Knights win team title, 7 Valley grapplers earn 4A state championships

ANCHORAGE — The Colony Knights claimed the top prize for the second time in three years. Seven different Valley wrestlers earned 4A state titles. And one school managed a feat wrestling fans have not seen in a decade.

There was no shortage of storylines for the Mat-Su programs during the championship round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships Saturday night at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

In a Valley-heavy final round that featured at least one local grappler in a dozen of the 15 championship matches, one bout included a pair of wrestlers from the same school.

Wasilla’s Samuel Wolff scored a tough 5-2 victory over fellow Warriors senior Hayden Steiner in the 145-pound championship.

“It’s so much harder than any other match, honestly,” Wolff said of meeting a teammate in the final. “You know the guy and you don’t want to kill him. At the same time you both know what you’re doing.”

The match marked the first time since 2007 that teammates met for a 4A state title. The last time also included Valley wrestlers. Colony’s Kyle Wilson beat fellow Knight Aaron Boss in the 112-pound final that season.

Wolff, the top seed in his bracket, used the win to score his second straight state title. Steiner, the sixth seed in the bracket, wrestled in the finals for the firs time in his career.

“I’m really happy for Hayden. He really pushed me. He killed himself to get there,” Wolff said of his teammate.

Wolff was one of four Warriors to earn state titles Saturday night.

Junior Micah Mathis held on to beat South Anchorage’s Jacob Shack 6-5 in the 120-pound final to win his third straight state title.

“It’s definitely an experience,” Mathis said of the three-peat.

Overall, Mathis said his third state title was certainly the toughest to win.

“Freshman year I won 3-1 I think. Last year I did pretty well. This year it was super close all the way to the end,” Mathis said.

Mathis was the first of three straight Warriors to score wins Saturday night. Junior Isaiah Elvsaas defeated Service’s Joseph Perkins 4-2 to win the 126-pound title. Senior Dillon Simpson capped his Warriors career by pinning Lathrop’s Patrick Matheny late in the third round of the 132-pound final.

Wasilla senior Ezra Lincecum also wrestled in the finals, and was forced to withdraw due to injury during the final seconds of the 285-pound final. Lincecum advanced to the finals despite suffering a major knee injury last month during a tournament in North Pole.

Wasilla led all 4A schools with four individual champions, but Colony finished at the top of the team standings with 269.5 total points. Wasilla was the runner-up with 245.5.

Colony’s title is the program’s second in three years and sixth in school history.

“Our team is a really good team. We’ve got really good coaching,” Rush Fannon, one of a pair of Colony individual champions, said after the finals.

Fannon earned his first career state title by pinning Lathrop’s Jacob Spencer, a defending state champion, in the second round of the 113-pound final. With the win, Fannon also avenged an early-season loss against Spencer.

“I wrestled him at the duals at South and I didn’t wrestle like I should have,” Fannon said. “This time I got him out of my head. I told myself what I needed to do and how to do it, and succeeded.”

Colony senior Dawson Nash also captured a state title, his second straight. Nash posted a 10-2 major decision over North Pole’s Branden Antesberger.

Fannan and Nash were among five Knights in the finals. Levi Hopkins (138 pounds), Caleb Hopkins (160) and Robert Haan (195) each finished as the runner-up in their respective weight class.

Palmer also boasted a pair of wrestlers in the finals. Sophomore Levi Farris earned his first career state title with an 8-7 victory over Kenai Central’s Keyshawn McEnerney in the 152-pound final. Farris, who suffered a loss to McEnerney during the Lancer Smith Memorial in November, also beat the Kenai grappler in the third-place match of the Northern Lights Conference Championships last week.

“It got me the No. 3 seed, a really good spot for me in the (state) bracket,” Farris said of his win last week.

The top four seeds in the state bracket all came from the NLC.

“It’s definitely one of the harder ones,” Farris said of his weight class.

Farris also had a bit of home-mat advantage in the finals. Palmer High School supplied the mats that were used for the final round.

“I was wrestling on the mat I’ve been practicing all year on. I had to finish it up,” Farris said.

Palmer senior Odin Andersen also wrestled in the finals, and placed second.

