CAMAS — For Camas senior Brandon King, the move came naturally — even if it was a little unconventional.
“I just wanted to win, so I just did a football move and tackled him,” King said Saturday, after capturing the 215-pound title at the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League district wrestling tournament.
Would you expect anything less from a noseguard on the football team?
With the final seconds of regulation ticking away and the score tied 6-6, King drove forward and managed to bring down Union’s Bryson Page, scoring a takedown and securing the title as time expired.
“I had to win,” King said. “I thought, ‘I gotta go, gotta go, gotta go.’ ”
While King’s victory might have been the most exciting of the championship round, it wasn’t enough for Camas to overcome Union’s overall excellence in the tournament.
The Titans will capture the team title, standing with 371 points led by six individual champions. Camas is second with 277 points, followed by Prairie with 246.5.
Three matches remain to be wrestled Monday. In those cases, the competitors had reached their maximum of five matches in a day prior to Saturday night’s consolation finals. But Union’s lead in the team standings is safe.
Saturday’s league championship served as a qualifier for next week’s regional meet, making it the first stop on the road toward the state tournament. The top four finishers in each weight class advance.
None of those qualifiers will be more rested than Clint Coulter, a 189-pound sophomore from Union. Coulter (32-0 with 25 pins) needed 46 second to defeat Michael Koehler of Camas in the championship match. That gave Coulter three pins in a total of 1:55 at the tournament.
“I expected to do just as well as I did,” he said. “I like to come away with something from each match. You learn more when you lose, but I can take something away from a win.”
In addition to Coulter, Union got titles from Preston Hu at 119, Tyler Davis at 125, Ricky Simon at 140, Dillon Thomas at 171, and Max Proudfit at 285. From the 14 weight classes, Union qualified 17 wrestlers for the regional meet.
Union coach John Godinho said: “We wrestled well as a team. That was our third goal this season — county, league champs, district champs.”
With each of those accomplished, what’s next on the agenda?
“We want to get Top 4 in state,” Godinho said.
