The Thunder Mountain High School wrestling team will wrestle with non-teammates for the first time of the season this weekend.
The Brandon Pilot Invitational, hosted by TMHS, welcomes Wrangell, Mt. Edgecumbe, Sitka, Haines and Ketchikan for wrestling on Friday and Saturday.
A round-robin tournament starts at 4:30 p.m. at TMHS Friday. On Saturday, a bracketed tournament starts at 9 a.m. and goes all day. Weigh-ins are scheduled for 8 a.m.
There have been a few surprises for the team already this season, now only in its third full week of practice.
Head coach Jason Boyer left town on a temporary Coast Guard assignment just a few days before the season started. Assistant coach Josh Houston is filling in for Boyer in the interim over the next few weeks.
“It was a surprise to say the least,” said Houston of the coaching news.
“It was a rocky start but then, of course, we’re also waiting for football (players) to get in there so our room really hadn’t filled out,” Houston said. “You have a revolving door there the first few weeks of who’s going to do it.”
Houston helped get the TMHS wrestling program off the ground when it first started as an assistant. He is the current Floyd Dryden Middle School wrestling coach.
Houston sees all three of his captains — Carl Tupou (senior), Jacob Tapia (senior) and Connor Norman (junior) — to lead by example this season.
“They’re still settling into their weight classes,” Houston said. “That can make a difference on the success they have.”
Norman, a junior, knows this very well, after missing a shot at the state tournament after missing weight by 0.1 pounds at last year’s Region V tournament.
The wrestling season, which started Sept. 27, runs through the rest of the fall term, with the Region V meet scheduled for the first week in December in Ketchikan.
The team is hosting a crab feed fundraiser Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in the TMHS commons. Dungeness crab, corn, salad and rolls will be served to attendees for $25.
“There’s quite a few freshman but most of them wrestled before like in middle school and stuff,” Norman said of the team this year. “It definitely looks like it’s a good full room —more than last year.”
The Ketchikan Kings have won the last nine Region V championships.
Thunder Mountain High School Wrestling Team
Elias Burkhouse, Drake Carabajal, Camden Erickson, Jake Ferster, Chase Foster, Nate Houston, Hayden Lachester, Derek Mason, Jahrease Mays, Connor Norman, Cody Requa, DJ Scott, Austin Smith, Curtis Stauss, Nick Tipton, Carl Tupou, Bobby Cox, Steven Ireland-Haight, Austin Jackson, Kinsey Reeves, Tyler Halverson, Daniel Peters, Joshua Quinto, Ricky Ramirez, Jacob Tapia
2017 Wrestling Schedule
Oct. 20-21 Brandon Pilot Invitational hosted by TMHS
Oct. 27-28 at Ketchikan
Nov. 3-4 at Anchorage Christian School Invitational
Nov. 10-11 at Klawock
Nov. 17-18 at Lancer Smith Invitational (Palmer)
Dec. 1-2 at Sitka
Dec. 8-9 Regionals (Ketchikan)
Dec. 15-16 State (Anchorage)
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Thunder Mountain High School’s Derek Mason, front, wrestles Juneau-Douglas High School freshman Camden Erickson, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, at Thunder Mountain High School. (Nolin Ainsworth | Juneau Empire)
