Round 7 of Alex Christensen vs. Landry Chappell?
Any excuse to bust out this photo of Nolan Boyd of Deer Creek after last year's title win.
I’m gonna come out and say it. To be honest, the east side should have a lot of the top teams in the 6A and 5A wrestling races this weekend. The west is making strides, but you cannot touch those eastside powerhouses.
If you’re looking for an East preview, look up Matt Doyle of The Tulsa World, he’s got your hookup. With that said, there are a lot of interesting individual stories in the Oklahoma City area this weekend.
Class 6A
Dual state champion – Broken Arrow
Regional champions – Broken Arrow and Tulsa Union
Fellow chum Ryan Aber doesn’t get to see a lot of wrestling (or any, really), but he caught B.A. at the Del City regional last weekend and came away really impressed.
Figure it will be a good showdown with Broken Arrow, Union and Muskogee, but I’m not betting against Broken Arrow right about now.
Wrestler to watch: Caleb Cline, Norman North. One of only two undefeated wrestlers in the class. At 30-0, Cline is the top-seeded heavyweight in the East. He’s defeated the top seed in the west, Hunter Davis of Choctaw, so it appears like it’s Cline’s to lose.
Wrestler to watch, pt. II: Josh Lindsey, Moore. From the biggest of the bigs to the little guys, the 103-pounder is my favorite to claim the championship this year. He’s learned from last year’s championship loss and the man that vanquished him (Southmoore’s Zac D’Amico) has moved up the ladder.
Team to watch: Edmond North. Coach Andy Schneider has done a great job of getting this team to perform to its top abilities. Huskies have eight going to state, including the freshmen triplets of Andrew, Joel and Lance Dixon. Best shot at a championship, I believe, is going to be Austin Schafer at 189.
Class 5A
Dual state champion – Collinsville
Regional champions – Collinsville and Altus
In what I considered an upset, Deer Creek’s Alex Christensen was beat out in the regional final last weekend. That has made him the second seed in the east, and it has taken away my dream of another showdown between Christensen and Guthrie’s Landry Chappell.
At least in the finals. If everything goes to form, the two should meet Friday night in the semifinals. To my count (correct me if I’m wrong), Christensen holds a 4-2 lifetime edge and 3-1 season advantage against Chappell.
Would have made for a great championship story, but I guess I can live with a solid semifinal encounter (if both get through the first round).
Wrestler to watch: Nolan Boyd, Deer Creek. And no, not just because I wanted an excuse to bust out that picture again. Boyd has been dominant all year, losing one time to Tuttle’s Zachary Beard. Sometimes you just know a wrestler has ‘it’ and, yea, Boyd has ‘it.’
Wrestler to watch, pt. II: Bryan Dutton, Guthrie. I tell ya I have no idea what is his best sport. I see him in football and think it’s that. Then I watch him dominate on the mat, and yea, it’s wrestling. Then on the diamond, and I think baseball is his calling. He’s so good.
Team to watch: Carl Albert. Like I wrote in Thursday’s story, what a job of bouncing back after not qualifying for dual state. The Titans are sending eight wrestlers to the mats this weekend. I think Eric Waggoner has got the best chance to earn a title.
Friday: No more talking, time to wrestle. See ya at State Fair Arena.
***
Robert Przybylo, bprzybylo@opubco.com
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Robert Przybylo, NewsOK. NewsOK said: From the blogs: Round 7 of Alex Christensen vs. Landry Chappell? http://bit.ly/eSB1iM #OKPreps [...]