Photo by Sean Patterson
Garret Miyake takes control of his 135-pound match with Forest Grove's Zack Cox Thursday. Miyake's win helped Canby cruise 66-6.
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
While there was little drama in Canby's wrestling
victory over Forest Grove Thursday night, there was no lack of excitement in the Canby
High School Gold gym.
Competing before their home fans for the first time this season, the Cougars overwhelmed
visiting Forest Grove 66-6 to retain their perfect record through nine matches and boost
their Pacific-9 Conference dual-meet mark to 2-0.
Not even a leaky roof was enough to rain on Canby's parade - parade of winners, that is.
Canby won all but two of the 14 matches, and eight of those victories ended with falls.
Still another match, at 189 pounds, was forfeited to the Cougars.
But while the outcome was never in doubt, the partisan crowd only seemed to get louder as
the night wore on.
"It's great to come home and compete in front of the home fans," Canby head
coach Dan Nugent said. "There's some pressure when you get in front of the home crowd
and get under the spotlight, and we handled it well. We were concerned about three or four
weights coming in, but we ended up winning those pivotal matches.
''Chris Kyllo's win at 145 and Ross Doman's win at 160 were huge. Both were behind when
they picked up falls. Those wins are the most satisfying of all.''
About the only thing that didn't go right was the weather. Pouring rain outside caused a
bit of a stir indoors when a leak forced officials to move the mat over a few yards, away
from the dripping water.
Unfortunately for Forest Grove, the match wasn't rained out.
Canby jumped on the Vikings from the outset, as Joe Kuznetsov won his 103-pound match by a
15-8 margin over Andy Christopher.
Stephen Schantin's pin of Blaine Dawson followed at 112, and after Forest Grove won the
119 match, Ian Gadberry needed just over a minute to pin Cole Graham to the mat at 125.
Drew Bayless' major decision (18-3) over Seth Crume at 130 upped Canby's lead to 20-3, and
the vocal Canby crowd was loving it.
After yet another dominating victory by Garret Miyake at 135, Brock Ellis got the fans on
their feet with his first-round pin of Freeman Dawson at 140.
"That was another of those matches where they probably looked better on paper,"
Nugent said. "Brock is a sophomore and Dawson an experienced senior, so that was a
big win for us."
Kyllo appeared to be in trouble when he fell behind big to Jones Silva, but with just 13
seconds remaining in the final round Kyllo rolled him onto his back and held on for the
fall.
Moments later, Doman pulled off a similar feat when he shook off an early deficit to pin
Dave Peters with less than a minute to go.
Canby then closed out the night by getting pins from Marc Koch (171), Steve Schrader (215)
and Scott Doman (heavyweight). Jeff Wilson was declared the winner by forfeit at 189.
The win comes as Canby takes a break for the Christmas holiday. The team won't be in
action again until Jan. 5, when it hosts its annual invitational.
Cougars
still unbeaten
heading into break
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
For the third time in as many
meets, the Canby High School swim team came away an easy double winner from a competition
with Woodburn Tuesday at the Canby Municipal Swim Center.
The Bulldogs were no match for the Cougars on either front, dropping a 120-50 decision to
the CHS girls and falling 104-62 in the boys competition.
With that, both Canby teams improved to 3-0 in league duals heading into a four-week break
for the holidays.
Still, as good as their record looks on paper, the Cougars have yet to swim the meat of
their schedule - against the likes of Tualatin, McMinnville, Tigard and Newberg.
"That's when we'll find out where we are as a team and where we fit in the
(Pacific-9) Conference picture," head coach David Biskar said. "At this point,
there's no telling where we'll end up. We'll probably be in the middle someplace, I would
think. But who knows. We'll swim hard over break and see where we are in January."
Tuesday, the Canby girls won every event and didn't even need their regular lineup to do
it. Biskar didn't double up anyone in the individual races, giving several team members a
chance to pick up wins.
The highlight of the day came when senior Lisa Champ bettered her own school record in the
50-yard freestyle, clocking a winning time of 24.80 seconds.
Champ, the owner of five CHS records, had gone 24.93 in that event two years ago.
Wins also came from Kari Rittenbach in the 200 freestyle (2:14.22), Sarah Anderson in the
200 individual medley (2:29.00), Michelle Maier in the 100 butterfly (1:06.35), Ashly
Scroggy in the 100 free (1:00.99), Kayla Scheafer in the 500 free (6:04.91), Denise Vaught
in the 100 backstroke (1:17.95) and Dessa Bingley in the 100 breaststroke (1:19.55).
Maier's time represented a personal best, and Vaught's win was her first in high school
competition. Canby also won all three relays.
