No. 5 Lakota East; No. 7 Lakota West.
Ignoring the fact that they had beaten the Thunderhawks five times in a row and 11 of 12 overall, the Firebirds embraced their newfound underdog role and rode it to a 36-25 victory Thursday night, Jan. 28, at LEHS.
“People were saying this was their year, but we just rallied our boys together and won it,” said Lakota West senior Craig McIntire, whose 5-3 overtime decision against Taft Maness at 145 was one of the key bouts of the match.
“All of the seniors got together because this our last time to wrestle (East), and we just talked about continuing the tradition,” added senior heavyweight Konner Blevins, whose pin of Tim Bowman in the penultimate match of the night clinched the victory.
“I was thinking pin all the way,” Blevins said. “I wanted to finish it myself so that I didn’t put any pressure on (103-pound freshman Mike Clemons) in the final match.”
Blevins’ pin was one of four recorded by West, accounting for 24 of the Firebirds’ 36 points.
“It’s hard to win a dual when you give up 24 points on pins,” East coach Jim Lehman said. “That’s something that hasn’t been happening in our past outings against good teams like Harrison and Fairfield. But then again, if we win the two overtime matches, we come out on top.”
West used its pins to swing, secure and then seal the match.
After losing the first two bouts, West’s Tucker Filburn pinned Damon Lander at 125 to turn the tide. Three matches later, Ty Davis (140) pinned Neema Mohommadi to give the Firebirds their first lead at 15-10. Then at 160, Devin Purkiser stuck Tyler Ray to give West its biggest lead of the night at 27-10.
But East’s Jacob Burton recorded a major decision at 171, Pedro Powell scored a technical fall at 189 and Grant Keller got a pin at 215 to get the Thunderhawks within 27-25 with two matches remaining.
Then Blevins sapped all the drama out of the gym with a first-period, victory-clinching pin.
“I knew this was going to be a close match,” Kessler added. “We knew we were coming into a hostile environment with a big crowd, and the key was handling the pressure, refusing to give up and fighting for every point.”
About the Author