4A State Wrestling

Posted: February 22, 2016
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

SALEM — Handley’s Lio Quezada wasn’t the favorite to win the 2015 Group 4A state championship at 126 pounds, but after being pinned in the championship match in one minute, he couldn’t help himself. He found a secluded spot in a hallway on the floor of the Salem Civic Center, laid on the floor for a minute, and let the tears flow.

After wrestling in the 2016 Group 4A state championship at 132 pounds Saturday, Quezada went by himself back to that exact same spot, and everything he had gone through in the past year hit him all at once. Again, he couldn’t help himself.

“I was crying tears of joy,” Quezada said .

The Judges senior bounced back from last year’s championship loss and won his first state title since 2014 by edging Hanover’s Tyler Flora 6-5 in the 132-pound final to become the first of two local champions in Group 4A Saturday. Sherando junior John Borst won his second straight state title by beating Flora’s Hanover teammate T.J. Allen 12-6 in the 182-pound final.

James Wood junior Aaron Black — a state champion at 106 pounds as a freshman — was unable to become a two-time state champion himself. He lost for the second straight year in the 113-pound final, this time to Fauquier’s Kyle Budd. Budd beat Black 7-4 after Black defeated Budd 4-2 in the 4A West Region final.

Budd was one of two individual state champions who led the Falcons to their second straight team title in Group 4A. Fauquier scored 114.5 points, 13 more than runner-up Eastern View (101.5). Handley was 10th with 45 points, Sherando was 14th with 33.5, James Wood was 21st with 17, and Millbrook did not score.

Against Flora (22-7 record), Quezada (45-3) scored the first points with 23 seconds left in the first period after securing Flora’s head and gaining control after they sprawled onto the mat together, then Quezada added another takedown halfway through the second period after grabbing Flora’s waist from behind and driving him down to go up 4-1.

The third period started in neutral. Flora was awarded a takedown 24 seconds into the period, which Handley coach David Scott immediately questioned.

“[Flora] rolled through, and that’s a normal kind of thing for Lio,” Scott said. “Somebody gets in on him, they bring us down, and they roll right through. It really made me nervous, because he almost had a two-count, and I didn’t even think [Flora] had control. That would have changed everything.”

But before there was a stoppage in action, Quezada negated the impact a few seconds later after he was awarded a reversal to go up 6-3.

With one of his nostrils plugged up because of bleeding, Quezada took some deep breaths during a stoppage with a minute to go. But when action resumed, Quezada showed he was fine and continued to control Flora.

When Quezada was penalized for stalling with 10 seconds left to cut Quezada‘s lead to 6-4, Flora still had a chance. But all Flora was able to do was manage an escape with one second on the clock, and when the buzzer sounded Quezada had his second state title. He also won as a sophomore at 120 pounds.

Quezada’s title that year was driven by missing out on qualifying for states by one match as a freshman, and this year’s was driven by losing to Hanover’s J.D. Gregory in last year’s 126 final.

Now at West Virginia University, Gregory won his third career state title by beating Quezada. He did his best to deny Quezada again this year — Quezada saw Gregory showing Quezada’s moves to Flora during warm-ups.

“I didn’t really have a strategy going [into the finals],” Quezada said. “I just felt the pain of being runner-up for a whole year now. It put a big burden on me. I didn’t want to feel that feeling again, so I was just going to go out there and wrestle all six minutes.”

Scott said Quezada went out strong.

“He was moving his feet well,” Scott said. “He had great shot defense, he was scrambling. He was scoring off of that kid’s shots.

“He’s improved in that area so much this year. That’s where he was winning matches, and before he would lose matches there because his shot defense wasn’t good. He’s really stepped his game up in that area.”

Quezada’s career will continue as a walk-on at NCAA Division I George Mason University. He’ll go there as a two-time state champion, Handley’s all-time wins leader with 176 and someone Scott says is the best wrestler in school history.

“Ever since I’ve been a freshman and lost that match at regions to go to states, I’ve been on a mission to be the best that ever was,” Quezada said. “It means so much to know that it’s all paid off. I’m just so happy.”

After his victory over Flora’s teammate, Borst was pretty ecstatic himself Saturday.

