December 19, 2009 - 10:51PM
By Michael Samtur, For the East Valley Tribune
They say that baseball is the game of inches, but on Saturday night at Tempe McClintock High School, a wrestling champion was determined by a sliver of air between mat and back.
Heading into the last match at the Larry Faust Wrestling Invitational, Chandler led Mesa Red Mountain by just a 1 1/2 point as the two schools faced off with wrestlers in the 285-pound finals.
Chandler’s William Poehle and Red Mountain’s Gahrrett Kidd hit the mat with everything on the line. The winner of the match would claim the overall title for his team.
Just halfway into the first period, Kidd looked to have the tournament won for the Mountain Lions as he had Poehle’s shoulder less than an inch away from the winning pin.
As the crowd chanted his name, Poehle hung strong with his back to the mat for nearly a full minute and turned the tides to even the score before the end of the period. With the momentum clearly on his side, Poehle took a commanding 10-5 lead and held on for a dramatic 13-9 decision that gave Chandler the title as the crowd erupted in jubilation.
“I was just thinking 'don’t get pinned. Don’t get pinned,’” a relieved Poehle said. “I just kept fighting.”
Thanks to Poehle, Chandler improved on last year’s third-place finish in the tourney and ended up with 195 points followed by Red Mountain’s 188.5 and Glendale Sandra Day O’Connor’s 179.
Rounding out the top 10 were Chandler Basha (162.5), Phoenix Mountain Pointe (143), Chandler Hamilton (130.5), Phoenix Maryvale (122), Tempe Marcos de Niza (116.5), Scottsdale Desert Mountain (112) and Apache Junction (108).
The event was recently renamed from the McClintock Invitational to the Larry Faust Wrestling Invitational in honor of the former McClintock wrestling coach who passed away in September. Faust coached the Chargers for more than 30 years and has the all-time highest winning percentage in McClintock wrestling history.
Chandler’s reigning state champion at 103 pounds, Vidal Max Mejia, won at 112, but the Wolves’ freshman at 103, Dalton Brady, stepped admirably into Mejia’s shoes to win as well.
Poehle and Kidd’s classic battle followed possibly the best match of the night as Basha’s Jake Smith outlasted Red Mountain’s Kalu Ukaku in double overtime in the final at 215.
Smith, who won this tournament and finished third in the state at 189 last year, trailed Ukaku 1-0 with less than 45 seconds remaining, but he escaped a hold to tie the score and send it into overtime. After the two fought to a standstill in the first overtime, an exhausted Smith escaped an even more exhausted Ukaku with just 15 seconds left in the second extra period to win 3-2.
“This was one of the best (matches) I’ve ever been in,” said Smith. “The crowd saved me. I just kept saying to myself 'Heart is going to win over strength.’”
After the match, Smith said that he plans to move back down to wrestle at 189 for the rest of the year, a trend that seemed popular all night. Three defending state champions did the same as Maryvale’s Reyes Cortez, Desert Mountain’s Shane McGough, and Westwood’s Daniel Mendoza each competed at a higher weight class but will also drop back down to their 2008 championship weight.
Both Cortez (140) and McGough (130) won their classes, but Mendoza bit off more than he could chew at 125 as he fell to Maryvale’s Hector Calderon.
McGough walked away as the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler (103-140 pounds) award while Williams Field’s Heath Boers (160) won the same award for 145 pounds and heavier.
Chandler’s Manny Reyes (145) finished second in the tourney for the second straight year but walked away with the fastest pin award, tied with Maryvale’s Louis Lechuga, at 15 seconds.
Other champions included Basha’s Dominic Buono (119), Red Mountain’s Matt DeRosa (135) and Bobby Davis (145).
