Crater's Ryland Walters works toward a pin of Thurston's Aydan Beckstead during the 175-pound match Thursday in Central Point.

Facing a rematch of the Northwest Duals championship final, Crater’s wrestling team geared up for what should have been a marquee Midwestern League matchup with Thurston in Central Point.

Unfortunately, the Colts weren’t able to field their top lineup due to some illness and injuries, and that seemed to leave the Comets a little flat to open Thursday’s dual meet.

Once Crater shook off the cobwebs, however, the overall dominance the team is capable of came to the forefront as the Comets won seven of the final eight matches to erase a 22-6 deficit and win going away, 48-28.

“I just felt we were a little lackadaisical and had a little bit of a mental letdown,” said Crater head coach Greg Haga. “We were getting mentally ready to wrestle a certain group and when that group doesn’t show up — I’m the last one to make an excuse — but I think it was a little bit where our kids didn’t seem quite that focused to me.”

“I thought once we got going a little bit with those upper weight guys, they’re pretty solid,” he added. “We’re pretty strong there.”

Reigning state champion Jeremiah Oliva scored Crater’s lone win in the opening six matches, scoring a fall in 1 minute, 3 seconds over Truman Winningham at 126 pounds.

However, it wasn’t like the Comets weren’t in position for more positive outcomes in that span. There were just too many doors left open for Thurston’s wrestlers in the lower weights, and the Colts routinely magnified any little mistake.

“All of those matches we’re right in there with them and we make a mistake,” said Haga. “We had some young kids in there, but you’ve still got to get the job done. It doesn’t matter if you’re a young kid or not, you’ve got the singlet on and you’ve got to compete.”

The tide began to turn when Jaret Hickey scored a pin over Hunter Reed at 144 pounds, then really cranked up with aggressive early action from Aidan Godley (150) and Jaxson Godley (157) that resulted in first-round pins — the latter in 37 seconds.

Truth be told, the Comets could have gone a perfect 8-for-8 down the stretch were it not for some misfortune for Boston Tazioli at 165. Tazioli built a 10-1 lead over Bill Matheus before becoming queasy with about 20 seconds remaining in the first round.

After action took the wrestling pair off the mat, Tazioli had to use an injury timeout to quell a sudden rush of nausea. The effects carried over and the Crater wrestler was a mere shell of himself the rest of the match, having to exit the mat again midway through the second round in another rush of sickness. He wound up losing the lead by the end of the round and ultimately was pinned in the third round with no more timeouts remaining.

“You can’t stop yourself from throwing up when you’re not feeling good,” said Haga. “He got to a point where if he stopped again then he’s DQ’d anyway, so that’s a tough one to swallow.”

The rest of the way proved smooth sailing for Crater, with Ryland Walters (175), Daemian Deen (190), Giovanni Gonzales (215) and Travis Ege (285) securing the comeback victory with first-round pins. The longest wait was for Gonzales, who needed 81 seconds, while Ege’s match was over in a flash with a 13-second fall.

Haga had mixed emotions over a little wakeup call served up Thursday night for his team, which has routinely churned out tournament titles and numerous championship efforts through the first half of the season.

“Experience tells me, yes, you need that, but my emotions tell me, no, we don’t need that,” the coach said with a laugh. “It’s not like we haven’t been there before.”

“A lot of times you get cruising along pretty good,” he added. “You win a few tournaments and sometimes you maybe think you’re a little better than you are, and sometimes you need a little slap in the face to make you realize that we’ve got to strap it on and get after it some more. I felt some of our guys competed well and I felt some of our guys were like, ‘Oh yeah, you know we’re pretty tough,’ and didn’t quite do the job that they needed to do.”

The Comets next square off against traditional rival Eagle Point on Wednesday before heading to the Oregon Classic as well as the marquee Reser’s Tournament of Champions later in the month, and their wrestling room expects to be pretty lively moving forward.

“We’ve kind of cruised along a little bit and done fairly well but now it’s time to get a lot tougher,” said Haga. “It’s one thing to be kind of good but now we’ve got to get tough. That will be our focus here in the next few days.”

106 — Samuel Greenstreet, Thu, dec. Brayden Martinez, 11-9; 113 — Dorian Valdovinos, Thu, pinned Mike Diaz-Torres, 4:54; 120 — Hayden Melendrez, Thu, pinned A.J. Perez, :45; 126 — Jeremiah Oliva, Cra, pinned Truman Winningham, 1:03; 132 — Sawyer Greenstreet, Thu, major dec. Philip Alger, 13-4.

138 — Taylor Culp, Thu, dec. Haeden Durighello, 11-5; 144 — Jaret Hickey, Cra, pinned Hunter Reed, 2:39; 150 — Aidan Godley, Cra, pinned Nathan Wallace, 1:52; 157 — Jaxson Godley, Cra, pinned Anthony Zamudio, :37.

