Sams drew “oohs” from the crowd as he built a 16-4 lead over Springboro’s Joe Froehlich before carrying him to the center of the mat, turning him in mid-air and recording the fall to help Fairfield to a 42-24 win.
“I’m not a throws guy, so that was the best I could do,” Sams said as a large crowd filed out following the match. “I wanted to enjoy my time on the mat. This is a really cool thing.”
The dual, contested on the theater stage, provided plenty of drama as the youthful Panthers stayed in it until Fairfield’s Moustapha Bal clinched the win with a pin at 106 in the next-to-last match.
“We are young and inexperienced, but our kids are training hard,” Springboro coach Fred Boulton said. “The score was a lot closer than I thought it would be, but we came out ready to wrestle today.”
Fairfield opened with a pin at 120 by Jabari Thomas before the Panthers came storming back with a pin by Drew Saunier and decisions by Scott Osbourne and Will Coffield for a 12-6 lead.
PHOTOS: 46 photos from the dual
“Fred (Boulton) and I go back a long way and you know what you are going to get from him, and that is hard-nosed, straightforward kids,” Fairfield coach Jason Laflin said. “That is a good-looking, young team. In two years, they will be awfully good.”
Sam Meddings tied the match for Fairfield with a fall at 145 to begin a string of six straight wins to give the hosts a 33-12 lead, but Springboro wouldn’t go away.
The Panthers got pins from Kevin Johnson and Braden Brown to trim it to 33-24 heading into the last two matches.
“Springboro really put up a fight,” Sams said. “That made it fun and the crowd was great. But with Moustapha (Bal) and Zach (Shupp) down there, we don’t lose much.”
Bal (106) clinched the match with a pin before Shupp closed out the night with an 11-4 decision at 113.
Despite the loss, Boulton said the experience was worth the trip.
“This is great,” he said. “This was one of the most enjoyable things I have done. Looking out and seeing the people in the theater and the lights and the music and everything, it was a great experience. It was a great night for high school wrestling.”
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