Sandpoint Puts On A-1 First-Place Show

Sandpoint High School wrestling coach Dan Taylor carried the motivation for a second straight State A-1 championship in his briefcase all season.

Saturday, after watching three of four Bulldogs capture individual championships and well after his team had secured the team crown, Taylor reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a copy of a story that appeared last year in the Pocatello newspaper prior to the state tournament.

The headline on the story read: “Sandpoint favored as area teams rebuild”.

Taylor took the headline personally, saying it implied his Bulldogs were lucky to win the state title because it was a down year for the rest of the state.

There was no luck involved, however, as Sandpoint practically lapped the field last year by 63.5 points. The Bulldogs repeated Saturday, not by the same margin but impressive enough.

Sandpoint piled up 173.5 points, topping up Capital with 49 points. Lewiston finished fifth with 95 points and Post Falls tied Nampa for seventh with 65.

As expected, the battle for the A-2 championship went the distance before Snake River repeated with 190.5 points to second place Sugar-Salem’s 180. Lakeland placed sixth with 78.5 and Bonners Ferry finished 10th with 62. Both had individual champions.

Like the A-1 tourney, the A-3 wasn’t much of a contest. West Jefferson ran away with the title with 181 points. Defending champ North Fremont was second with 135.5.

A-1

Taylor didn’t share the newspaper story with his team until following the state-qualifying regional tournament last week.

The story lit more of a fire under him and his team. The Bulldogs were focused all season to repeat and needed only the motivation of becoming the second A-1 team from the Panhandle to win a state title in 38 years as inspiration.

“The second team title is special in this way - it wasn’t luck,” Taylor said.

Bulldogs gold medalists included freshman Jared Lawrence at 103 pounds; his brother Brett, a junior, at 119, and sophomore Pat Larson at 140.

It was Brett Lawrence’s third state title and Larson’s second.

Both Lawrence brothers finished the season undefeated and they were dominating in their final bouts.

Jared Lawrence (27-0) shut out junior Josh Bales of Capital 7-0.

“It feels great for us to be going home with two state championships in our house,” said Lawrence, who allowed just two points, one on a penalty and the other on an escape, in four matches.

Brett Lawrence said he was a bit nervous after watching his brother win.

“He put a lot of pressure on me to win by winning,” he said.

However, the older brother (30-0) didn’t have a problem, breezing to an 11-0 lead before pinning C.J. Campbell at 5:23.

In between the Lawrences’ matches, Bulldog sophomore Shawn Garner went after a second title.

Garner seemed to have the match under control with a 4-1 lead midway through the second period. But Borah’s Tyler Nelson, who upset Sandpoint’s Zack Vaughan in the semifinals, stormed back for a 10-4 decision.

Larson (30-3) brought home the final gold for Sandpoint when he put on an offensive display in a 20-8 major decision over Jake Phippen of Idaho Falls.

“I’m following in the footsteps of Zac Taylor (coach’s son) and Brett Lawrence,” Larson said.

As a senior, Brett Lawrence will try to become just the second fourtime A-1 champ in Idaho history.

Taylor called the Lawrences and Larson “machines.”

“They’re very technical, they’re very confident and they’re very aggressive. That’s the style I coach,” Taylor said.

Lewiston senior Billy Greene captured a title at 130 in a match that was more defensive than offensive. Greene held off previous state placer Dan Ault of Meridian 3-2 with two stalling points.

Lewiston’s Pat Clevenger, Post Falls’ Ben Frank and Mike Booth and Coeur d’Alene heavyweight Josh Curran finished second.

Clevenger fell to Charlie Griggs of Centennial 5-4 at 125, Frank ran into Eric Rogers of Nampa in a 6-3 decision at 135, Pat Owens of Idaho Falls beat Booth 13-6 at 152 and in a stalk-off at heavyweight, Tracy Vail of Minico repeated with a 2-0 win over Curran.

