Foss breaks wrestling drought for South

Published 12:45 am Sunday, February 25, 2024

PORTLAND — South Medford’s Bridger Foss learned a valuable lesson in possibly one of the hardest ways last year at the Class 6A boys wrestling state championships.

It looked like Foss would have an individual 152-pound title in the bag, but Henry Dillingham of West Linn scored off a roll in the closing seconds to win by a 5-4 decision. That experience showed Foss that every moment on the mat is unpredictable and nothing is guaranteed.

And on Saturday night at the Memorial Coliseum, he aced his finals test with a dominant match against Forest Grove’s Brandon Cook to secure an individual title at 175 pounds by an 8-0 major decision.

The junior kept Cook struggling on the mat for the full six minutes, while never looking in any danger of letting him escape, pull a reversal or make a surprise move.

“I kept on him for the whole six minutes,” said Foss. “And this time, I came up with a state championship.”

Not only did a first-time champion rise, Foss became the first Panther to win a state title since Ian Taylor won at 215 in 2000.

That drought was broken with a season of dominance, as Foss walked away victorious in all of his 46 contests — only having four points scored against him all year, according to South Medford coach James Schumack.

“He’s a great wrestler, a great human being and I couldn’t be happier for him,” said Schumack. “Learning that lesson in his sophomore year and being able to carry it through and be undefeated state champion as a junior, how else do you want someone to respond back than with the season that Bridger just had.”

The top-seeded Foss started his championship run with two pins and a bye due to a medical forfeit in the opening rounds. In the semifinals, he had his first offensive points of the season scored on him by Glencoe’s Isaac Reynoso in a 12-2 major decision.

“I’m just glad that I could be that guy to break the streak,” Foss said reflecting on his breakthrough season for the Panthers. “I worked my butt off all week and all season to get here and be that guy.”

“It feels amazing,” he added. “This is what I’ve dreamed of for a really long time and, of course, last year just falling short, it just fueled the fire to push even harder this year.”

That first individual state title in 24 years was complemented by South Medford finishing in sixth place in the team standings with 113 points, which surpassed last year’s finish for the highest in program history.

“Winning an individual state title is going to be a big sigh of relief for everybody,” said Schumack. “Now, we can relax a little bit and move forward and make another run next year and hopefully have a couple more on top of the podium.”

Newberg seized back control of the 6A crown with a dominant 353 team points thanks to nine wrestlers in the finals, resulting in four individual champions.

Isa De La Torre (215) placed third for South Medford in his first taste of the state tournament after he won the first tiebreaker over Sherwood’s Walter Dahme in a 9-8 victory during the third-place final.

Fellow Panther Li Moala (285) placed sixth after qualifying to the semifinals, where he lost to the eventual undefeated champion Domonic Macon of Nelson.

North Medford’s Heston Likens (150) placed sixth after a 4-2 tiebreaker loss to Barlow’s Nicholas Roth.