The following is more about the championship matches that included Valley wrestlers.

106 pounds — Top-seeded Matthew Rodriguez of Ketchikan held a 4-0 lead when he pinned Palmer’s Odin Andersen in the second round. Andersen, who beat the second and third-seeded wrestlers en route to a spot in the finals, finished the season 26-15.

113 — Colony’s Rush Fannon threw Lathrop’s Jacob Spencer to his back three times before pinning the No. 1 seed and defending state champion at the 3:17 mark of the final.

“It’s just a throw that’s there,” Fannon said. “I guess you could say it’s part of my style.”

Fannon, a two-time NLC champion, finished the season 21-3.

120 — Wasilla junior Micah Mathis became the third wrestler in school history to win a third straight state. Former Wasilla standout Alan Bartelli also captured the three-peat. Wasilla great Jed Wade, a member of the ASAA Hall of Fame, is the lone Wasilla wrestler to win four state championships. Mathis hopes to join Wade next year.

“All the time,” Mathis said of how often he thinks about the four-peat. “I know I can do it. I’ve already got three. So one more to go.”

The third title came with an 8-7 win over South’s Jacob Shack. Mathis led 5-2 entering the third period, but Shack tied the score at 5 with 40 seconds left. A quick escape gave Mathis the 6-5 lead and eventual victory.

Mathis finished the season 21-1.

126 — Wasilla junior Isaiah Elvsaas earned his first career state title with a 4-2 win over Service’s Joseph Perkins. Perkins used an early takedown to take a 2-0 lead, but the key moment came with an Elvsaas reversal in the second round. Elvsaas, who finished third in the same weight class last year, finished the season 17-3.

132 — Wasilla’s Dillon Simpson became the third straight Warrior to win a title when he pinned Lathrop’s Patrick Matheny late in the third period. Simpson controlled throughout, owning a 15-6 lead before the pin. Simpson, who finished third in state twice as an underclassman, earned his first state title, and ended the season with a 27-8 record.

138 — Lathrop’s Westley Bockert earned the first big upset of the final round, beating Colony’s Levi Hopkins 10-4. Hopkins won a state title last season, and finished his sophomore campaign 35-3.

145 — In a 4A final that included two athletes from the same school for the first time since 2007, Wasilla senior Samuel Wolff scored a 5-2 win over teammate Hayden Steiner. Wolff capped his career with a second straight state title, and finished the season 30-2. Steiner wrestled in the championship for the first time in his career, and finished the year 35-10.

152 — Palmer sophomore Levi Farris became the first Palmer wrestler since Ben Button three years ago to win a state title with his 8-7 victory over Kenai Central’s Keyshawn McEnerney. The Kenai grappler led early, but Farris built an 8-4 lead midway through the second. McEnerney cut the Farris lead to a point, but the Palmer sophomore was able to hold on. Farris finished his season 34-7.

160 — Colony junior Caleb Hopkins finished second for the second consecutive year with a 7-5 loss to East Anchorage’s Josh Malnoske. Malnoske led as much as 6-2. Hopkins was able to cut into the lead, but Malnoske held on for the win.

182 — Colony senior Dawson Nash earned a 10-2 win by major decision over North Pole’s Brandon Antesberger, and scored his second straight state title. Nash, who also won last year at 182, finished his season 31-2.

195 — The biggest upset of the evening came with North Pole’s Bradley Antesberger’s 4-3 win over previously undefeated Robert Haan of Colony. Haan led 3-2 late, but Antesberger scored a reversal during the final seconds to win the match. Haan, who finished the year 35-1, won a state title last season.