A-2

In perhaps the match of the night, Lakeland senior Kole Clauson went out a winner with an impressive 15-12 decision over Sugar-Salem’s Shane Wasden at 160.

Clauson, who is generally the aggressor and a quick starter, fell behind 6-3 after one period and found himself trailing 8-3 midway in the second.

That’s when Clauson started a frantic comeback that was capped with three takedowns in the final minute.

“I just came out real stale,” said Clauson, who won a title as a sophomore but saw his season abruptly end last year because of an athletic code violation. “I looked up and saw the score (8-3) and decided that second sucks. I wasn’t going to settle for second.”

Lakeland coach Mark Johnson wasn’t surprised.

“That’s Kole,” Johnson said. “It was conditioning and heart. That’s tough to measure.”

Bonners Ferry junior Justin Pluid, meanwhile, displayed a lot of emotion in an 8-6 overtime victory over Kyle Gilbert of Snake River in the 171 final.

“It should have been me and my rival (Lakeland’s John Neff), my friend, in the final,” Pluid said of the Hawk who died of hypothermia three weeks ago after becoming lost while snowboarding near Rathdrum.

Pluid dedicated his win to Neff’s memory.

A-3

Wallace’s finalists, Richard Clark and Michael LaBau, had tough luck in their finals.

Clark, who opened the match with a quick takedown, was pinned at 5:03 by Sam Clark of North Fremont at 125.

At 161, LaBau had to bow out to North Fremont’s Maikeli Cikaitoga by injury default.

Idaho state championships

Class A-1

TEAM Sandpoint 173.5, Capital 124.5, Minico 121.5, Idaho Falls 116, Lewiston 95, Centennial 92.5, Nampa and Post Falls 65, Bonneville 64.5, Blackfoot 64, Boise 53, Skyline and Coeur d’Alene 52.

Championship

103 - J. Lawrence (Spt) d. Bales (Cap) 7-0. 112 - Nelson (Borah) d. Garner (Spt) 10-4. 119 - B. Lawrence (Spt) p. Campbell (Blk) 5:23. 125 - Griggs (Cent) d. Clevenger (Lew) 5-4. 130 - Greene (Lew) d. Ault (Mer) 3-2. 135 - Rogers (Nam) d. Frank (PF) 8-3. 140 - Larson (Spt) md Phippen (IF) 20-8. 145 - Herron (Cap) d. Lamb (Bon) 5-3. 152 - Owens (IF) d. Booth (PF) 13-6. 160 - Van Sickle (High) d. Smith (MH) 7-4. 171 - Serr (Min) d. Ayres (Boi) 10-6. 189 - Hodgkinson (Bor) d. Foster (Sky) 11-6. Hvy - Vail (Min) d. Curran (CdA) 2-0.

Consolation finals

103 - Hunter (IF) md Oakes (Cap) 13-2. 112 - Vaughan (Spt) d. Hugo (Cent) 6-4. 119 - Turner (Cap) d. Landeberge (Cent) 3-1 OT. 125 - Staker (Min) d. Carter (Spt) 12-5. 130 - Walkington (Spt) d. Graves (Boi) 7-3. 135 - Little (Mer) d. Lorance (Cap) 7-5 OT. 140 - Wehrili (Bonn) d. Quigley (Poc) 5-1. 145 - Wilson (Min) d. Wells (High) 4-2. 152 - Muray (Cal) p. Bell (Hill) 5:47. 160 - Bundy (IF) d. Schmitt (Sky) 5-0. 171 - Derrick (Lew) d. Thomas (Rig) 8-6. 189 - Caywood (Nam) d. Butkovich (CdA) 8-3. Hvy - Hansen (Cent) p. Kennelly (Hill) :40.

Class A-2

TEAM Snake River 190.5, Sugar-Salem 180, Weiser 135.5, Buhl 119, Bear Lake 95.5, Lakeland 78.5, Vallivue 73, South Fremont and Middleton 70, Bonners Ferry 62.

