30 wrestlers open season for Wood River High
Three returning State 4A wrestling tournament qualifiers are among 30 wrestlers on the 2009-10 Wood River High School team headed by first-year coach Shawn Huntington.
Seniors Nick Chase (145 pounds) and Tanner Orchard (152) lead the Wolverines into the season that begins Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11-12 at the Capital Dual Tournament at Capital High School in Boise.
Orchard placed second at 145 and Chase was third at 130 during the 2009 Great Basin Conference tournament. Each competed at the state meet in Pocatello, as did returning junior Tyler Bartlett (112 pounds, 3rd conference at 103 in 2009).
This year's team features a strong freshman class coming up from the middle school.
There are 12 dual meets and five tournaments, but only three home dates—Jan. 13, 19 and 27 against visiting teams from Wendell, Filer, Buhl, Twin Falls and Hillcrest of Idaho Falls. This year's six-team Great Basin Conference gets four berths from each weight class for the 53rd annual State 4A tournament Feb. 26-27 at Pocatello's Holt Arena.
Huntington and his coaching staff conducted wrestle-offs Tuesday afternoon to determine the make-up of the Wolverine varsity. Here are the WRHS wrestlers practicing:
Seniors (5): Nick Chase (145), Tanner Orchard (152), Colton Seely (285), Luis Lopez (119) and Tyler Jaramillo (160).
Juniors (9): Tyler Bartlett (112), Jimmy Williams (285), Jason Tracy (171), Alex Thomas (285), Willy Dugger (189), Eric DeLeon (130), Stewart Byerly (160), Kasey Barker (189) and Francesco Angelini (152).
Sophomores (9): Andrew Beck (125), Zach Brown (125), Dylan Carey (152), J.R. Hill (160), Keith Horne (152), Tyler Hoskins (152), Jakoby Morrell (152), Auden Ruhter (215) and Teague Ruhter (152).
Freshmen (7): Jared Anderson (103), Storm Anderson (160), Tommy Bailey (135), Tim Boyle (119), Erick Lopez (103), Nick Schell (130) and Levi Young (160).
Filer reserves get upper hand on WRHS boys
There will be plenty of bumpy patches along the way and lessons to be learned for a very inexperienced Wood River High School boys' varsity basketball team this winter.
One thing is for sure for those who watched Wood River entertain the Filer Wildcats Friday in the 2009-10 debut on the Hailey hardwoods. Coach John Radford's Wolverines will likely play hard and let the chips fall where they may.
Filer came to Hailey with eight seniors back from a 17-9 outfit that lost 60-52 in the State 3A tournament consolation final to St. Maries last March. They beat Wood River twice by 15 points last winter. It's a new year, and the 'Cats had plenty of reserve punch off the bench.
The 'Cats (2-0) got 18 points from its bench players in the first half and built what turned out to be an insurmountable 29-16 halftime lead. Filer went on to a 46-32 non-league win—but Wood River fought the 'Cats to a standstill after the half.
Wood River (0-1) did a lot of things right. They had only 14 turnovers, despite Filer's perimeter trap. Eight different Wolverines scored. And the veteran 'Cats out-rebounded Hailey by only a 32-30 margin.
But the Wolverines had no answer for Filer senior reserve Terrell Bailey (5 boards). He scored 10 of his game-high 14 points in Filer's 23-point second-quarter surge and drilled two 3-pointers, as did senior Bryce Beard (13 points, 3 rebounds).
Generally, Wood River was ice cold in its shooting, but the Wolverines got and took their shots—and sophomore Stone Sutton (4 points, a game-high 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocked shots) showed his versatility and made some great set-up passes.
Others were sophomore Quentin Dowdle (7 points, 6 rebounds), junior Kevin Jensen (6 points, 3 boards), senior Jordan Doan (7 points), senior Keven Abbott (3 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals), Ryan Dean (2 points), Isaiah Garza (2 points, 2 boards) and Alex Padilla (1 point).
Chipping in for Filer were seniors Andrew Wright (6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists, 3 blocked shots), Justin Orban (4 points, 7 boards) and Cassidy Babb (3 points, 3 rebounds); junior Matt Ramseyer (5 points, 3 boards, 3 steals, 2 assists); plus sophomores Cody Reynolds (5 points, 2 boards) and Ryan Karel (3 boards, 3 assists).
Wood River visited Burley (2-1, 0-0) Tuesday night for its first Great Basin Conference game. Burley opened with three home games, beating Preston 49-44 and Pocatello 62-46, and losing 63-59 to Blackfoot.
On Thursday, the Wolverines meet Canyon Ridge in Twin Falls. The first-year Riverhawks debuted at home against Buhl (0-1) Tuesday night. On Saturday, Dec. 12, Wood River hosts Buhl, a 64-37 home loser to Jerome Dec. 2.
Panther girls give Challis cagers a scare
It was a good night for tough basketball Saturday when the 1A Division 2 Carey Panthers and 1A Division 1 Challis Vikings clashed in a battle of girls' basketball unbeatens.
