James Wood coach Greg Walker couldn’t have asked for much more from his team. The Colonels only won one of five championship bouts, but Gage Swartz lost 12-4 to Saint Christopher’s Brandon Jeske (second at the Beast of the East), Mark Bean lost on a debatable takedown awarded at the buzzer of the 189-pound final, and Fauver ran into a motivated Bakos.

“A fourth-place finish, we’ll take it,” Walker said. “We still have room for improvement. But out of 19 teams, to take fourth, we did a good job with it.”

Walker was particularly pleased with Woodall, who had another rough win in the semifinals (13-8) but came back and won by fall in 41 seconds in the final. Woodall was challenged to raise the level of his performance for the final, and Walker said he responded.

“My first match of the day, I was kind of sluggish like yesterday, so I was really nervous about this match,” Woodall said. “But I think I was more focused during this [final], and that’s really what helped me out.”  Read More