The Hillsboro Spartans’ boys wrestling team did just enough on the home mat Wednesday night to hold off the shorthanded and upset-minded Wilsonville Wildcats.
Hillsboro rode the strength of two pins, one win by major decision, one win by decision, and four wins by forfeit — yes, four forfeits — to a 43-33 Northwest Oregon Conference victory.
James Blackwell won by first-round fall at 128 pounds and Gregory Wallace added another first-round pin at 195 in a dual that, despite all the forfeits, was still up for grabs going into Wallace’s match at 195.
Hillsboro’s other highlights included Skyler Salzman’s 15-3 major decision at 145 and Brian Walker’s 5-1 decision at 160, as the Spartans evened their league dual record at 2-2 with three matches remaining in the NWOC regular season.
“It wasn’t a pretty dual, right?” Spartans coach Stephen Moreno acknowledged. “Historically, this is usually a battle. It maybe wasn’t a true showing of where Wilsonville is at right now tonight, but their coaches do a great job with their program, and I’m always excited to wrestle Wilsonville.”
Five weight classes went uncontested. Wilsonville surrendered forfeits at 106, 182, 220, and 285, while Hillsboro forfeited at 132. The net result: an 18-point swing in the Spartans’ favor.
How did Wilsonville expect to dig out of an 18-point hole? The Wildcats' plan was to take care of business at the lower weights, hold their own through the middle weights, and hope they could build a big enough lead to survive the pounding they were projected to take at the upper weights.
They almost pulled it off.
After Hillsboro’s Nina DeLeon was awarded a forfeit at 106, Wilsonville (2-2) answered with pins from Fredy Garcia at 113, Kaden Kramer at 120, and Jack Ricketts at 126, plus a forfeit for David Hernandez at 132, as the Wildcats maximized their potential team scoring through the first five matches to take a 24-6 lead.
Next, Blackwell needed about 90 seconds to take care of Wilsonville’s Pablo Venegas at 138, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 24-12.
Salzman then hit the mat and did everything but turn Wilsonville’s Cesar Bautista on his back, scoring the major decision that pulled the Spartans within 24-16.
At 152, Wilsonville’s Andrew Hall trailed Nolan Godsey 5-0 at the end of the first round and then rallied to take an 8-7 lead after two rounds. Hall then started the third round in the top position and turned Godsey’s shoulders to the mat with 1:10 remaining for a fall that extended the Wildcats’ lead to 30-16.
Hillsboro’s Brian Walker picked up three team points with a 5-1 decision over Austin Sprecher at 160, but Wilsonville’s George Peykanu countered with a 6-3 decision over Zachary Wising at 170, making it 33-19.
At that point, Hillsboro was assured of finishing with no fewer than 37 points because of forfeits being awarded to Preston Echeverria at 182, Sebastian Echeverria at 220, and Jaden Echeverria at 285.
So, the dual came down to the 195-pound match between Wallace and Wilsonville’s Charlie Middleton. Wallace left no doubt, using a head-and-arm combination to take Middleton off his feet and onto his back, winning by fall at 1:02 of the first round.
“For where we’re at in Week 10 of a 16-week season, we’re seeing the progress we need from our team,” Moreno said. “We knew the lower weights would be tough tonight. We were going to try and keep those matches as close as possible, but we apparently have some work to do there.
“Overall, with what we have and where we’re at and momentum on the rise, I’m pretty excited about the rest of the season.”
Wilsonville coach Jason Milham lamented having to spot Hillsboro 18 points, but he also saw a number of positives. Of the nine contested weight classes, the Wildcats won five. Of those five wins, four were with pins. And, despite being shorthanded, his team put itself in a position to pull off an upset.
"Going into 195, we had a chance to win,” Milham said. “If Charlie gets a fall, we win the dual, so, yeah, I can’t be disappointed at all with the final result.
“We’ve been preaching all season long about grinding away, wrestling six minutes, and finding a way to finish strong. We did that. We would have liked to win the dual, and I think it was a winnable dual, but when our guys go out and wrestle the way you ask them to, you can’t be too bothered by it.”
As for the forfeits, the Wildcats have gone all season without anyone at 106 and 182. The other two were because juniors Matix Carpenter and Zarek Nowak were both out sick.
“With the power that Hillsboro has up top, I don’t know if that would have made a big difference for us, but it would have given us another chance,” Milham said.
Of all the matches Wednesday, Milham said two that stood out to him were Salzman-Bautista at 145 and Godsey-Hall at 152.
“Salzman is a super-tough kid, and he wins a lot and he pins a lot,” Milham said. “Cesar held him to a major decision and kept us in the dual in that regard. Then Drew gets on the mat against Godsey, and it’s up and down and back and forth, but he grinds away for six minutes and that keeps us in the middle of it.
“Right through the middle there, we knew was the tipping point, and we came out of the middle still with a chance. But, again, Cesar hanging in there for six minutes with a really, really tough kid was big for the team and big for him, too.”
Milham would like to see two things from his team moving forward: get healthy and continue to grind.
“I like where we are,” Milham said. “I’ve been saying over and over, I think we need all of January and all of the matches that it brings to be ready for the district tournament. I still feel that’s true, but we’re improving week to week.
“We’re finding ways to grind and wrestle six-minute matches and give ourselves a chance to win. If we can keep that up over the next few weeks and get another 10-12 matches under our belt, I think we’ll be as ready as we can be going into the district tournament.”
Hillsboro High School boys and girls defeated Wilsonville in separate dual meets on Wednesday night, Jan. 18, at Hillsboro High School.
Spartan boys victories included: Nina Deleon at 106 pounds (forfeit), James Blackwell at 138 pounds, Skyler Salzman at 145 pounds, Brian Walker at 160 pounds, Preston Echeverria at 182 pounds (forfeit), Gregory Wallace at 195 pounds, Sebastian Echeverria at 220 pounds (forfeit), and Jaden Echeverria at 285 pounds (forfeit).
The Spartan girls won by a margin of 48-24 and included wins by Vanessa Randazzo at 100 pounds (forfeit), Maria Siquina Can at 105 pounds (forfeit), Jessica Ramirez Mata at 115 pounds, Gracianna Strickland at 120 pounds, Natalie De Leon at 125 pounds (forfeit), Yvonne Njarara at 130 pounds (forfeit), Danica Kirkwood at 140 pounds (forfeit), and Rubi Marroquin at 145 pounds (forfeit).
The Spartan boys and girls are next scheduled to face Glencoe at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at Hillsboro High School.
The Hillsboro girls will be competing at the Lady Dragon Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 21, at Dallas High School.
Wade Evanson contributed to this story.