The Pioneers win 11 of the 14 bouts to stay perfect in the Northwest Oregon standings

The Sandy wrestling team celebrated senior night with donuts, flowers and a 63-12 win over Wilsonville. The Pioneers dominated the Wildcats, and fittingly, Sandy’s seniors were the most overpowering.

“They forfeited three matches, so we had to bump some seniors around to different weights to let them wrestle,” Sandy coach Robert Paul said. “We wanted to give them that chance on senior night.”

At 138 pounds, senior Brandon Mowery pinned Wilsonville’s Austin Warr in just 1:22 in the fastest match of the meet, even though Warr came out with the energy and intensity. Mowery almost seemed bored, but that was just a front. As soon as Mowery saw his opening, he pounced and had Warr pinned in the blink of an eye.

Mowery’s victory was so efficient, senior Kyle Bateman decided to replicate it in the 170-pound match. Bateman let Wilsonville’s Hunter Pryor do the engaging at first, but only at first. With about 40 seconds left in the first round, Pryor left himself exposed for just a split second. Bateman took advantage and ended the match moments later.

Tyler White also represented the seniors well by earning an 18-2 win by technical fall in the 160-pound division. The seniors definitely provided the firepower for the Pioneers, but Sandy’s young guns provided the surprise factor.

In the 126-pound match, Sandy sophomore Jon Morrell fell behind bigger, more experienced, Adam Buck from Wilsonville. Buck jumped out to a 5-0 lead and seemed to be too much for Morrell. That is just what Morrell wanted Buck to think.

Morrell let Buck get fatigued, and then pinned him 39 seconds into the third round to shock the Wildcats.

“My coaches said he would get gassed,” Morrell said. “I just tried to stay with him until he did get gassed, then I capitalized.”

Sophomore Kyle Grahn (106), junior Rhett Schilperoot (145) and junior Mike Priest also won by fall, while freshman Steven Patton won by major decision, 14-6. Adam Brotherton, Mike Styles and Devin White earned wins by forfeit for Sandy.

“You like to see everybody win, but it’s really encouraging to see the underclassman win some of those close matches,” Paul said.

The Pioneers round out the regular season at winless St. Helens on Thursday before returning home the following week to host the district meet.