Borst (55-2) became good friends with Hanover’s Allen (33-4) over the summer while training at Virginia Tech for a competition in Fargo (N.D.)

The two were practice partners, but they never had an actual match against each other. Borst — the Group 4A state champion at 170 pounds last year — weighed about 175 pounds at the time, while Borst said Allen — the Group 4A state champion at 195 pounds last year — weighed about 200.

But when Borst heard Allen — who will wrestle at Virginia Tech next year — was going to wrestle at 182 this year, he was excited about the challenge of facing him.

Saturday was indeed a challenge. Though Borst had the match’s first takedown, Allen took a 3-2 lead by becoming the first person in a month and a half — and just the second person outside of the Beast of the East tournament — to record a takedown on Borst with 1:21 left in the first period.

With the match tied at 5 and 48 seconds left in the second period though, Borst took control with a four-point move that included the match’s first near-fall points.

Borst said not getting his hips down fast enough allowed Allen to grab his right leg and trip him when Allen got his takedown, but on Borst’s second period takedown he moved his hips quicker and secured one of Allen’s legs.

“All the sudden, he’s on his back, and it’s ‘Here I am,’” Borst said. “I took advantage of it and went after it.

“After that, I was just like, ‘I’ll put points on the board.’ I just kept [putting] them on. The bigger the lead, the better.”

Borst added an escape and a takedown in the third period to go up 12-5, with Allen getting an escape with five seconds left to close the scoring.

“I feel great,” Borst said. “I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to win more than one state title. Here was the opportunity, and it feels great.”

Sherando coach Pepper Martin said Borst did an outstanding job all tournament.

“John, without question, earned his state title, through all the hard work, dedication and self-discipline he put into this season,” Martin said. “Early on, he knew T.J. Allen was out there. He followed him a little bit throughout the season.

“But he kept his focus in this tournament and took it one match at a time, because he understood if he overlooked anybody, he could [lose]. We watched the video of last week’s regional final [for Allen], and we felt if John would beat him, we’d have to beat him on his feet, and I think he proved that tonight.”

James Wood’s Black (49-5) led Budd (39-6) 4-2 following a reversal with 37 seconds left in the second period, but Budd scored a critical reversal of his own to tie the match at 4-4 with six seconds left in the period.

Black conceded an escape point to start the third, because James Wood thought it had a better chance of taking Budd down then controlling him from the top. Black came close on a couple of occasions to getting a takedown, but Budd prevented him from getting control. With time running down, Budd countered one last shot by Black and scored a takedown with nine seconds left.

“They both wrestled hard,” James Wood coach Greg Walker said. “Aaron was in on that one single and scored [in the first period] and then he went to front headlocks. He quit taking shots. Instead, he went to snapping the kid down and we didn’t score off of that. He should have stuck with taking shots, I guess. I don’t know.

“But [Black] wrestled hard. It was a good match, and it was a good year for him. He shouldn’t hang his head, because he did a great job this year.”

Handley senior Tommy Shea-Roop (27-7) led all local wrestlers in the consolation brackets, taking third at 220 pounds. Shea-Roop’s only two losses of the postseason were to state champion Mason Wolf of Liberty Christian Academy in the regional semifinals and state semifinals.

Shea-Roop was pleased about ending his career on a high note, but what he’s truly proud of is Handley’s growth as a program.

“When my class came in, we really only had one guy who was state-caliber, and that was Jordan [Dowrey],” Shea-Roop said. “Now, we sent four [people to states], and we’re unhappy with how many we sent. It’s awesome to see how far the program has come under Coach Scott and our class.”

Also for Handley, junior Cam Bentley (40-15) placed fifth at 138 pounds.

“I think it’s awesome that Lio, Tommy and Cam each won their last match,” Scott said. “That shows how bad they want it. They’re competitors.”

The only other local wrestler to place was Sherando senior Mike Duffy (51-8), who placed fourth at 126 pounds. The senior captain placed at the state tournament for the second time in three years.

“He’s done a lot for our program,” Martin said. “He has a lot to be proud of with his high school wrestling career. We’re extremely proud of him.”

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