Orville senior Dennis Raber used a strategy void of any real offense to beat LeForce 4-3 in double overtime Saturday night, March 6, in the Division III 160-pound state championship match.
“I didn’t do it. I fell short of my goal,” said a crestfallen and teary-eyed LeForce, who had wrestled just a handful of matches before this year because of chronic back problems.
“I gave everything I could,” LeForce continued. “Today just wasn’t my day. Some calls didn’t go my way, but I’m not going to make excuses. I lost.”
LeForce (31-3) gave Raber (42-2) the championship point, electing to start the second part of the second overtime in the neutral position after Raber had chosen bottom.
The free escape made it 4-3, and LeForce was unable to score a takedown — or get a third, two-point stalling call against Raber — in the final 30 seconds of his prep career.
“I knew I wasn’t going to ride him,” LeForce said when asked about the decision to cut Raber free and give him the tiebreaking point.
“I’m the better wrestler on my feet,” LeForce continued. “I had him back on the line every time, running. I controlled every tie. He didn’t do anything.”
LeForce scored the first points of the match with a takedown nine seconds after the opening whistle. He took a 2-1 lead into the second period, and that’s how it stayed as Raber rode him for the entire two minutes, drawing a stalling caution along the way.
“Nobody’s ridden him like that before,” Carlisle coach Daryl Clark said. “I didn’t think he worked for a turn at all. You have to do more than just put a leg in. I didn’t feel like he was attempting any kind of pinning combination.”
Raber scored a reversal to go up 3-2 with 1:27 left in the third period, but in the process of riding out the match he was hit for his second stalling call with 10 seconds left, resulting in a point for LeForce that tied things at 3-3.
A LeForce shot near the edge of the mat with eight seconds left in the first overtime would have resulted in a championship-clinching takedown had his shoes been one size bigger. But LeForce was ruled out of bounds, and the match went to double overtime, where Raber prevailed.
“That’s all I ever wanted to be was a state champ,” LeForce said. “Words can’t explain how bad this sucks.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2193 or jmorrison@coxohio.com.
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