Not only were Carey and Challis undefeated going into the game, they had similar finishes last winter—Carey (15-10) placing third in its state tournament and Challis (24-2) losing only to eventual champ Lapwai en route to a third place in its 2009 state tourney.
Coach Lane Durtschi's Carey Panthers (4-1, 1-0 league) gave it all they had, but the host Vikings (5-0) put three players in double figures and emerged with a 59-53 non-league win on their homecourt.
Senior Jessica Parke (19.0 ppg) had her third straight 20-plus scoring effort with a season-best 23 points including three 3-pointers. She added 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Her Carey team (47.8 ppg offense) finished with a season-high 53 points and shot 32%.
The Carey defense applied extra attention to Challis' top scorer Lauren Garlie, holding her to 10. But the Vikings cashed in from the perimeter with the shooting of guards Nicole Helm (15 points) and Jenna Hamilton (17) and won the tight game with a 15-9 fourth-quarter advantage.
Challis outscored Carey 16-9 at the free throw line.
Said head coach Lane Durtschi of Carey, "We are improving each game. I'm very impressed with the girls."
Other Carey scorers were: Amy Ellsworth 12 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals; Micaela Adamson 8 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks; Jaide Parke 3 points and 3 steals; Angela Ellsworth 3 points; Darby Northcott 2 points and 2 boards; and Nicky Gomez 2 points and 2 rebounds.
The game capped a busy week for Carey that included two home victories—Thursday's 45-12 Northside Conference success over Bliss and Friday's 45-25 win that swept the season series with Division 1 Hagerman (1-6).
Jessica Parke (21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), Adamson (11 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4 steals) and Jaide Parke (6 points, 4 boards) led the scoring against Hagerman. Amy Ellsworth (4 points, 8 boards) and Gomez (3 points, 3 rebounds) also played well.
Strong in the paint with an 18-0 scoring advantage there, Carey out-rebounded the Pirates 36-21 and held the visitors to 14% field goal shooting.
In the Bliss game, Jessica Parke had 20 points plus 10 rebounds and 6 steals, Jaide Parke 7 points, Amy Ellsworth 6 points and 12 boards, and Adamson 6 points and 5 rebounds.
Carey went for its second Northside Conference win Tuesday night at home against the Camas County Mushers (3-2, 1-1), led by sophomore Katelyn Peterson (17.8 ppg). Camas opened its season with wins over Lighthouse Christian and Bliss, but lost 64-39 at Richfield last Thursday and 44-37 at home to Hansen Friday.
On Thursday, Carey visits 2A Butte County in Arco. Butte County (4-0) won 45-26 over Valley at Hazelton Saturday night.
Durtschi, assisted by former college player Merrilee Sears and Ron Martinez, said, "We have two tough games with an improved Camas team and a great Butte County team. We are being tested and this will make us better."
TCS girls play a close one with Lighthouse
The Community School Lady Cutthroats traveled to Jerome to face Lighthouse Christian in a non-conference prep girls' basketball game on Monday night.
Even though the game was close the whole way, Lighthouse Christian maintained an early lead and kept it throughout the night, finishing with a 38-32 victory.
The Cutthroats were plagued by turnovers and could not handle Lighthouse's inside outside play of Kyanna Jones and Josena van Vliet, who had 14 and 16 points respectively.
Maggie Flood led the Cutthroat in scoring with 15, and her fellow captain Kayla Cloud added 6. Natalie Goddard had 5 points with Chelsea Cloud adding 4 and Ella Marks with 2.
Community School coach Willy Felton said, "These were two very well matched teams. In the end it came down to turnovers and rebounds—and on Monday TCS had a lot of the first and not enough of the second."
The Cutthroats (1-2, 0-1 Northside Conference) hosted the Twin Falls Christian Warriors Tuesday night in their home varsity debut at The Fish Tank. The Cutthroats defeated TFCA 30-29 on Nov. 19 in Twin Falls. Next game is Thursday, Dec. 17 at home with Bliss.
Junior varsity success
Last Friday night, the host Cutthroats defeated the Murtaugh junior varsity 30-15 on the Sun Valley hardwoods.
Felton said the Cutthroats led the slow-starting game 11-10 at halftime. "It was our first JV game, and Murtaugh's first game of the season so the butterflies were obvious on both sides of the court," he said.
The Cutthroats stepped up the defense in the second half.
Freshman Ella Marks led the way with 10 points and 10 steals, and gave the whole team a much needed energy boost, Felton said. Natalie Goddard was a solid leader and came away with 6 rebounds and 4 points. Chelsea Cloud had 8 points and ran point for the first time in her career.
Julie Doan had her best game with 3 points. Doan was the hardest working girl on the floor, active on both offense and defense, said Felton. Barrett Brown had 4 points and was an intimidating presence on defense. Austin Nalen added 5 rebounds.
