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Sports 1B Friday February 5, 2010 Friday Boys Basketball — Enterprise at Red Bluff, 7:30 p.m. Boys Basketball — Anderson at Corning, 7:30 p.m. Basketball — Williams at Los Molinos, boys and girls Basketball — Mercy, boys and girls, at Liberty Christian Girls Basketball — Red Bluff at Enterprise, 7:30 p.m. NBA — Suns at Kings, 7 p.m., CSNCA By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Oroville couldn't match Red Bluff in weight, both figuratively and literally, Thursday night. On the Spartans senior night, Red Bluff cruised to a 69-4 victory on a night where Oroville had to for- feit six matches. While Red Bluff was fronted 36 points just in forfeits, coach Dave Rottenberg said it was still important for his Spartans to come out strong and not get tripped up on what appeared to be an easy night on the mats. "Our goal in every match is not to waste any match," Rottenberg said. Kurt Buxton started the night off, by not wast- ing his 105-pound match with Jonathon Craig, securing a pin in 1:45. Daniel St. John then found himself in a battle with Matt Johnson at 114 pounds and had to hold on in the final 30 seconds to secure a 2-0 win. Kyle Crisel won by pin over Miranda Hale at 121 pounds, but it was anything, but an easy vic- tory. Crisel and Hale both were saved by periods ending. Crisel trailed at two different stages at the match and after succeeding position to start the third was down 8-7. He rallied back for a 12-8 lead, before getting the pin with 16 seconds left on the match. Tyler Demerath was tied 4-4 with Lucas Mosier after two periods, but rallied back with an escape and a takedown for a 7-4 win at 127 pounds. Sultan Beardsley breezed through his match with Darius Bucur before ending it with a pin in 2:54. Kyle Case also pinned his opponent, Jake Thorton, at 4:42 in the 142-pound division. Bryce Eggert went the distance with Dan Lyle at 162 pounds, but won 6-2. Peter Phelan had Oroville's lone victory with a 12-0 major decision over Dylan Gorbet at 191 pounds. Bryce Blanchard, J.T. Reid, Dillon Reid, Avory Bays, Jeff Skaggs and Taylor Wilson were the recipients of forfeit wins. Taylor Hickson was held out of the meet for precautionary reasons. Before the match the Spartans senior class of Sultan Beardsley, Bryce Blanchard, Kurt Buxton, Dylan Gorbet, Taylor Hickson, J.T. Reid, Taylor Wilson and Jacob McManus were honored. For Rottenberg, it was a group that was unique to his recent string of senior classes, in that it was- n't carried by stars. "It's not like the teams of the past. We weren't expected to dominate," he said. "(With this group) No one wants to be the weak link." Dominate the Spartans have this season, win- ning their duals by a combined 1060-355 score. As they approach the three-week run of the Eastern Athletic League, Division I and Masters Championships beginning Feb. 13. "I've said along all season we're not the No. 1 team in the section, but we have to train everyday so if somebody falters we're going to be right there," Rottenberg said, adding he likes the chances of that happening in the coming weeks. Corning Cardinals The Cardinals earned a 38-22 dual meet victory over West Valley, Wednesday. Nick Johnson and Johnathon Jones picked up pin victories for the Cardinals. Johnson pinned Tyler Lucero at 142 in 3:32 and Jones pinned Jesse Rob- bins in 1:39 at 154 pounds. Thomas Marshall had a nice 2-1 victory over Austin Lobsinger at 217. Sean Lowe scored a 20-4 technical fall vic- tory over Matt Gardner at 121 pounds. Billy Crawford continued his winning ways with a 4-0 win over Forrest Fells at 162 pounds. At 137 pounds, Cole Holland defeated Sammy Morales, 8-6 in overtime. Tanner Johnson defeated Sammy Jones 6-1 at 127 pounds and Eric Miranda beat Zack Schali 10-6 at 191 pounds. Martin Solano won by forfeit at 114 pounds. Courtesy photo Pictured are the Top Fuelers who placed in the Eastside Classic Wrestling Tournament in Palo Cedro at Foothill High School held, Saturday. All of the wrestlers placed at the Junior Varsity level except Tyler Cox who qualified and placed fourth in the Varsity 122-pound weight division. From top left: Zack, second at 77 pounds, Cody Shira second at110 pounds,Tyler Cox, fourth at Varsity 122 pounds, Bode Parks, second at 116 pounds, Kollen Maxwell third at 70 pounds, Tyler Shira, third at 65 pounds, John Raker, second at 63 pounds, Tyler Parks, first at 55 pounds, Tanner Gantenbein, second at 70 pounds, Andon Alcala, third at 40 pounds, Colby Pryor, second at 43 pounds and Triston Vaillette, first at 40 pounds. JV Top Fuelers shine at Eastside Classic Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff's Kurt Buxton (green) holds down Oroville's Jonathan Craig, Thursday. Union leader paints bleak future for NFL FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The question to D e M a u - rice Smith was sim- ple, com- ing from Cincinnati r e c e i v e r C h a d Ochocinco, asking how seri- ous he viewed the possibility of football not being played in 2011. Smith did not hesitate. ''On a scale of 1 to 10,'' Smith said Thursday, ''it's a 14.'' With that, the executive director of the NFL Players Association painted perhaps the bleakest picture yet regarding prospects of labor strife in the league, which could be looking at a 2010 season with no salary cap and, if the collective bargain- ing agreement expires as scheduled in March 2011, a lockout that year. ''I keep coming back to an economic model in America that is unparal- leled,'' said Smith, who often repeated phrases for emphasis. ''And that makes it incredibly difficult to then come to players and say, on average, each of you needs to take a $340,000 pay cut to save the National Football League. Tough sell. Tough sell.'' Smith said the NFL would receive $5 billion from its network television deals even if no games are played in 2011. He regarded that as proof owners are preparing for a lockout. ''Has any one of the prior deals included $5 billion to not play football?'' Smith asked, referring to previous contracts that were extended or redone. ''The answer's no.'' Some of Smith's nearly hour-long question-and- answer session during Super Bowl week was spent reiter- ating past claims, such as team values increasing ''almost 500 percent'' over the last 15 years. There was also a call to have all 32 NFL teams open their books to show who was losing money and how much. Smith also said he want- ed teams to contribute what, ultimately, would be mil- lions into what he called ''a legacy fund'' that would bet- ter support retired players. Most of his focus, how- ever, was on getting a new CAB. ''I really and truly in my heart believe we'll get a deal done,'' NFLPA president Kevin Mawae said. ''But there's going to have to be some give and some take and not just taking from one side all the way.'' The league's response, in part, said that teams like the Green Bay Packers — whose audited financial statements are the only ones the union said it has seen — have had a 40 percent decline in profits. ''In most businesses, that would be a serious cause for concern,'' said Jeff Pash, the NFL's executive vice presi- dent and chief counsel. ''It would indicate a serious issue that has to be dealt with. You look at your single largest expense, which is player costs.'' Smith said the latest NFL offer to the players would reduce their share to 41 per- cent of applied revenues from about 59 percent. He emphasized that the teams take $1 billion off the top of the estimated $8 billion the league generates. Pash argued that the $1 billion reflects actual costs incurred, money ''invested in things like NFL Network, NFL.com, putting games on overseas, all of which is intended to and has in fact See NFL, page 2B Spartans win, seniors honored