4A West Region Wrestling Tournament

Posted: February 15, 2016
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

ALDIE — Elizabeth Borst hugged her son John after he won the 182-pound championship by fall in 82 seconds at the 4A West Region wrestling tournament Saturday at John Champe High School, then after pulling away from the embrace she commented on the time of the match.

“A little too long,” she said.

“A little too long?” John replied, in mock indignation.

Elizabeth did have a point. John was sporting his “Clark Kent” glasses at the time. But when he takes them off to wrestle he really does resemble Kent’s alter ego, who made the look on Borst’s Sherando wrestling shirt — a large “S” inside a shield — famous. No one expects Borst to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but the manner in which he competes suggests that a building with a couple of floors might not be out of the question.

Borst’s pin against Branch was his ninth in nine postseason matches, and it took him longer to get than any of his three previous matches in the 4A West Region tournament. Borst’s first three matches consisted of two 31-second matches and one 56-second bout, and the junior now has an area-high 42 pins to go along with his 52-2 record.

“That’s a joke she and I have had the last two years,” said Borst in regards to his exchange with his mother. “I like to end matches as quick as I can. The quicker you get off the mat, the better.”

Borst was one of three area wrestlers to win titles Saturday, and for each of them, it was a familiar experience.

Borst (state champion at 170 pounds last year), won his second straight region title. James Wood 113-pound junior Aaron Black (state champion at 106 pounds in 2014), won his second region title in three years with a 4-2 win over Fauquier‘s Kyle Budd in the final. And Handley 132-pound senior Lio Quezada (state champion at 120 pounds in 2014) won his third straight regional title, though he was denied the chance to get his ninth pin in nine postseason matches — Jefferson Forest’s Blake Justis forfeited the final because of a previous injury.

Defending Group 4A state champion Fauquier won handily with 202 points, 48.5 more than runner-up Freedom-South Riding (153.5). Handley (four state qualifiers) tied for third with 116 points, James Wood (three) was ninth with 89, Sherando (two) was 10th with 87 and Millbrook (one) was 19th with 33.

The top four wrestlers in each weight class Saturday will participate in the Group 4A state tournament that will be held this Friday and Saturday at the Salem Civic Center.

Borst’s match with Branch (36-11) might have been his longest, but he did work quickly. He got his first takedown in five seconds, his second one in 20, and with three near-fall points he led 7-1 after 50 seconds.

Borst spent the next 32 seconds working a few different maneuvers in order to finish Branch off. After Borst hooked his left arm inside Branch’s, he was able to get on top of him and flatten him on the mat for the pin.

“I knew on top, I was not going to be able to turn him immediately,” Borst said. “That’s what I did the whole entire tournament. One move on my feet, then one move on top, and it was automatically a pin.

“I knew I’d have to let Kyle get up on his feet, then try and catch him on his back. I put him to his back, went with it from there and stuck him.”

Borst actually beat Branch faster than he did at the Conference 21A tournament — he needed 2:49 to beat him last week.

Borst is always trying to improve, and one of the things he said is helping him this year is listening more to his coaches and teammates, and absorbing advice on technique wherever he can get it.

Borst is not only picking up wrestling tips with his ears, but also comments on his appearance. In Borst’s first two high school seasons he walked around with a naked face, but since then he picked out glasses with dark, thick frames.

“To this day I get called Clark Kent,” Borst said. “I wore my Superman shirt today. I might as well own up to it. I like the ‘Clark Kent’ reference. Clark Kent. Superman. I don’t mind [being called those things].”

Sherando coach Pepper Martin said he was definitely impressed with Borst’s focus over the weekend.

“I believe three of his four opponents, he had wrestled earlier this year,” Martin said. “When you beat guys before and you’re matched up with them again, sometimes you can lose your focus a little bit. But he really stayed on track the whole tournament. He was just going out there and scoring at will.”

In addition to Borst, Sherando will also send senior Mike Duffy (second at 126 pounds, 49-6) to the state tournament. Duffy pinned two of his first three opponents but lost 14-3 in the final to Fauquier’s Ty Foster (third in Group 4A at 113 pounds last year). Duffy will be making his first state tournament appearance in two years.

Heading into the region tournament, Martin thought the Warriors had a chance to take six people to states. But senior Ben Avery — a state finalist last year at 285 pounds who was back in that weight class this year — never got a chance to compete in regions after fracturing a fibula in practice Wednesday.

Senior Curtis Guthridge (145 pounds) is another state tournament veteran, but he was taken down just before the buzzer sounded in the first overtime in his consolation semifinal match against John Champe’s Devyn Kreb — the 7-5 loss knocked him out of state tournament contention. Guthridge came back to take fifth place with a 10-8 overtime win.

“It’s very tough to see Ben’s wrestling career end without getting an opportunity to work his way back into the state finals,” Martin said. “It was a freak injury. Curtis’ weight class was pretty strong too. We lost a couple of very tough, close matches.

“It’s really tough when you see a senior’s wrestling career come to and end when their ultimate goal was to reach the state tournament, place high in a state tournament or be a state champion. It’s a little emotional. They were four-year starters for us, and [seniors] Kendall Helsley (170 pounds) and James Platts (152) were starters for the last two. They’re all fine young men, and we feel for them.”

