Canby Herald Online

Feature: Band of Brothers

North Marion’s three sets of brothers are all ranked, and play a big role in the No. 4 Huskies’ success

• By: Alex Tam  
• Published: 1/27/2010 12:17:30 AM

Photo By: Alex TamNorth Marion wrestling
(From top left, clockwise) North Marion’s Fortino Sanchez, Tyler Stigall, Cody Randall and their respective younger brothers, Lucas Randall, Jake Stigall and Sarafin Sanchez are all state-ranked wrestlers, helping the No. 4 Huskies in their quest for a state trophy this season.

AURORA — It was just before the season began when North Marion coach Mike Robinson glanced around the wrestling room and noticed something unique going on.

When figuring out what his varsity lineup would be for the upcoming year, he realized nearly half of his lineup would consist of three sets of brothers.

And they were not just average ordinary wrestlers.

They were really good.

“We thought it was kind of weird,” Robinson said. “Having all three of them and having them all in the varsity lineup, and having them all competing pretty well, I don’t think there are a lot of teams that have that going for them.”

The set of brothers have helped the No. 4 Huskies become one of the top Class 4A teams in the state today with the goal of bringing home a state trophy next month.

All six wrestlers are ranked in the top 10 in their weight classes, including three who are ranked No. 1.

“We just think it’s pretty cool,” sophomore Jake Stigall said. “We can’t think of another team that has it.”

The Stigall brothers
For Jake and Tyler Stigall, wrestling is in their blood.

Their father, Ford Stigall, is currently an assistant coach at North Marion and was the Huskies’ fourth state champion in school history when he won the 136-pound state title in 1991.

And his sons both credit him for the success they’ve had.

“He’s been great because practice wouldn’t be near as hard,” said Jake, 15, the younger brother. “It is sometimes bad because he pushes us a little bit harder because we’re his kids but overall, I like it.”
“He’s been there the whole time (for us),” said Tyler, a 17-year-old junior. “And he’s helped us out.”

With their pedigree, it didn’t come as a surprise when last season, both became district champions in the Capital Conference — Jake at 103 pounds and Tyler at 125 — to qualify for the Class 4A state tournament.

Both went on to also become state placers as Jake finished in seventh place and Tyler took fourth.

The duo unsurprisingly has huge expectations this season with Jake being ranked No. 6 in the state in Class 4A at 112 pounds, and Tyler ranked No. 1 at 125.

And both admit they would love to have the chance to duplicate their father’s success and be a state champion. Doing it together in the same year would make it that much more special.

“We’ve both been working pretty hard at it this year,” Tyler said. “And hopefully we can both have a good chance at it. That’d be pretty awesome. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of any brothers that have done that. I mean, I’m sure there has been but it’s very rare and it’d be cool.”

The Randall brothers
To top what senior Cody Randall has done in his high school career is a hard undertaking.

Through his first three seasons, Randall has been one of the state’s most dominant wrestlers.

He is three-time district champion in the Capital Conference, a fifth-place finisher at state at 125 pounds as a freshman, became the Huskies’ first two-time state champion in school history, and is vying to become a three-time state champion this year.

But if there’s one person at North Marion who could top his resume, Randall feels it’s none other than his brother, freshman Lucas Randall.

Both Randalls are already ranked No. 1 in their weight class — Cody at 145 and Lucas at 119.

“It’s pretty cool knowing your younger brother is having so much success,” Cody said. “I already expect him to be a four-time state champion because I think he’s good enough. He’s better than me as a freshman wrestling-wise.”

For Lucas, 16, despite that pressure, he is confident enough in his abilities that he can become as good — if not, better — than his brother.

Lucas has already beaten last year’s state runner-up Adam Hayner of Molalla twice, who is ranked No. 2 at 119. He has also beaten No. 3 Gabriel Goodrich of Scappoose and No. 4 Adam Smith of Tillamook this season.

“I’m going to try my hardest to get first and try to be a four-time state champion,” Lucas said. “(Cody) makes me push harder. I’ve talked to him about it before. He makes me push harder to be better than him.”

The two have developed a close relationship because of wrestling. They film each other’s matches at every tournament and are by each other’s side.

And immediately when they get home from a tournament, they study, analyze and critique each other’s matches.

“We’ll watch them right away,” said Cody, 18. “We’ll go through our matches and later on, we’ll maybe go through them again if there’s a decision that we didn’t think we did great in or good in that we need to improve on.”

The Sanchez brothers
When Sarafin Sanchez was in eighth grade and saw his older brother, Fortino Sanchez, wrestling at a home tournament, he immediately became hooked.

“I started to see how he did it and I liked it a lot,” said Sarafin, 16, now a junior and ranked No. 8 at 112. “He got me into it. I liked the intensity of it, how you had to know what to do.”

And three years later, they are two of the top returners in the Capital Conference with Sarafin a returning state-qualifier after taking third at 112 pounds at the district tournament last season. Fortino, senior, just missed out on qualifying for state, finishing fourth at 130.

The two have also forged a strong bond with each other, giving each other tips and advice.

“I can actually tell what he’s doing wrong, when he’s doing something wrong,” said Fortino, 17, who was ranked No. 10 in the state at 135 heading into last week. “I have more time to spend with him so I can tell him if he needs to fix some stuff and help him become better and help the team more.”

Both said they experience the joy and pain when the other either wins or loses.

“You get nervous because he’s your brother,” Sarafin said. “When he loses, you get down because you get more into it. You want him to win.”

And the pedigree of brothers at North Marion doesn’t expect to end anytime soon as all three sets have younger brothers who are involved in wrestling.

“We think it’s cool because each set of brothers has a little brother, and has an even younger brother,” Fortino said. “I have a brother who’s 8 years old and the Randalls have a brother that’s 8 years old, so do the Stigalls. So a couple more years from now, they’ll be another set of brothers coming back.”

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