By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
Yukon ended it’s dual season on an impressive note Thursday night and now turns its attention towards regionals and qualifying for state.
The Millers won the first nine matches and 13 overall in rolling to a 66-6 win over Edmond Santa Fe on YHS’ home mat.
It was the fourth lopsided win in a row for the Millers, 5-3. In their last four duals, YHS has outscored their opponents 267-36.
And, Thursday night was no different. The Millers had 21 takedowns to only three for Santa Fe and had six falls to the Wolves’ one.
“That was great, it was what we were looking for,” Miller head coach Joe Schneider said. “We were 21-3 in takedowns, are getting better on our feet. That is the stage we are at, we more confident in cutting people, get that first takedown and for grinding on guys on top, they don’t want to choose to be on bottom so they choose neutral.
“We have been talking about that and one of the areas of our philosophy of what we have focused on,” he said. “We saw some different setups and returns and have more people afraid of choosing bottom, so they are choosing neutral.
“We did game plan these guys. We saw them at conference and at Jenks so we knew what we were getting into. It was a great match.”
One of the marquee match-ups of the night came at 132-pounds where Yukon’s Wallace Tilley matched up with Darrius Stewart. The two faced off in the conference tournament and at Jenks and both times were close matches. The match, like the earlier ones, did start out close and was tied 0-0 after the opening two minutes.
But, the second period put the match in Tilley’s favor. He reversed out of the bottom position, then put him to his back twice to open an 8-0 lead. In the third period, Tilley scored a takedown from the neutral position and scored a third nearfall for a 13-0 lead. After an escape by Stewart, Tilley recorded another takedown and received a penalty point to win the match by a 16-2 major decision.
“He has always had a close match with that guy,” Schneider said. “We beat him at Jenks, at conference, but this was taking it to that guy. He beat us last year for fifth in regionals.
“We found a lot of fuel for the fire tonight,” he said. “It was good to get out of the room and beat someone up. We took care of business tonight.”
Tilley’s win gave the Millers a 24-0 lead and that was followed up by Caleb Moore’s pin over Andrew Somsack in 3:29. Moore had chances to end the match in the first period, scoring three nearfalls. He led 11-2 after one period and was up 14-2 when he recorded the fall.
Jaxen Gilmore continued his run on ending matches early. He pinned Buck Santos in 57 seconds at 145-pounds to open a 36-0 lead.
Cody Johnson’s 7-4 win over Khierron Sharp at 152 and Jace Martin’s 5-2 decision over Tyler Haley at 160 ran the lead to 42-0 lead.
Santa Fe ended the Miller match win streak at 170 when Hayden Adkins pinned Noe Rios in 2:49. The Millers finished the night winning the final four matches. Landon Donoho pinned Vidal Fernandez in 1:41, Corbin Gordon pinned Collin McQueen in 46 seconds and YHS received forfeits at 220 and heavyweight. Gordon had actually trailed 5-0 in his match, fought off a pin attempt, then reversed McQueen into a headlock and the fall.
Cooper Mahaffey opened the dual pinning Sutton Little in 1:13 at 106. Studd Morris scored a 17-2 technical fall over Dalton Raiburn at 113 and Kyler Chaparro decisioned Yamasi redeagle 4-2. Kylon Burgert pinned Elijah Depona in 3:44 at 126 to open a 20-0 lead.
“It was a good way to end the season,” Schneider said. “I know we didn’t have too many dual meets, but we finished above .500 in duals. Going back 12 or 13 years, this is the first time we have had three dual losses in a season. We have had two then lost at dual state, but this is the first for regular season duals.
“It may not have been the most successful season in duals, but we competed well in tournaments,” he added. “We were runner-up at Jenks, battled well at conference and took fourth and finished fifth at the Hancock. It was still not terrible, we are getting there.”