As for Handley’s Quezada (42-3), no one could accuse him of being on the mat for too long in his final. Jefferson Forest’s Justis (fourth place at 120 pounds last year) put on his singlet and headgear for the final, so it looked like to most people that he was actually going to wrestle. Tournament organizers and Handley personnel knew Justis was going to forfeit, but the referee did not. The ref whistled to start the match, creating an awkward scene.

“The coaches had to talk to [the ref],” Quezada said. “And they actually raised [Justis’] hand instead of mine, so we were like, ‘No no no, [Quezada] won.’ ”

Odds are, Quezada would have won anyway.

At the Fauquier Invitational on Dec. 12, Quezada was on the verge of pinning Justis when suddenly Justis called for injury time because his ankle was hurt.

According to Handley coach David Scott and Quezada, Justis and the Jefferson Forest coaches told them that Justis was sidelined for the rest of the regular season because of the injury he suffered that day and only returned for the Conference 22 tournament. Scott said that Justis apparently felt some discomfort in the ankle during his semifinal win and did not want to risk further injury.

You don’t want to be limited against Quezada right now, because he’s on fire. He’s pinned each of his eight postseason opponents in the first period.

“I feel like I’m wrestling well right now,” Quezada said. “Ever since I lost in the state final last year, I’ve been haunted by it, and I’m looking forward to going out there and wrestling my match at states.”

Scott said there’s a lot to like about what Quezada’s doing right now.

“He’s on a mission,” Scott said. “He’s aggressive. He’s killing it. He’s pushing the action. He’s not playing around.

“What I tell him in the postseason is to get on the mat and get off the mat. You never know what can happen out there. Something can get caught, and you get injured. He’s listening and doing what he needs to do.”

Quezada will be joined at the state tournament by senior Dolan Delaney (second at 170 pounds, 39-9, lost to Freedom’s Garret Moody in final), senior Tommy Shea-Roop (third at 220, 24-6) and junior Cam Bentley (third at 138, 38-13).

Scott said he was definitely pleased with his team’s finish, and is glad Delaney is returning to the state tournament after a one-year absence. Delaney guaranteed his spot at states with a 3-2 overtime win in the semifinals over Fauquier’s Clifford Harrison.

“At the beginning of the year the coaching staff set a goal for top five, so to be tied for third is awesome,” Scott said. “We maximized what we could have out of our seniors. We thought we could have maybe had a few more placers (top six), but I’m really happy with how things turned out.

“[Delaney’s] put in a ton of work this year. He’s one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever been around. Even when he wins a match, he goes back and says there are things he can do better. He’s a hard worker and great kid.”

Also placing for Handley was Harrison Robinson (fifth at 152).

James Wood’s Black (50-4) received his first test of the postseason in his finals match against Fauquier’s Kyle Budd (41-6), the state runner-up at 113 last year.

Black trailed 2-0 late in the second period, but in the final two seconds of the second period Budd was called for locked hands, and Black escaped that grip to hit a reversal and go up 3-2 at the end of two periods.

“It was a good job by the ref,” Black said. “Sometimes they’ll stop [the match] when they call locked hands, but he kept it going. You’re supposed to let [the action] keep going for a few seconds to see if anything happens, and I got my reversal right at the buzzer.

“That boosted me. I knew I had choice going into the last period. Since I had down, I figured maybe I could get a point there.”

Black got an escape with 37 seconds left, and Budd never came close to getting the takedown he needed to even the match. It was a big win for Black, who had to wrestle back to take third in the region last year after losing to Fauquier’s Foster in the semifinals.

James Wood coach Greg Walker said Black wrestled smart and wrestled well, and he was pleased with the performance of two other state qualifiers in senior Adam Vadell (35-11), who wrestled back to take third at 285 pounds after losing to the eventual state champion in the quarterfinals, and freshman Zak Singhas (fourth at 126, 23-23).

The Colonels also had Josh Arce (106) and Ryan Funkhouser (182) each place sixth. The Colonels did miss out on having another potential state qualifier in Hunter Bentley (195 pounds). Bentley had knee surgery in the offseason. Walker said the knee ballooned on him on Monday, and had to have fluid drained from it. Because of the amount of blood in the fluid, Walker said doctors didn’t clear him to wrestle.

“Overall, I’m proud of the kids,” Walker said. “We could have finished a lot higher if we had Bentley, and Sherando could have finished a lot higher with Avery, but it says a lot about our conference that we had four teams in the top 10.”

Millbrook’s lone state qualifier is senior Trae Sine (34-7), who took third at 145 pounds. Sine did not match up with Sherando’s Guthridge, whom he took second to at the Conference 21A tournament. But Sine’s only loss was to the eventual champion, and he beat John Champe’s Kreb, the wrestler who knocked out Guthridge, 5-3 in the third-place match.

For Sine, it’s his first state appearance since his freshman year at 106 pounds. Sine did not wrestle last year (he declined to specify why), but moments like Saturday’s are why he’s glad he’s returned.

“My semis match was a really big wake-up call,” said Sine of his 13-7 loss to Liberty Christian’s Chad Cantrell. “I want to say I wrestled to my ability, but I know I didn’t. I know there were some mistakes that I could have corrected to maybe put me in the lead or change the match a little bit.

“I was ahead the whole way in my next match (a 9-6 win that qualified him for states). It feels phenomenal to be back [in the state tournament].”

Each of the 28 local wrestlers who competed in the region tournament won at least one match.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1