The Cougar boys didn't win every event, but they were nearly as dominant. Alex Laskey won
the 200 individual medley (2:14.11) and 500 free (5:31.55), while Corey O'Brien was tops
in both the 100 free (52.91) and 100 back (1:02.73).
Individual winners also included Laurance Koenig, who went 2:04.73 in the 200 free, and
Robert Street, who clocked a 1:08.79 in the 100 fly.
Canby also got a lift from German exchange student Joern Van Aalst, who set four personal
bests and took third in the 50 free (27.06) and 100 free (58.64). Loren Renhard was also a
high placer, getting second in the 100 breast with a 1:22.39 time.
The Cougars are off now until Jan. 9, when they pay a visit to Tualatin for a 4 p.m. meet.
The squad's next home meet is scheduled for Jan. 11 against Forest Grove.
Huskies win two more
with Waldport win
North Marion's boys basketball team came away with two more victories last week,
defeating Sherwood and Yamhill-Carlton in nonleague action Tuesday and Friday,
respectively.
The Huskies (5-1) defeated Sherwood 69-47 behind 20 points from senior Adam Kraft and 19
from senior Ryan Krause on Dec. 12. Both shot the lights out from the field, combining for
a 17-for-25 effort.
North Marion jumped on the Bowmen quickly, going out to a 14-6 first-quarter lead before
extending that to 36-24 by halftime.
The Huskies put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring Sherwood 21-11 to put them
up by 22 going into the fourth quarter.
Jeremy Miller had 10 points and 10 rebounds while Rob Beltran and Steve Miller each added
six points for North Marion. Abel Garza and Krause each had four assists.
On Friday, North Marion traveled to Yamhill-Carlton and edged the Tigers 55-53.
Josh Miller led the Huskies in scoring with 15 points, while Krause netted 12. Kraft and
Jeremy Miller each added nine points, and Beltran chipped in eight.
The Huskies trailed by three at halftime, 32-29, and then fell behind by eight going into
the final quarter. But the team's defense stepped up big in that final quarter, only
allowing seven points, while the offense scored 17 to give the Huskies the two-point win.
The game was a defensive one, as North Marion only shot the ball 32 times, hitting 18 of
those attempts.
The Huskies next play Dec. 28-30 at a tournament in Seaside.
Tualatin wastes no
time taking charge
By Sean Patterson
Canby Herald
Consider it another lesson on what happens when you
get away from your game plan and let the opposition do as it pleases.
Such was the case for the Canby High School boys basketball team Friday, as visiting
Tualatin sprinted to a 27-4 first-quarter lead and never looked back in a 66-33 defeat of
the Cougars in a Pacific-9 Conference matchup at CHS.
The Timberwolves came out aggressive and forced Canby into making poor decisions and
taking low percentage outside shots.
The result was a one-sided affair that, despite a loud, supportive Canby crowd, was
essentially decided in the first half.
"We got away from doing the things we know we need to do in order to be
successful," Canby head coach Dennis Burke lamented. "Things like controlling
the tempo, being more patient on offense and making defensive stops. We basically allowed
them to have their way, especially in that first quarter, and that was that."
Tualatin hit 28 of the 44 shots it attempted and put together two huge runs - the
tone-setting 27-4 spurt in the opening quarter and a 21-4 outburst in the fourth.
Canby actually won the middle two quarters, outscoring their guests 25-18 over that span,
and at one point Canby pulled within 10 points in the third period.
But Tualatin never allowed the Cougars to get any closer, thanks to the consistent outside
shooting of Evan Godfrey and near-perfect execution in the fourth quarter. Tualatin made 8
of 12 shots in the final stanza, with many of them coming on fastbreak layups, and Godfrey
ended up with 16 points on the night.
Joe Yoder had a decent outing for Canby, scoring 14 points to go with four rebounds, but
he got little support. Brandon Brown finished with five points and T.J. Miller had four.
Collectively, Canby's wings and guards made just 4 of 20 field-goal attempts. As a team,
the Cougars hit on 13 of 46 shots from the field.
"Offensively, we just went out and played - we didn't play with a purpose or
plan," Burke said. "On defense, we didn't deny certain passes and we allowed
them penetration. We just lost our focus."
The loss, coupled with the team's defeat of Newberg on Dec. 12, put Canby at 1-5 on the
season and 1-1 in Pac-9 play. Details on Tuesday's victory were featured in Saturday's
edition.
Canby is off this week and will hit the road for its next competition - a Dec. 28-30
eight-team tournament at South Medford High School. The Cougars open that event with a 6
p.m. game against Chico, Calif., on Dec. 28.
