One Central Oregon team picked up its first Oregon Classic championship, while another picked up its 19th this weekend in the annual dual-meet tournament at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center.

Two times the Mountain View wrestling team had advanced to the championship round only to come up short. That all changed Saturday evening when the Cougars beat Thurston 45-32 to claim the 5A Oregon Classic title, joining Culver as one of two Central Oregon teams to claim team titles over the weekend.

“I walked up to (Culver coach JD Alley) and said, ‘Hey, only 18 more to catch you,’” said Mountain View coach Les Combs. “Every kid that we weighed-in wrestled in at least a match. It was a full team effort, it wasn’t just our varsity lineup, it was every kid that we brought. Every kid contributed.”

It might have been the 19th time and 17th in a row, but being the top dog at the Oregon Classic never gets old for the 2A/1A wrestling powerhouse Culver, which has won the tournament every year since 2006.

“It feels as good as the first one,” Alley said after Culver won its final eight matches to take down Illinois Valley 57-17 in the finals. “We did lose some matches, we fought back and forth, but what a fun dual. I think (Illinois Valley) would even say that was a fun dual.”

The meeting between the first- and second-place finishers at last season’s 2A/1A state meet made for a particularly intense championship match.

Culver’s Cole Roff started the dual off with an upset win over Illinois Valley’s Mike Miller, the 106-pound champion from a year ago. Through the first four matches, Illinois Valley was thinking upset after winning three consecutive matches and taking an 11-3 lead.

Then Derek Torres stepped on the mat for the Bulldogs, got a pin in 17 seconds and the entire dual flipped.

“I felt like the vibe was pretty low after a couple of loses,” Torres said. “The coaches told me to turn it up, and I went out and did my thing and started the run for my boys.”

Culver went on to win nine of its next 10 bouts — all by way of a pin or forfeit — to keep its impressive winning streak at the Oregon Classic alive.

“We have been working to keep this streak alive since the first day of practice,” Torres said. “All the extra morning runs, practices before school, is starting to pay off.”

Mountain View secured its title by winning all six of its matches. The Cougars defeated Silverton 54-25, Ridgeview 66-21 and Milwaukie 76-12 on Friday. Then on Saturday, they took down Bend 64-3 and Redmond 49-21 before their narrow victory over Thurston in the championship.

“Our goal is to send 20-plus to state,” Combs said. “I don’t know if we are going to do that, but we need everyone to contribute and score points, and that is what happened this weekend.”

Newberg repeated as 6A champions, beating West Linn 40-31. La Grande toppled Crook County 47-22 to claim the 4A title. Thurston beat La Grande 34-24 to claim the girls team title.

Redmond finished fourth, Ridgeview finished sixth, and Bend High finished seventh in the eight-team bracket. In the girl’s bracket, Redmond finished sixth.

The Oregon Classic serves as a jumping off point for the rest of the regular season. Mountain View still has three tournaments circled — the Reser Tournament of Champions, the Intermountain Conference championships and the Class 5A state championships.

“This is one of four things that we were thinking about moving forward,” Combs said. “We got three more to go. We want to celebrate this and enjoy this one. Winning this tournament is pretty prestigious, but we don’t want this to be the culmination of the season.”