Wrestling: Local teams light up the mats
Published 12:09 pm Monday, December 15, 2025
By PAUL MATLI
The Astorian
Local teams lit up the mats at Warrenton High School on Saturday afternoon.
The Warrenton Fast Lube and Oil Invitational was back for another year at Warrenton gym. Ten schools took to the mats, in what turned out to be a heated battle between three of the local schools.
Wahkiakum, Knappa, Corbett, Vernonia, Jewell, Ilwaco, Seaside, Clatskanie and Astoria joined host Warrenton for the afternoon. The competition gave community members an up close look at all the local teams. Based on the results from Saturday, Warrenton, Astoria, Seaside, Knappa and Jewell will have quality wrestlers this season.
After the early round bouts finished, there were five teams that separated themselves from the pack. With the third-place matches and championship matches set to start, Astoria, Clatskanie, Seaside, Warrenton and Ilwaco had a clear lead on the other five.
The Fishermen of Astoria ended up being the victors as they scored a total of 129.5 points. Clatskanie with 119.5 was second, Seaside was third with 118.5, Warrenton came home fourth with a total of 100 points, Ilwaco was fifth with 97.5 points. Jewell had a very respectable performance as they finished in sixth place with 69.5 points and Knappa finished ninth with 39.5 points.
Astoria’s depth on display
Though the Fisherman saw only one first place finisher, the Fishermen’s depth proved to be decisive.
Junior Beau Smith came in as the Fishermen’s standout wrestler and did not disappoint. Despite making a big leap to 150 pounds this year, Smith continued his dominance. Performing under the lights in the championship round, Smith pinned Zion Ausmus of Clatskanie within the first minute to take home top honors. He was joined on the podium for 150 pounds by teammate Liam Richardson, who finished third.
Other standouts for the Fishermen included Jacob Wolfe (138 pounds), Asher Hoffseth (144 pounds), James Dornin (157 pounds), Obie McCarley (157 pounds), Landon Reed (175 pounds), Paul Hellberg (175 pounds), MJ Brito (215 pounds) and Adrian Balli (285 pounds).
Wolfe finished fourth for the Fishermen at 138 and Hoffseth came home in fourth place for Astoria at 144. The Fishermen had success at the 157 pound division as both Dornin and McCarley placed in the top five. Dornin was third and McCarley was fifth. McCarley in particular entertained the crowd during his match under the lights against Jewell Freshman Deegan Williams. The two of them combined to score the most points of any match and had a number of impressive takedowns. Williams would win by fall in the third round after both wrestlers exhausted their tanks.
The heavier divisions were represented well by the Fishermen. Reed finished fourth at 175 pounds and his teammate Hellberg was sixth. Brito got third at 215 and Balli was second at 285 to Corbett wrestler Carl Orchard.
Seaside dominates championship rounds
Seaside wrestling ended with the most first-place awards.
The Seagulls had five athletes wrestle under the lights and saw three of them take first place. Henry Rollins (120 pounds), Brayden Cooley (165 pounds) and Sean Biles (190) were all winners on Saturday. Tristin Erspamer and Kyle Weichal were second place at 132 pounds and 144 pounds respectively.
Other podium finishers for Seaside included Silas Shirk (150 pounds) and Randy Martinez (190 pounds). Both athletes finished in a tie for sixth in their respective weight classes.
Warrenton standouts take care of business
The Warriors returned the most state qualifiers of any team with seven.
Warrenton was well represented as the home team on Saturday with multiple wrestlers taking home top honors. The Warriors tied Seaside for the most first places with three and had two of their heavyweights dueling in the finals again.
Finley Marshall (138 pounds), Chance Huntley (157 pounds) and Sean Irwin (215 pounds) were victorious for the Warriors on Saturday afternoon. Wyatt Huntley was second at 106 pounds, Kyle Bond was second to Rollins at 120 pounds, Rayce Sturgell was fourth at 126 pounds and Devon Sturgell was second at 215 pounds.
The 215 division between teammates Irwin and Sturgell has the looks of a season long battle. At the Kelly Bledsoe Invitational last Saturday, the two had a triple overtime thriller that was won by Sturgell and Saturday the match was knotted up until late in round three when Irwin took command.
Warrenton also saw Marshall and Huntley pin their opponents pretty quickly, much to the delight of the home crowd in attendance.
Knappa see three on podium
Weston Collier (120 pounds), Sitka Myers (175 pounds) and Camden Demase (285 pounds) represented Knappa boys wrestling on the podium.
Collier was fourth at 120, Myers finished third at 175 and Demase was fourth at 285.
Jewell well represented
Jewell boys brought a strong contingent of wrestlers to Warrenton on Saturday.
The small school saw lots of representation on the podium with multiple athletes finishing in the top six.
David Kurns (144 pounds), Hunter Rodgers (150 pounds), Hunter Sperling (150 pounds), Deegan Williams (157 pounds), Christopher Park (165 pounds), Samuel Woodward (165 pounds) and Levi Lynch (190 pounds) were all podium finishers for the Blue Jays.
Kurns tied for sixth place at 144 pounds, Rodgers and Sperling were fourth and sixth at 150 respectively, while Williams was fourth place at 157. Park and Woodward were second and fourth at 165 pounds, while Lynch was fourth at 190 pounds.
