South Fork Senior’s First Place Win at HDN Sends Him to North Coast Section Championships

Aaron Etherton claimed first place at the HDNL county championships that were held at Fortuna High last weekend.

Information provided by Chad Kirk, South Fork High School’s Wrestling Coach:

South Fork High had one wrestler competing in the Boys North Coast Section/ Les Schwab Tires Wrestling Championships (NCS) this weekend at James Logan High in Union City. 195lb senior, Aaron Etherton, claimed first place at the Humboldt-Del Norte League championships (HDN) that were held at Fortuna High last weekend sending him to NCS this weekend.

Aaron’s skill is well known in our league. After HDN he had a 22/1 record. On Friday, he increased his win tally by two. Solidly handling both opponents without issue, Aaron was seeded 8th in NCS. His placement on the bracket meant that on Saturday he had his work cut out for him. In his first match of the day he faced Adrian Chavez from Liberty High who was seeded number one in the tournament. Chavez is an extremely impressive wrestler. Early in their match Chavez was able to put Aaron in a well-executed armbar. Aaron fought hard to defend against that armbar but Chavez had it sunk in so tightly that it not only tweaked Aaron’s shoulder but it also became the first time in this entire season that Aaron got pinned in a match.

When the time came, Aaron decided to wrestle his next match through the pain of the shoulder injury that he received earlier in the day. Personally, l have no doubt that had Aaron been healthy he would have handled this next kid without issue. Even though Aaron put everything he could into this match, it was obvious that he was battling through excruciating pain. He toughed it out into the third period. It reached a point where Aaron could fight no more. The match ended due to an injury forfeit in the last minute of the third period. The wrestler that Aaron had to forfeit this match to ended up taking 5th place in the tournament. Aaron had a good day ahead of him if it hadn’t been for that injury. He gave it his all and left it out on the mat. Win or lose he has every reason to hold his head high.

Aaron’s co-captain Levi Kirk has been out of the Season since the Eureka tournament last month due to a shoulder injury. Levi accompanied us to this tournament to act as my assistant coach and help Aaron through the last tournament of his senior year. We also had John Gamble along with us on this trip. He came along to help video the matches and be of any support that he could to his teammates. I have really enjoyed coaching this team seasons. I’ve learned a lot from all of these kids and they have helped me remember all the reasons why I truly believe this is the greatest that has ever existed.

Aaron Etherton, Levi Kirk, Ayanna Barrios, Kaydon Pogue, Daphne Hobbs, John Gamble, Orin Paula, Ashley Carr, Clayton Carr and Jared Sullins. I thank you all for making my first wrestling season as coach something that I will never forget and I appreciate all of you for your own reasons. I wish the best of luck to our seniors in anything and everything that they do from here on out. As for the rest of you, I look forward to seeing how far we can progress your skills next year.