McNary’s Gilbert Parra (left) won three matches for the Celtics at the Oregon Classic on Jan. 17-18 (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings).
At one of the biggest tournaments in the state, the McNary wrestling team made their way into the championship bracket at the Oregon Classic in Redmond on Jan.17-18, picking up dual victories against David Douglas and Cleveland.
The Celtics started off the tournament with a tough draw in Roseburg. Even through McNary was only able to win two of their matches against Roseburg, one of the dual’s highlights was Celtics 113-pounder Jordan Orr coming back to get a third round pin after falling behind by six points on the scoreboard.
“That’s the type of behavior we want to see from our kids. They give you six minutes to wrestle the match, so we want to see all six minutes of that. We want to make sure we’re taking advantage of everything during those six minutes,” McNary head coach Jason Ebbs said. “I like wrestling a team like Roseburg as many times as we can because it is a good measuring stick for where you’re at and how you are developing.”
McNary defeated Cleveland 45-32 in their next dual. The Celtics took advantage of three Cleveland forfeits and also got four pins from Grady Burrows (120), Eoan Sharabarin (126), Gilbert Parra (138) and Isaac Evarts (170).
The Celtics 45-30 victory over David Douglas — a team that beat McNary twice last year — in their third match qualified them for the championship bracket.
“David Douglas has been a thorn in our side for a lot of years, so that was super fun to get that win. The kids stepped up to that challenge,” Ebbs said.
Once they entered the quarterfinals, the Celtics had a hard time competing with some of the best teams in the state. McNary was unable to get a match win against Newberg — a team that Ebbs believes will be crowned state champs by the end of the season.
McNary then lost to Mount Hood Conference power Centennial 56-21 in their final match of the tournament.
“We didn’t match up real well with Centennial. I thought we could have won a couple more matches to make that dual a little closer,” Ebbs said.
McNary hosts South Salem in a dual meet on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.