State wrestling lives up to hype…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
There is just something about wrestling and wrestlers in particular. They’re just a different breed.
They wear their emotions on their sleeves like nobody else when it comes down to the state championship.
That can lead to memorable moments like last night with Del City’s Trayvon Lee, throwing the headgear up into the crowd and running around like a wild man. Great stuff.
My personal mission last night was to get match and postmatch video with four I’ve dubbed “The Perfect Quartet.” It’s not the coolest name, but it’s the first one that came to mind so I’m sticking with it.
Your Perfect Quartet: Perry’s Ladd Rupp, Cushing’s Jarrod Patterson, Catoosa’s Dallas Bailey and Stillwater’s Chris Perry.
All four won and all won in a different way. Rupp never went into a second period this weekend. He was scary good as always. Rupp won by pin at 1:39 in the first. His final record is 163-13. He will attend Oklahoma State.
Patterson got up big early and made sure he didn’t get caught in an 11-5 decision win. He picked up some early takedowns, cut his opponent but never put himself in any real danger. Patterson is going to Oklahoma and has final career mark of 160-3.
Bailey, oh boy, what a match between Bailey and Zach White of Woodward. The two are going to be teammates at Oklahoma State, but that’s not what last night was about. The two had split their first two meetings this season.
White scored the early takedown, but Bailey earned a two-point reversal. Bailey then elected to cut White but eventually scored an escape point of his own. Late in the third, White took a shot and had Bailey close to a takedown but time expired.
In sudden victory, Bailey proved to be too much as the two put on the match of the tournament. Bailey closes out at 131-5. I shot the entire match on video, now just have to edit da dang thing.
No such drama for Perry. He was up big the entire time and actually earned a technical fall right as time was expiring (not that it really mattered). To me, it seemed like Perry could just toy with every wrestler at that tournament. He could have pinned them whenever he felt like, but he wanted to have some fun. Perry’s ridiculous record is 132-1 that he will take to Oklahoma State.
Perry was beyond dominant and so was Stephen Swan. Any other year Swan might be the story of the tournament, just not this year.
Tuttle put it together in the consolation rounds and won just enough of their five finals to walk away with the 4A title. Bobby Williams led the squad with his third state title.
Moment of the night: Del City’s Tyler Dorrell scoring a takedown with maybe :02 left to turn a 4-3 loss into a 5-4 win against Dustin Reed of Choctaw.
Halfway home through these winter championships. Look for wrestling video of The Perfect Quartet as well as the Bailey/White match on NewsOK in the next couple of days. Now we move on to basketball.
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