Tigers survive a scare in Canby

Cougars score a historic
win in Newberg

By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald

A historic win Thursday provided the Canby High School wrestling team with some inspiration at the 24-team Oregon Wrestling Classic in Portland over the weekend.

Coming off a 39-23 defeat of Newberg on its home mat Thursday, Canby reached the finals of the Classic before getting beat by the same Newberg team 40-22 Saturday night.

The loss was the Cougars' first after 16 duals, but it did little to put a damper on what was a momentous week. The important thing is, Canby had finally broken the spell that had lasted since the two schools joined what was then the Pacific-7 Conference in 1994-95.

"We finally got the monkey off our back," Canby head coach Dan Nugent said of his team's win Thursday night. "It was the first time we had beaten them in a league dual, and it came on their home mat. It was amazing to see - I think we had more fans there than they did.

''We had a bit of a letdown against them Saturday, and they definitely had an emotional edge. We just weren't as fired up as we were Thursday night and they took advantage.''

Even so, second-ranked Canby finds itself undefeated in league duals (3-0) following Thursday's heroics.

Trailing 12-0 after the first two matches, Canby responded by winning the next four bouts, with Lucas Hambleton getting a technical fall at 119 pounds, Ian Gadberry posting a 12-4 decision at 125, Drew Bayless scoring a pin at 130 and Garret Miyake surviving a 2-1 nail-biter with Louis Vendrell at 135.

Suddenly, the visiting Cougars led 18-12.

Newberg stemmed the tide with a win at 140, but Canby's Chris Kyllo came up big at 145, pinning Neal Beaudry, and when Pete Savory outlasted Jared Reinhart 7-5 at 152, the Cougars were in command, 27-16.

Canby clinched it with Jeff Wilson's 8-6 overtime win over Shaun Negra at 171 and Steve Schrader's 3-0 decision of Grant Clock at 215.

Newberg, behind 33-23 at that point, opted to forfeit the heavyweight match. "The way the crowd reacted, it was as if we were in our home gym," Nugent said. "That was not only a huge win for these guys, it was big for Canby and this program. This had been a long time coming for us."

The momentum of that performance seemed to carry over to the Classic, as Canby picked up two decisive victories in its two duals Friday.

After a first-round bye, the Cougars kicked things off with a 68-3 blowout of Corvallis, as nine Canby wrestlers got pins in the match.

Then, in the quarterfinals against West Linn that afternoon, the Cougars rolled 44-18 behind the efforts of Stephen Schantin, Hambleton, Gadberry, Kyllo and Scott Doman, all of whom recorded pins.

Canby also got a big win from Jared Wilson, who managed a dramatic 7-6 victory over Aaron Chase at 160.

The win set up a semifinals match with Eagle Point, and once again the Cougars were equal to the task. This time, Schantin, Hambleton and Gadberry all posted first-round pins to provide the impetus to a 34-25 victory.

Miyake also won big (13-4), and when Savory (a 6-2 winner at 152), Jared Wilson (a 7-3 winner at 160), Marc Koch (a 3-2 victor at 171) and Schrader (a 7-5 overtime winner over Jay Phillips at 215) also won, the Cougars had one of their most impressive wins of the season.

Unfortunately, Canby couldn't continue its magic in the finals against Newberg, which managed to win a couple of pivotal matches to reverse Thursday's outcome.

For starters, Canby was without Bayless, who had a pin in the league dual. He sat with an injury.

The Tigers then won a couple of matches that had gone Canby's way two nights before, scoring victories at 145 and 152 pounds.

The Tigers also won the heavyweight match, which they had previously forfeited, by a fall.

On a bright note, Hambleton again got a fall at 119, and Gadberry was dominant in his 18-2 victory over Trevor Arsenald.

Canby also got wins from Miyake at 130, Jeff Wilson at 171 and Schrader at 215, but it wasn't enough.

Looking ahead, Canby is home for a dual against Tualatin Thursday at 7 p.m. The team is also scheduled to take part in an Oregon City tournament Saturday.

CHS can't keep pace in Tigard

By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald

The hot hand of Brandon Brown kept the Cougars in the game, but once again a letdown in the final quarter proved to be the difference in Canby's loss to Tigard in a Pacific-9 Conference boys basketball matchup Friday.

