Wrestling in Pilot's memory

Two years have passed since an auto accident claimed the life of Juneau-Douglas High School wrestler Brandon Pilot, but his memory is still very much alive as the current high school team prepares for this weekend's Brandon Pilot Invitational meet.

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"Brandon Pilot - that's the first thing they look at, the thing that's most important to them," Juneau wrestling coach Bob Mahon said of his team going into the meet. "It's important to the kids, especially the ones that wrestled with Brandon."

This weekend's meet will be held Friday and Saturday in the main gym at the high school. Matches, expected to include wrestlers from all Southeast wrestling programs, should begin at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday and at about 10 a.m. Saturday. Finals will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Pilot, a sophomore, died on Nov. 18, 2000, in a rollover accident on Fish Creek Road. One week later, the wrestling team went on with the scheduled Thanksgiving Classic wrestling meet, dedicated it to Pilot's memory and won the team title.

Last year the Thanksgiving Classic was renamed in honor of Pilot. Ketchikan won that meet, but it was not for lack of heart on Juneau's behalf. Even now, younger wrestlers on the squad - kids who did not have the chance to wrestle with Pilot - are expressing a desire to perform well in his memory.

"I never knew him, but a lot of the kids on the team did and I've heard stories," said sophomore Sungie Musarra. "He was a really good guy, and we want to do well for him."

In addition to wanting to wrestle well for Pilot, the Crimson Bears are also anxious to wrestle with the advantage of the home mats. This weekend's meet will be the first time in nearly a year that Juneau has wrestled in front of a home crowd.

Senior co-captain David Liliedahl said the recent success of other Juneau high school sports teams is inspiring him to aim high this weekend and for the rest of the season.

"After seeing the volleyball and swim teams winning state, I've been looking at state for wrestling," Liliedahl said. "This is a big meet, and hopefully wrestling can bring in the crowds.

"All the crowd cheering for you - it's huge," he said of the impact of wrestling at home. "It can get you that little extra bit (of energy) to pull out a point. It's a real booster."

"You want to win a lot more when you're in front of your hometown, the people you know," Musarra said.

This weekend's meet is sure to feature many close matches for the hometown crowd to watch. One rivalry that has been building all season is between Juneau's Isaac Cadiente and Ketchikan's Matt Haseltine at 145 pounds.

Haseltine has beat Cadiente all three times they've faced each other this year, but the matches have been very close. Mahon called the Haseltine-Cadiente championship match at Wrangell's Tom Sims Invitational earlier this month one of the best high school matches he has ever seen.

Other Juneau wrestlers that have been performing well so far this season include Cody Wolf at 103 pounds; Musarra at 112; Dennis Hall at 119; Liliedahl at 130; Jake Ritter at 189; and Robert Vicario at 215.

Other top out-of-town wrestlers to keep an eye out for this weekend include Ketchikan's David Mann and Sitka's Jim Jurczak, both at 103 pounds; Chris Schnurr of Klawock at 119; Wrangell's Harry Churchill at 135; Petersburg's Jake Oyler at 140; and some of the top heavyweight wrestlers in the state - Sitka's Mike Loucks, Jon Hamilton of Ketchikan and Petersburg's Geoff Hall.

This weekend's match is the last time that large and small Southeast schools will meet this season, since Class 2A and 3A schools have a different season than Class 4A schools.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, Juneau will travel to Anchorage from Dec. 5-7 for meets at Dimond and Bartlett, then return to tough Southeast competition with Sitka and Ketchikan later in December.

"After this weekend, it'll be sizing each other up for regions for the rest of the year," he said.

Andrew Krueger can be reached at akrueger@juneauempire.com.