The Corvallis Blue Devils brought home the coveted Battle of the Root title and trophy after an afternoon of wrestling at the Hamilton Middle School. The event is in its third year and features only local teams vying for the title of the best of the valley. The trophy, a root burl that has been polished up will be in the Corvallis trophy case for the next year.
One of the feature matches of the tournament was the battle between Hamilton’s Manny Rivera and Stevensville’s Ben Crews. Crews is the defending state champion at 170 pounds. Rivera wrestled at 160 pounds last year and finished second in the state tournament. Rivera scored a take down in each period while Crews received his two points for escapes. Rivera won the match, 6-2.
Championship
103 – Caleb Olsen (S) pinned Carter Brown (C ) 1:58. 113 – Michael Golden (H) dec. Tristan Davis (C ) 11-0. 120 – Dante Venema (C) pin Cole Anson 1:42. 126 – Bridger Williams (H) pin Allan Allsop (C) 1:08. 132 – Aaron Christenson (C) pin Adrian Garcia (H) 1:08. 138 – Will Wissenbach (C) pin Jethro Thorne (F) 2:46. 145 – Drew Schmitt (C) pin Kyler Pancake (F) 3:35. 152 – Isaac Maxfield (S) pin Zack Cather (F) 1:47. 160 – Kye McCollaum (C) pin Dax Miller (F) 1:10. 170 – Manny Rivera (H) dec. Ben Crews (S) 6-2. 205 – Justin Hinson (H) pin Chase Krone (S) 3:45. 285 – Kyle Anderson (H) pin Garrett Hunt (C) 5:03
Runner up matches
103 – Kellen Robbins (S) dec. Will Flowers (C) 17-6. 120 – Benji Opat, (C) pinned Elliott Vandosell (S) 3:23. 132 – Anthony Dulac (F) – won by forfeit. 145 – Laine Petri (H) dec. Derrick Gasvoda, (C) 14-2. 170 – Spencer Jones (F) pin Aaron Swafford (H) 4:52. 182 – Hunter Baron (C) pin Jacon Woods (S) 3:40. 205 – Harley Wise (C) dec. Bailey Hays (H), 15-9.
Frenchtown 50, Stevensville 21
103 – Walker Dyer, F, pin Caleb Olsen, 3:47; 113 – Kelson Bauman, F, dec. Kellen Robbins, 7-5; 120 – Zach Blanchard, F, pin Elliott Vansodell, 2:17; 132 – Riley Gurr, F, pin Sam Loveless, 1:03; 152 – Bryce Williams, F, tech fall Isaak Maxfield, 17-2 (5:23); 170 – Ben Crews, S, pin Tate Jones, 2:39; 182 – Jerry Cassidy, S, dec. Levi Downard, 6-4.