Hawks' season ends

KENAI - Although Houston grapplers didn't come home with a state title Saturday, the Hawks, who are comprised mostly of sophomores, came home with a hopeful future and valuable experience.

Senior heavyweight Jacob Chapel was Houston's best chance for a state title at the Fall Wrestling Championships, which took place at Kenai Central High School last weekend. He made it to the championship match against a Ketchikan wrestler. A close battle ensued until halfway through the period, when the Ketchikan grappler fell awkwardly on Chapel's knee, ending the Hawk heavyweight's repeat title bid. Chapel suffered a ligament tear in his knee and was unable to continue the match.

Chapel was the defending state champion. He eased into the final match by defeating Dillingham's Sander Johnson 7-4 in the semifinal round. Johnson defeated Chapel earlier in the season. Chapel worked through two other losses to Barrow's Seko Unutoa, to become a top-seeded contender to repeat his championship in his final year of high school competition.

"That's a really hard way to lose a state title," coach Doug Janneck said. "The [Ketchikan] kid came down on the outside of his knee."

Russell Shurtleff, a junior at Houston, came back to win three straight matches after losing in the second round to Bethel's Dustin Stonecipher. Skyview's Vance Gaddis decisioned Shurtleff 9-6 to put the Hawks' 189-pounder out of the consolation bracket.

Gaddis went on to take third in the state while Cordova's John Wiese was crowned the 189-pound champion.

Cody Redford, Houston's 119-pound contender, lost his first-round match, then won matches against Bethel, Kotzebue, and Seward. Redford lost to Juneau's Willy Dodd, removing him from the consolation bracket.

Houston's 145-pound David Spain suffered two heart-breaking losses to wrestlers from Petersburg and Ketchikan. He lost both matches by a combined three points before being ousted from medal contention.

Coach Janneck knew from the outset of the season that with the new split season format, the Hawks would be wrestling higher-quality athletes from a stronger group of schools.

"They wrestled good," Janneck said. "It's a young team. We'll do all right at state next year."

The Hawks finished in 15th place with 51.5 points, while the Skyview Panthers won the state championship team competition with 288 points. Juneau finished second with 202.5 points and Nikiski was third with 173.5 points.

Photo: Houston's Jacob Chapel was perhaps the Hawks' best chance to bring home a state title, but an injury in the championship match ended his repeat bid.

Photo by GENE JANSEN/Frontiersman.