State Wrestling Tournament

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star

Salem — Robert Wallace could feel the pressure after watching two teammates, both regional champions, lose in the quarterfinals.

And he could feel the intensity of the roaring arena in his first trip to the Salem Civic Center.

But he also knew he was better than he was showing, and he had no intention of letting his championship dreams die Friday.

The Clarke County High School senior overcame a 7-0 second-period deficit by recording a third period pin in his 189-pound quarterfinal match, and as a result he’s one of eight area wrestlers who will compete in the championship semifinals of today’s Group AA and Group A state wrestling tournaments. “I know I didn’t wrestle my best or wrestle to my potential,” said Wallace, who improved to 43-2 on the season. “It’s definitely a good feeling to make the semifinals, though.”

Joining Wallace in the Group A semifinals is junior teammate Logan Large (215 pounds). They led the Eagles to eighth place after day one with 44 points. Glenvar is in first with 64, and Galax is second with 60.

The three Frederick County schools each have two wrestlers in the Group AA semifinals.

Millbrook (tied for fifth, 37 points) has Tanner Sine (103 pounds) and Joe Jessen (189).
Sherando (tied for seventh, 29.5) has Nick Bakos (171) and Baxter Newman (215).
And James Wood (tied for ninth, 27) has Gage Swartz (119) and Austin Woodall (285).
Grundy leads Group AA with 75.5 points, eight more than second place Christiansburg (67.5).
Handley, which does not have any wrestlers left, is tied for 45th with 4.

Clarke County coach Jon VanSice said the Eagles will need a lot of help to contend for the Group A title, but he was quick to congratulate Wallace after the transfer from Bethlehem, Pa., kept his title hopes alive following his victory over Covington’s Josh Laprade.

Earlier, Wallace watched as Region B champions Tommy Cleary (140 pounds) and Joe Nappi (145) lost their quarterfinal matches, and for a while it looked like Wallace might follow suit. Wallace trailed 5-0 after one period and quickly fell behind 7-0 in the second.

Wallace said he might have put too much pressure on himself to deliver a win for his team, which had championship hopes after winning the Region B tournament last week. And the raucous Civic Center didn’t help. Wallace had never qualified for a state tournament in talent-rich Pennsylvania.

“Just being here is pretty intense,” Wallace said. “I didn’t go out there ready enough.”

Wallace settled down as the second period went on, closing to within 9-4 with 17 seconds left. He was still trailing by the end of the third, but a huge hole was opened up for him just before it ended.

During a Wallace takedown, Laprade took a bad step and his right leg rolled awkwardly. He was down on the mat for a couple of minutes. Laprade finished out the period, but when the third period started it was obvious he wasn’t right, limping around following a stoppage in the first 30 seconds.

Wallace wasn’t about to take pity on him, though. Even though Laprade made it difficult for Wallace by being cautious and backing away, Wallace evened the match with a takedown at the 1:30 mark and rolled Laprade onto his back.

Wallace was awarded the pin 25 seconds later, and he hopes things will only get better today.

“I plan on wrestling better,” Wallace said.

VanSice doesn’t doubt it.

“It’s unfortunate the guy got hurt, but it was still a really tight match, and he took advantage of the injury,” VanSice said. “He’s been a real find this year.”

VanSice was also happy for Large (40-5), who’s competing in his first postseason after suffering season-ending injuries his freshman and sophomore years. Large won by fall in five minutes over Corey Bower of Coeburn.

The Eagles have most of their seven wrestlers remaining, but losses by Cleary and Nappi were tough blows. Cleary, a state-placer a year ago, was actually knocked out of the tournament after losing in the second round of consolations.

“It hurts a little bit with Cleary going down,” VanSice said. “Some people are going to have to fall for us to contend [for the state title]. If we get top three, top five, that’d be nice. We haven’t come in the top 30 in some time, so top five would be pretty nice.”

For Millbrook, Sine (45-6) won his quarterfinal match 4-0 and Jessen (39-7) won his by fall in 5:11.

Jessen, who scored eight points before pinning Salem’s Devin Smith, was pleased with his approach after he felt he was too cautious in a 3-1 loss in the Region II final against 2009 171-pound state champion Willie Crawford of Fluvanna.

“I feel like I pushed the action,” Jessen said. “The mentality with our wrestlers is to attack, attack, attack, and I think I went out with nothing to lose, and I just put it all out there.”

Still, Millbrook coach John Borst said Jessen will have to dictate the action even more if he wants to succeed today. In the semifinals, he’ll have to beat undefeated Aaron McMillan of Fort Defiance — who’s already defeated Crawford this year — before he can get a potential rematch with Crawford.

“[Jessen] needs to be more confident in what he knows and not keep it as close,” Borst said. “He needs to push the action more early.”

The Warriors had a rough morning after seeing three of their wrestlers eliminated after two matches. But Bakos (who had a 9-2 win in the quarters) and Newman (3-2) headlined a strong evening session. Bakos improved to 52-2 and Newman 34-4.

“I thought Nick and Baxter wrestled smart matches,” Sherando coach Pepper Martin said. “When you get to this level and this stage, you just need to win.”

Swartz (42-5) won 6-2 in the quarters to advance, and Woodall (47-5) won by fall for the Colonels.