Championship

103 - Olvera (Wei) p. Bartlett (Buhl) 1:40. 112 - Price (SS) p. Howell (Buh) 5:55. 119 - Nihill (Buh) d. Bake (SS) 10-6. 125 - Cobb (Wei) md Angell (SF) 13-3. 130 - Williams (AF) d. Palmer (SR) 4-0. 135 - Jones (SR) d. Wolff (BL) 7-0. 140 - Scott (SR) d. Chappell (BL) 6-2. 145 - Sisson (Buh) d. Stevens (Wei) 7-2. 152 - Price (SS) d. Matson (Mos) 2-1. 160 - Clauson (LL) d. Andrews (Sal) 15-12. 171 - Pluid (BF) d. Gilbert (S) 8-6 OT. 189 - Matthews (Jer) p. Anderton (SR) 1:59. Hvy - Merrill (BL) d. Olsen (Wei) 3-0.

Consolation finals

103 - Michaelis (Midd) d. Wolfley (SR) 5-3 OT. 112 - Carr (Emm) d. Lattimer (MV) 9-8. 119 - Blake (SF) d. Evans (AF) 4 -2. 125 - Alban (Kun) d. Moss (SR) 2-1 OT. 130 - Liermann (BF) p. Holman (SS) 2:50. 135 - Ferdinand (Kun) d. Owens (SF) 4-1. 140 - Schilling (SM) d. Weaver (Buh) 9-3. 145 - Pascoe (LL) d. Eager (Midd) 7-1. 152 - Martin (LL) d. Porter (WR) 8-4 OT. 160 - Andrews (Sal) d. Mitchell SR) 10-3. 171 - Campbell (Vall) d. Fish (Pres) 8-7. 189 - Wyman (Val) md Chatterton (Pres) 12-0. Hvy - Segobia (Emm) p. O’Rourke (SS) 2:10.

Class A-3

TEAM West Jefferson 181, North Fremont 135.5, Declo 115, Grangeville 106, Parma 96, Teton 82, Gooding 73, McCallyDonnelly 68.5, Firth 58, Wendell 47.5.

Championship

103 - Summers (WJ) d. Robbins (Fir) 6-4. 112 - Barzee (WJ) d. Palmer (Dec) 10-7. 119 - Bransford (Gran) md Cannon (WS) 17-3. 125 - Clark (NF) p. Clark (Wal) 5:03. 130 - Cheney (Good) d. Etcheverry (SS) 11-9 OT. 135 - Davis (WJ) d. Oldham (NF) 7-1. 140 - Keller (Par) p. Shepherd (Mal) 3:25. 145 - Rogers (Good) d. Leck (NF) 6-2. 152 - Robinson (Dec) md Fullmer (Tet) 12-3. 160 - Cikaitoga (NF) win by injury default LaBau (Wal). 171 - Mann (Par) d. Thiefault (CW) 9-6. 189 - Ervin (Gran) d. Rupp (Kam) 5-3. Hvy - Barzee (WJ) d. Nelson (Oak) 12-9.

Consolation finals

103 - Jones (Dec) md Bake (Par) 10-0. 112 - Gunter (Wen) md Hersel (MD) 12-1. 119 - Cheney (Good) d. Castro (Hom) 6-4. 125 - Shuldberg (WJ) p. Berry (Tet) 1:56. 130 - Eddiins (WJ) tf Mathias (MC). 135 - Clayson (Fir) d. Holyoak (Gran) 3-2. 140 - Mendenhall (Dec) d. Coringley (NF) 6-3. 145 - Hubbard (Or) d. Hunt (Chal) 8-0. 152 - Klement (Gran) d. Myers (NPL) 4-1. 160 - McNutt (CV) d. Mecham (WJ) 3-2. 171 - Fullmer (Tet) p. Osterhout (Dec) :20. 189 - Alpaugh (Fru) d. Burk (Chal) 11-9. Hvy - Castillo (MC) d. Helm (NF) 3-2.