Colony grapplers win NLC; 12 Valley wrestlers earn titles

PALMER — Colony’s young guns helped the Knights take down the defending champions Saturday afternoon.

Three underclassmen were among Colony’s four individual champions who helped lead the Knights to the team title during the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Colony High School.

Colony freshman Robert Haan and sophomores Bryce Adams and Chace Booth found themselves at the top of the podium, alongside senior Riley Fredrickson. The four champs helped CHS finish with 321.5 total points in the standings, about 17 more than runner-up Wasilla, the 2013 champions.

“We’ve got a really young team, but they’re wrestling really hard,” Colony head coach Todd Hopkins said before the tournament’s awards ceremony. “We had a really good weekend. We wrestled well.”

Booth scored a thrilling 12-10 victory over Kodiak’s Joel Valdez in the 113-pound final. The sophomore capitalized late, shooting in for the single leg during the final seconds of regulation. With the score tied at 10, Booth was able to earn the go-ahead points near the edge of the mat before the final horn blew.

“My dad keeps yelling ‘shoot.’ He got away from me every time I shot at him. I was going to wait until the last 30 seconds. I heard the countdown. I had to go for it all and it worked out,” Booth said.

Booth, one of four Colony underclassmen to wrestle in the finals Saturday, said even though he’s only a sophomore, winning a region title was always his goal.

“Last year in Hawaii I got second in regions. The goal is better than I did last year,” Booth said.

Adams pinned his way to the 98-pound title. After scoring pins at the 13-second and 37-second marks during the first two rounds, Adams had to wait until the final seconds of regulation to pin Wasilla’s Dillon Simpson.

Haan, a freshman wrestling in his first NLC tourney, dominated the 138-pound class. Haan scored a win by technical fall over Kenai’s Dustin Everitt in the semifinals and needed just 1:46 to pin Wasilla’s Weston Wall in the finals.

Fredrickson, a senior, also earned his first region title with a slim 3-2 win over Kenai’s Kyle Hunter.

Dawson Nash (132), Spencer Adams (145), Kamber Lucas (152) and Logan Conway (170) also advanced to the finals and finished second.

Wasilla finished second in the team standings with 304 total points, and crowned four individual champions.

The final round began with the 220-pound match, and Wasilla senior Quace Wright started the finals with a thrilling 3-1 overtime win over top-seeded Ben Button of Palmer. Wright, the defending state champion at 220, scored a takedown with 40 seconds left in overtime. After Button shot in, Wright was able to move the Palmer junior to the mat and spin around for the takedown.

Defending state and region champion Nate McKimson also repeated. McKimson pinned Colony’s Kamber Lucas in the first period of the 152-pound match.

Senior Chance Boatman earned his first career region with a hard-fought 5-2 decision over Logan Conway of Colony. Brandon Abbott won an all-Wasilla battle at 106, pinning teammate Berit Sturgeon.

Wasilla had seven wrestlers in the finals. Simpson (98), Sturgeon (106) and Wall (138) each finished second.

Palmer, which finished fourth in the team standings, had five in the finals, and four won their weight class.

Senior Caleb Deemer used a third overtime period to beat Kodiak’s Kerry Powers 7-3. It was Deemer’s second overtime win over Powers this season. Deemer also beat Powers in extra time during the final round of the Lancer Smith Memorial at Palmer High School. Deemer said when Saturday’s match went into overtime, he couldn’t help but think about his last overtime match with Powers.

“Every time is a battle,” Deemer said. “(This match) went deeper into overtime than I would have liked.”

After staying tied at 2 through the first extra period, the sudden death overtime, Powers scored a point on an escape to take the 3-2 lead with about 25 seconds left in the 30-second overtime. Deemer answered with a takedown during the final seconds. Powers tried to break free from Deemer’s hold, but the Palmer senior was able to hold onto Powers until the end of the period.

“It just takes everything,” Deemer said of the late effort to hold Powers. “Wrestling’s a hard sport. You’ve got to give it your all every time.”

Deemer held the slim lead in the third overtime.

“I just can’t get taken down,” Deemer said of the third overtime. “But I still have to stay aggressive.”

Late in the third overtime, Powers tried to throw Deemer and fell to his back. “He tried to throw, and I slipped through it,” Deemer said.

