinkle (215) and Kysen Ramirez (285) winning their bouts by pin as well, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Saxons on this night as they did last Thursday against McNary.
“From where we started with this group to where we’re getting to is that we’re moving towards the right direction. Tonight, it was a difference in one match. At ’65, we had the kid on his back, if we finish there, we win the dual. Earlier at ’38, two tough kids wrestling and if we don’t get pinned, it’s a different dual. So just a couple of little mistakes,” said West Salem Head Coach Mike Baker. “Losing is never fun…but those are things that we can fix. Wrestling wise, we’re doing everything and moving into the right direction.
Girls Wrestling Dual
West Salem freshman Mia Olson found herself in a 0-0 tie with South Salem’s Taya Stovall in Thursday night’s Central Valley Conference Dual.
But despite the scoreless first period, Olson picked up the pace during the second period. The freshmen built up a 4-0 lead on Stovall and worked her way to a second period pin, the second on the night for the Titans Girls Wrestling team at the time as Olson continues to build for the 5A/6A Regional Meet here in a few weeks.
“When I start the match, I feel them out and see what they’re going to do and see what I’m going to be capable of. If you get put on bottom, my coach always say ‘do two moves’. Do the first one and get the second one right away, so you can get out and attack right away,” Olson said. “I’ve had some losses, but learned from them and got to go up against those people again and beat them.”
Olson’s win at 155 was one of three for West Salem on the night. Courtney Gills won her match via pin at 135 and Sophia Zuniga won her match over Dennece LaMothe, a battle between two State Placers from last year, winning 5-1.
LaMothe is one of the handful of people to look out for on the Saxon Girls Wrestling team, who took the dual 66-15 behind six forfeit victories and five pins as South Salem too prepares for the District Meet on December 13-14 at West Salem High School.
“The girls wrestled pretty tough, I’m sad that not every girl got to wrestle, but those who did wrestle all wrestled really tough,” starts South Salem Girls Wrestling Coach Joe-Dan Boyd. “Our region, it’s a dogfight at Regionals. We got McNary, we got Dallas, we got West Albany, McKay in this little Valley. If the girls get out of Regionals, they’re going to be battle tested for State.”
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