285 — Wasilla senior Ezra Lincecum, who won a 123A state title at Houston last year, was forced to withdraw during the final seconds of his heavyweight bout with Lathrop’s Ji Jeong. Lincecum held a 4-2 lead, but Jeong used a reversal to tie the score at 4 with six seconds remaining. The match was called right before the buzzer. Lincecum was wrestling despite suffering a major knee injury just a month ago.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Wrestling Championships

Friday-Saturday, Alaska Airlines Center

Team scores — 1. Colony, 269.5; 2. Wasilla, 245.5; 3. Lathrop, 196; 4. South, 141; 5. Ketchikan, 128; 6. Palmer, 125; 7. North Pole, 110.5; 8. Soldotna, 82.5; 9. Eagle River, 67; 10. Thunder Mountain, 65.5; 11. Service, 63; 12. Chugiak, 60; 13. East, 46; 14. Kodiak, 45; 15. Dimond, 41.5; 16. Bartlett, 39; 17. West Valley, 30; 18. Kenai Central, 29.5; 19. West, 21.

Championship finals:

98 pounds — A. Concepcion, Sou d. S. Benefield, NP 3-0; 106 — M. Rodriguez, Ket o. O. Andersen, Pal 3:16; 113 — R. Fannon, Col p. J. Spencer, Lat 3:17; 120 — M. Mathis, Was d. J. Shack, Sou 6-5; 126 — I. Elvsaas, Was d. J. Perkins, Ser 4-2; 132 — D. Simpson, Was p. P. Matheny, Lat 5:49; 138 — W. Bockert, Lat d. L. Hopkins, Col 10-4; 145 — S. Wolff, d. H. Steiner, Was 5-2; 152 — L. Farris, Pal d. K. McEnerney, Ken 8-7; 160 — J. Malnoske, East d. C. Hopkins, Col 7-5; 170 — D. Budke, Chu d. C. Edwards, Lat 7-2; 182 — D. Nash, Col m.d. B. Antesberger, NP 10-2; 195 — B. Antesberger, NP d. R. Haan, Col 4-3; 220 — C. Weldon, TM d. K. Caldarera, Ser 10-1; 285 — J. Jeong, Lat won by inj fft E. Lincecum, Was.

Third-place matches:

98 — A. Edwards, Col p. L. Craig, Sol 1:54; 106 — V. Cramer, Col d. J. Mays, TM 6-3; 113 — G. Hutchison, Sol p. V. Tenebro, Ket 2:09; 120 — B. Linne, Ket d. T. Severson, Col 3-1; 126 — S. Martin, Sou d. I. Rodman, Was 2-1; 132 — C. Alexander, Was d. J. Divelbiss, Dim 6-4; 138 — B. Sturgeon, Was m.d. G. Burningham, ER 10-0; 145 — W. Martin, Sou d. E. Christy, Col 5-2; 152 — B. Metcalf, Sol p. G. Nummer, Kod 1:14; 160 — Z. Taylor, Lat d. J. Glynn, Pal 3-0; 170 — T. Farless, Ser d. C. Kurka, Pal 8-2; 182 — C. Harris, Ket d. L. Rubenstein, TM 9-2; 195 — A. Gaines, NP d. E. Lincoln, Sou 5-4; 220 ¬— G. Cole, WV d. I Christy, Col 6-0; 285 — A. Farris, Pal p. P. Vaafuti, West 1:29.

Fifth-place matches:

98 — R. Lecours, ER p. J. Harvey, Col 2:55; 106 — A. Logsdon, Was m.d. M. Riedlinger, Col 11-2; 113 — O. Garcia, Bar d. P. Rauwolf, Ket 12-8; 120 — T. Cha, SOu d. J. Briones, Bar 706 UTB; 126 — R. Harris, Sou d. D. Uribe, Lat 9-6; 132 — T. Harris, Ket p. R. DelaCruz, Kod 2:02; 138 — R. Randolph-Oxholm, Dim d. J. Anderson, Ken 3-1; 145 — W. Story, Lat d. J. Numner, Kod 11-6; 152 — A. Shepersky, Was d. J. Ayala, WV 7-0; 160 — J. Watkins, Pal d. A. Hernandez, Dim 6-0; 170 — A. Schrader, Sol d. A. VanHout, Sol 10-3; 182 — C. Fontana, NP p. E. Morehouse, Sou 3:38; 195 — C. Eby, Col d. T. Finley, Lat 4:11; 220 — A. Rumfelt, Chu d. J. Edwards, lat 6-3; 285 — J. Gariepy, East d. M. Stafford, ER 4-0.