“Not going away without a fight”
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com
That clever little quote is my way of saying “let’s talk about 2A wrestling.” I admit to being bogged down by swimming that I wasn’t up to snuff going into this weekend’s tournament.
Well, bogged down is a horrible term to use because I did enjoy the swimming championships. Who knows, I may have seen a future gold medal winner before she was known worldwide.
But back to the point at hand, I hadn’t been able to keep tabs on everything and went in Friday morning believing that Marlow’s Outlaws was going to carry the day. It wouldn’t necessarily have been the end of Perry, but the emergence of Marlow.
What a race that was! Marlow with slight advantage all throughout the early sessions, and the Maroons just chipping away. A nine-point lead was reduced to four. Then four turned into a single point advantage for Perry heading into the final round.
And then, wowza, Perry wrestled like someone had stolen their lunch money. Ladd Rupp set the tone (which I expected). But did anyone see Ian Fisher dominating Kingfisher’s Chad Kochenower?!? That fall was the turning point. Marlow had a “close but so far” moment at 103 and now Perry had back-to-back falls.
The writing was on the wall as Perry was 5-5 in finals while Marlow was 2-6.
But what a great story for the Peck family. I don’t mean to sound negative here, but it was almost like knowing his team couldn’t win the team title allowed Mike to enjoy Jake’s victory at 140 just a little bit more.
It wasn’t about a team race. It was about watching his son one final time. And for Jake, it was about making Dad proud one more time. At least on the high school stage.
I don’t have a vote, but Perry’s Stephen Swan was my MVP of 2A. I don’t know, I just love the way he moves. He’s so quick but so powerful. He had an off championship and won, 21-11.
Really great story about Perkins’ Hunter Wilson becoming the first champ. He really earned that one, too. That was a good bout with Marlow’s Ryan Brooks.
Good effort by Marlow, but Perry was just too much. Maroons coach Scott Chenoweth said it was a shift in weights and trying to enjoy everything more was the key to this year’s win.
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