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Show .... WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008 • B1 Covering iphat matters most mm On the Mat Steve Wilson The powerful Spanish Fork Dons added another jewel to their string of region wrestling titles last Friday as they breezed to their I Ith title in I3 years by racking up 258.5 points — easily outdistancing second-place Lehi by a whopping 61 points. This thing was really never that close. In fact, the Dons had the title wrapped up before any of the 14 championship matches even took place. Spanish sent nine of its kids into the finals to wrestle for eight of the 14 gold medals. When the dust had cleared and the mats were rolled up, the Dons had won five of the eight matches they had participated in, and secured four second place finishes. The second-place Pioneers managed u respectable four individual titles. Leading the charge for the men in red were senior co-captains Rodney Cox at 135 pounds and Kyle Weight at 171. Both were more than impressive in coming away with region gold. For their efforts, both were voted Outstanding Wrestlers of the tournament. Cox for the lower weights and Weight in the upper weights. Cox, despite spending much of the year trying to settle on a final weight division to compete in, bouncing between 130, 135 and 140 pounds, chose to finish the season at 135 pounds. In his three-match romp to the region title, he recorded two second-round pins and a first-round pin in the championship match. He was on fire from start to finish. In the same vein, Kyle Weight nailed down two first-round pins and finished the night with a dominating 8—4 decision over highly regarded Zane Mendenhall of Lone Peak in the finals. Of the 18 wrestlers Spanish sent to the region fray, an impressive 15 of them qualified for the big 5A dance next week at the McKay Center on the UVSC campus. Normally, 15 kids would not be enough to win a state title, but with so much parity among the top tier of teams competing in 5A, 15 might just be a lucky number — it's certainly enough to make a legitimate run for the brass ring. Perhaps the most impressive angle to the Dons' title win was their ability to win every single match they should have won and a number of matches in which they were decided underdogs. And that, in a nutshell, spells out championshipr-any way you move the letters around^1'J-* Joining Cox and Weight as gold medal winners for the Dons were Kaleb Ash worth at 125 who had to beat one of the best in the state at that weight in Brock Nichols from PG. Ash worth, a talented sophomore who placed at state last year as a freshman, had a relatively east go of it winning a 12-5 decision. Hadley Thorpe picked up a championship medal at 140 pounds by defeating his own teammate, junior Tom Clark, on a masterful takedown with two tenths of a second left on the Scoreboard clock. These two talented warriors have battled each other all season in the practice room, with Clark winning the right to represent the Dons at varsity and Thorpe settling for the junior varsity slot. Thorpe raced to first place at last week's JV Region Championships and was fortunately placed in the opposite bracket from his mat mate Clark in the varsity affair. Both Dons breezed into the finals to face one another yet again. Clark jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but Thorpe soon knotted up the score in what became a seesaw battle between the two friends. With only 10 seconds left on the clock, and Clark ahead by one point, Thorpe wiggled out of Clark's grasp, tied the match at 11 and with both wrestlers standing near the edge of the mat, Hadley ducked down to take a double leg and managed to turn it into a takedown as the clock showed just .2 seconds. Those two takedown points have the gutsy See REGION • B2 Boys split games vs. Lone Peak, Lehi SF defeats Lehi Chad Vest STAFF W R I T E R The Lehi Pioneers took their 1-6 region record into the Don dome with hopes of getting a win to shake up the third and fourth place finishes in league play. Spanish Fork had a 3-4 region record and needed a victory to stay on track for an automatic state playoff berth at third place. Lehi jumped out to an early 6-3 advantage, but could only be seen in a rcarview mirror for the rest of the night. Only one lead change occurred and it happened early in the first quarter as the Dons took over and would not look back. The red and gray used a smothering man-to-man defense, coupled with allaround good offensive play to cruise to a 6 1 ^ 9 victory. Early in the first. Matt Gardner got things rolling for the Dons. He drove hard for the bucket before going airborne for a deuce and one. On the next possession, SF's Dallin Naulu weaved thru inside defenders for a nifty lay-up. The Pioneers kept it close with excellent passes See LEHI • B12 LP humbles Dons Chad Vest STAFF W R I T E R Kclscy Hall / Spanish Fork News TEAM LEADER: Matt Gardner sails above a Lehi player. Gardner led the team with 19 points. The Mighty Dons went on the road to face off with the league-leading Knights last Wednesday night in hopes of coming home with an upset victory over the top region team. Lone Peak jumped out of the gates with 17 first quarter points compared to the Dons' nine. From there, the red and gray fought a good fight to comeback on the reigning 5A state champs, but in the end, the home team's swarming defense and great inside game proved why they're the best team in Utah. The Knights humbled the Dons by the score of 72^44. In the first, Spanish was tied with Lone Peak midway through the quarter. A few huge treys from Gardner and Clayton kept it close, but the Knights soon caught on fire. They went on an 11-3 run kick-started by their tenacious defense which forced a couple of turnovers and tough shots for the Dons. Kevin Roberts saw his first action since he suffered a knee injury in the Logan tournament but it appeared that he wasn't at full speed due to his health and the long layoff. Spanish trailed by eight after the first. Lone Peak continued their offensive firepower in the second with strong rebounding and great shots in the paint. The Dons worked hard on getting high See LONE PEAK • B12 Danielle Jones / Spanish Fork News UP, UP AND AWAY: Devin Nelson takes off towards the hoop in the game against Lone Peak. FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE, SEE B2, B3 AND B12 |