PORTLAND – The floor of Portland’s Memorial Coliseum came under new management Saturday evening after the Hermiston Bulldogs put on the greatest performance ever at the OSAA State Wrestling tournament.

The Bulldogs won their third straight tournament going away, placing 16 of their 19 wrestlers in competition with four individual champions and outscoring second place Crater by 138 points with a state record score of 303.

And if any one individual has claim of the mat at the 5A class it is senior Ben Jorgensen, who became Hermiston’s second wrestler ever to win three titles. His last one came at 119 pounds against Hillsboro’s Zach Binkerd in a 6-2 decision.

To add to the challenge of a three-peat, Jorensen was going after a title at a class two weights higher than where he had stayed the previous three years.

“It’s just an awesome feeling,” Jorgensen said. “There are not many people out there who can say they’ve won three straight state titles and to be the second guy to ever do it from Hermiston – words can’t even describe it.

“I’ve heard other people say anyone can win at 103 pounds and you have to move up a couple of weights to become a true state champion. I don’t know about that, but to wrestle at a higher weight with these guys and prove that I’m just as tough as everybody else is awesome.”

Wasting no time against Binkerd, Jorgensen scored early in the first round with a takedown to set the tone. Starting in the down position in the second, Jorgensen quickly flipped Binkerd, gaining the points for a reversal and putting the Spartan wrestler on his back in one swift move.

“I just had to be aggressive out there,” Jorgensen said. “I’ve seen him wrestle before and (Jaylee Britt) wrestled him the round before this one and I found out he’s more of a conservative wrestler and I needed to make sure and dominate the match from the get-go. That first takedown pretty much sealed the deal that I was going to be aggressive that match.”

Jorgensen was not alone, though, atop the podium Saturday night with three Bulldog teammates joining him. And while Jorgensen won his in his as a swan song in purple and gold, freshmen Joey Delgado (103) and C.J. Dircksen (112) and sophomore Curtis Berger (171) have just announced their arrival in Oregon state wrestling.

Starting the run of Hermiston champions was Delgado, who continued his dominance over Crook County’s McKennan Buckner with a pinfall in 54 seconds. The win marked his third victory over Buckner this season and helped the Bulldog freshman earn the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler award for 5A.

“I felt a lot of confidence from those earlier matches,” Delgado said. “I thought that I had a good chance at winning it when I got him on the mat.”

In his first ever state tournament, Delgado said he felt some nerves being on the big stage, but having wrestled several big tournaments this year, those nerves quickly disappeared. And as an added bonus, the freshman had a two-time champion at 103 pounds in Joregensen to give him some key advice.

“I didn’t know exactly what he was going through, but I have an idea of what he needed to do going into this match because he’d already wrestled (Buckner),” Jorgensen said. “I just told him he had to go out there with the mindset that he could beat him because he had. I said, ‘If you go out there with that mindset, you’ve already beat him because he won’t be able to handle you.'”

Dircksen joined Delgado as a freshman champion with a very workman-like effort against Riley Omlid, winning a 4-2 decision.

“C.J. Dircksen had some of the best matches of the tournament with his intensity,” Hermiston coach Curt Berger said. “He was up against a couple of seniors and put it to them. It’s just the attitude and he’s a tough, tough wrestler.”

Completing the foursome of Hermiston wrestlers to finish first was Berger, ensuring the Bulldogs would finish with more champions than last year’s three.

Against No. 1 Anthony Juliano, Berger quickly made it apparent he was in control against the Century wrestler. Scoring a takedown in the early going, Berger finished with a 7-2 victory.

Being aggressive was key to Berger’s success all weekend, as he has grown leaps and bounds in two years of wrestling.

“He’s come a long ways,” coach Berger said. “At the beginning of the year I don’t think he would’ve won a state title, but it’s not how you start it’s how you finish. He made the commitment to go to 171 and he’s really worked super hard to get there. You could tell in his finals match that he is a physical 171-pounder.”

“I’d have to say the coaching staff and the assistant coaches have been the biggest difference this year,” Berger said. “On the coaching staff we had a lot of guys helping us every time out like Orlando Perez who helped warm me up and it helped a lot.”

But as was the case the last two years, it was not the champions who solely decided the team title. It was a joint effort with the other 12 Hermiston placers.

“It was an impressive team effort,” coach Berger said. “We’ve been dominant all year, but never more so than at the district tournament and then at the state tournament. 303 points is un-stinking-believable. It is amazing to me that we could bring 19 kids to state and have 16 of them place.”

Cody Britt and Bryce McMahon each contributed second place finishes.

Britt, as a senior and coming back after sitting out his junior year, tore through the tournament before facing Crater’s Brock Gutches. The No. 1 seeded Gutches finished it early with a 2:15 fall.

In his sophomore season, McMahon improved from the year before, but dropped a 6-0 finish to Cleveland senior Eric Luna.

And in his final match as a Hermiston wrestler, Brandon Adolf was able to shake the disappointment of a loss in the semifinals to knock off Glencoe wrestler Victor Aguilar 10-2 for a second straight third place finish.