Defending region and state champion Mason Cochran repeated with an 11-7 win over Colony’s Dawson Nash in the 132-pound final. Heavyweight Brian Thompson earned his third career NLC title, taking a victory by forfeit. Top seed Leo Sega of Kodiak forfeited due to injury.

Senior Hunter Molesky earned his first career region title, beating Colony’s Kody Nash 9-3 in the 160-pound final.

Molesky, the No. 2 seed in the bracket, took a 2-0 lead into the second period, and extended it to 5-0 in the second. Molesky pushed its lead to six points with about a minute left in the third period.

The Valley boasted 21 wrestlers in the final round, and a dozen won their weight classes. The top 5 wrestlers in each weight class earned automatic bids to the state tournament, which starts Friday at Bartlett High School in Anchorage. Wasilla is sending 19 wrestlers, Colony advanced 18 and Palmer pushed 11 through to state.

Northern Lights

Conference Championships

Friday-Saturday, Colony High School

Team scores:

1. Colony 321.5; 2. Wasilla 304; 3. Kodiak 214; 4. Palmer 213.5; 5. Kenai 167.5; 6. Soldotna 34.

Championship finals:

98 pounds — B. Adams, Col p. D. Simpson, Was 5:58; 106 — B. Abbott, Was p. B. Sturgeon, Was 0:56; 113 — C. Booth, Col d. J. Valdez, Kod 12-10; 120 — A. Caballa, Kod won by fft K. Jonson, Kod; 126 — P. Steffensen, Ken d. J. Small, Kod 8-1; 132 — M. Cochran, Pal d. D. Nash, Col 11-7; 138 — R. Haan, Col p. W. Wall, Was 1:38; 145 — E. Steffensen, Ken m.d. S. Adams, Col 12-4; 152 — N. McKimson, Was p. K. Lucas, Col 1:48; 160 — H. Molesky, Pal d. K. Nash, Col 9-3; 170 — C. Boatman, Was d. L. Conway, Col 5-2; 182 — R. Fredrickson, Col d. K. Hunter, Ken 3-2; 195 — C. Deemer, Pal d. K. Powers, Kod 7-3 3OT; 220 — Q. Wright, Was d. B. Button, Pal 3-1 OT; 285 — B. Thompson, Pal won by inj fft L. Sega, Kod.

Third-place match:

98 — B. Hill, Was m.d. O. Andersen, Pal 14-3; 106 — S. Simpson, Col p. M. Kageyama, Kod 4:34; 113 — R. Delacruz, Kod d. A. Skiba, Sol 15-11; 120 — B. McKimson, Was p. M. Bracker, Col 4:03; 126 — A. Molesky, Pal d. J. Gentz, Was 8-4; 132 — M. Vandermartin, Ken p. T. Newland, Was 0:31; 138 — D. McKibbon, Pal p. I. Kolendo, Col 2:21; 145 — W. McGann, Pal d. T. Loutzenhiser, Col 10-3; 152 — W. Booth, Col p. H. Bourgeois, Col 2:26; 160 — D. Morrow, Was p. D. Carter, Ken 4:18; 170 — C. Ray, Col d. J. Yavorsky, Kod 6-5; 182 — L. Owens, Kod won by inj for Z. Doan, Col; 195 — B. Schultz, Was d. T. Brown, Ken 7-3; 220 — Z. Koziczkowski, Ken p. I. MacKenzie, Col 3:43; 285 — M. Daigle, Col p. N. Wandersee, Kod 4:01.

Fifth-place match:

98 — B. Gonzales, Kod p. D. Richards, Pal 3:56; 106 — Y. Ohki rec. bye; 113 — A. Torres, Was rec bye; 120 — L. Albrecht, Was rec bye; 126 — S. Wolff, Was d. J. Sanders, Pal 8-3; 132 — A. Rohr, Kod d. S. Burdick, Ken 5-0; 138 — D. Everitt, Ken p. C. George, Was 3:36; 145 — K. Berg, Pal d. G. Hannasch, Was 12-6; 152 — M. Olsen, Ken p. W. Nelson, Was 4:01; 160 — B. Marks, Was p. J. Ruffing, Col 2:55; 170 — G. Powell, Pal won by inj def A. Welborn, Ken; 182 — B. Brown, Ken rec bye; 195 — B. Ingersoll, Was rec bye; 220 — Z. Rockstad, Was p. H. McKee, Kod 2:55; 285 — D. Best, Sol p. G. Williams, Pal 3:51.