165 — Bill Matheus, Thu, pinned Boston Tazioli, 4:40; 175 — Ryland Walters, Cra, pinned Aydan Beckstead, 1:06; 190 — Daemian Deen, Cra, pinned Khrom Barrs, 1:16; 215 — Giovanni Gonzales, Cra, pinned Aaron Quiroz, 1:21; 285 — Travis Ege, Cra, pinned Austin Wilkins, :13.

SOUTH MEDFORD SWEEPS: South Medford enjoyed a pair of Southwest Conference victories at home Wednesday night, with the Panther boys securing a 47-36 win over Grants Pass and the Panther girls edging the Cavers 33-29.

South Medford won five of the final six weight classes to push past Grants Pass in the boys dual, getting triumphs from Brody Foss (157), Bridger Foss (175), Corbyn Schumack (190), Keegan Thonstad (215) and Isa De La Torre (285) to seal the SWC outcome.

The Panthers were coming off a second-place finish in the NorCal Tournament, with the Foss brothers and De La Torre earning championships at 157, 190 and 285, respectively. The girls team got title efforts from Zailyn Martinez (105), Jamie Baldwin (115) and Gracie Arredondo (130) in the same tournament.

Freshman Stephen Allen (126) picked up a big early win for the Panther boys against the Cavemen.

BOYS TEAM SCORE: South Medford 47, Grants Pass 36

106 — Patrick Murphy, GP, pinned Jacob James, :23; 113 — Adonis Donald, GP, pinned Alexander Jimenez, 1:48; 120 — Blake Harris, SM, won by forfeit; 126 — Stephen Allen, SM, pinned Kail Swafford, 2:37; 132 — Zane Hill, GP, pinned Levi Wolters, 1:38.

138 — Michael Martin, GP, pinned Isaac Montes de Oca, 3:18; 144 — Kassius Rague, SM, won by forfeit; 150 — Aiden Swanson, GP, pinned Kaden Miller, 3:57; 157 — Brody Foss, SM, tech. fall Marcus Farley, 17-0.

165 — Owen Hull, GP, pinned Carter Schack, :19; 175 — Bridger Foss, SM, pinned Isaiah Cowles, 1:28; 190 — Corbyn Schumack, SM, Emileo Dominguez-Viera, 1:15; 215 — Keegan Thonstad, SM, pinned Andrew Hamilton, 1:13; 285 — Isa De La Torre, SM, pinned Carlos Dominguez-Viera, 2:53.

GIRLS TEAM SCORE: South Medford 33, Grants Pass 29

100 — Maya Bushey, SM, dec. Nola McNamara, 16-10; 105 — Zailyn Martinez, SM, won by forfeit; 110 — Quinn Lougheed, SM, won by forfeit; 115 — Jamie Baldwin, SM, pinned Brielle Tanner, 1:51; 120 — Reese Isabell, GP, won by forfeit.

125 — Paxton Brons, GP, won by forfeit; 130 — Double forfeit; 135 — Savanna Ransom, GP, pinned Gracie Arredondo, 4:38; 140 — Aurora Guerini-Bolt, GP, tech. fall McKinley Abbott-Dale, 15-0.

145 — Alexis Espinoza, GP, won by forfeit; 155 — Double forfeit; 170 — Double forfeit; 190 — Leilarose Calva, SM, pinned Destiny Ortiz, 2:58; 235 — Mia Nicasio, SM, won by forfeit.

NORTH MEDFORD SPLITS: At Roseburg, North Medford’s Anthony Hall (138), Heston Likens (157) and Dominic Alvarenga (285) registered falls in a 61-18 setback to Roseburg.

Only two matches went to the mat in North Medford’s 36-6 girls wrestling victory, with the Black Tornado’s Samantha Cortez scoring a pin of Leighton Bumcrot at 120 pounds (3:00) and Sadie Hall recording a pin in 52 seconds at 135 over Dannika Gouge.

106 — Zaine Bennett, Ros, won by forfeit; 113 — Drew Dawson, Ros, pinned Brandon Escalante, :22; 120 — Carter Dawson, Ros, pinned Bennett Chinburg, :52; 126 — Jack Olsen, Ros, tech. fall Samuel Hesler, 15-0; 132 — Roman Leaton, Ros, dec. Joseph Borraggine, 7-4.

138 — Anthony Hall, NM, pinned Owen Mignola, 3:37; 144 — Izak Hutchins, Ros, tech. fall Hunter Bell, 18-1; 150 — Gabe Konig, Ros, won by forfeit; 157 — Heston Likens, NM, pinned Nathan Padilla, 1:32.

165 — Tyler Rietmann, Ros, pinned Jeb Ramirez, 5:50; 175 — Daniel Patrick, Ros, pinned Austen Huffman, :40; 190 — Clark Gibson, Ros, won by forfeit; 215 — Grady Chasteen, Ros, won by forfeit; 285 — Dominic Alvarenga, NM, pinned George Gibby, 3:48.