The Cougars (3-9) hung right with the Tigers through three quarters, trailing just 41-39 going to the final period, but Tigard opened up the fourth with a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to eight and forced Canby to play catch-up.

The visiting Cougars pulled within five twice in the final two minutes before ultimately falling 62-53 at Tigard High School.

"We allowed them to get the ball inside, while on offense we weren't getting the ball to the guy who was hottest for us, Brandon (Brown)," Canby head coach Dennis Burke said. "We did battle and make some plays, but we made some poor passing decisions and played soft in the paint."

Brown was on fire for the Cougars, but he only took seven shots all game, hitting six of them. Three of his field goals were three-pointers.

And it was Brown's trey early in the fourth quarter that kept the Cougars within striking distance. Unfortunately, he fouled out moments later, and Canby was hard-pressed to find someone else to hit shots.

Still, Canby made things somewhat interesting when, trailing by seven, point guard Jese Kirsch made a layup to cut the deficit to five with a minute-and-a-half to go.

Surprisingly, Tigard took a quick shot at the other end, Canby rebounded and the Tigers fouled Jon Warren, who missed the front end of a one-and-one.

The Cougars were then forced to foul at the other end, and Tigard responded by hitting one of two free throws.

But time was running out on the Cougars, who missed another chance and sent Tigard to the line again for another two shots. The Tigers made one of them to build the lead back up to seven.

Canby's Kirsch answered with a basket with 42 seconds showing, and after a timeout, Tigard managed to break the press and get a breakaway layup that didn't go down. But Tigard's Tom Magnuson, who would lead his team with 23 points, got the offensive rebound and put it back in.

"That was it right there - if we get that board and score, we're only down three," Burke said. "Instead, they get the rebound and go up by seven."

The loss dropped Canby to 2-3 in Pac-9 play heading into a Tuesday night home game against Silverton. As it stands, the team finds itself in a fifth-place tie with the Foxes, trailing Tualatin (5-0), Dallas (4-1), McMinnville (4-1) and Tigard (3-3).

Brown finished with 15 points to lead the Cougars. Kirsch and Joe Yoder each finished with eight points each, and Buck Stone had seven.

As a team, Canby hit 21 of 46 shots from the field and five of nine from the line. Tigard, meanwhile, made 15 of 20 free-throw attempts.

"Once again, the other team made more free throws than we attempted," Burke said. "We just allowed Magnuson, a 6-foot-7 junior post, to have his way in there. Most of our fouls came on ticky-tack hand-checking stuff on the outside.

''It's obvious we need to clarify what we do out there when it comes to defending a post. Maybe it'll mean going with special teams - a team to defend out-of-bounds plays, a team to go zone and another to go man. I'm not sure.''

At least the Cougars didn't go down easily. They were tied 17-17 after one period and behind just two, 28-26, at halftime.

The teams then played an even 13-13 third quarter before Tigard opened the fourth on a spurt to take the lead for good.

Canby will be on the road again this Friday to take on McMinnville at 7:15 p.m.

Huskies give the defending
league champions a battle

The North Marion Huskies lost a close 46-41 contest to the visiting Sweet Home Huskies to open Capital Conference boys basketball play last Tuesday.

Sweet Home extended its 9-7 first-quarter lead to 25-20 by halftime. The host Huskies, however, fought back in the third frame and cut three points off the Sweet Home lead to draw within two, 31-29, entering the fourth quarter.

But Sweet Home, the defending league champions, would not be denied. A defensive battle throughout, both teams scored in double digits in the final period, but it was Sweet Home that made up the three points it lost in the previous quarter, outscoring North Marion 16-13 to secure the victory.

"We played good pressure man-to-man defense," North Marion head coach Jason Scanlon said. "We were diving after balls and getting after it, but they (Sweet Home) were able to get some easy buckets. We were getting our hands on the ball, but just didn't shoot very well."

Adam Kraft paced the way for North Marion with 15 points, followed by Ryan Krause's 12. Steve Miller chipped in six points. Krause led the team in rebounds with six.

The Huskies were off Friday and were back in action against Cascade Tuesday night. They are home again this Friday, Jan. 19, to take on Sisters.