Eastwood Dethrones St. Paris Graham at State Duals

            Five years ago, nobody had even heard of them. 
            Yet, on Sunday, January 8th, Pemberville Eastwood knocked off mighty St. Paris Graham to become Division II state dual champions.  The school that four years ago finished 53rd in the state tournament had beaten the five-time defending state champions.  While their 29-27 win was truly a total team effort, the day belong in large part to head coach Ralph Cubberly, the architect of this rugged lineup. 
            Fifteen years ago, Cubberly took the reins of a team that had “about four wrestlers” as he put it.  Cubberly had the foresight to immediately organize a youth program.  All of his current stars have come up through that youth program.  “Having the youth program has been key, as has the hard work of the kids and support of the parents,” Cubberly stated. 
It’s possible that no team has had such a meteoric rise from obscurity as Pemberville Eastwood.  Consider their state finishes of the past four years: 

2002- 53rd place
2003- 28th place
2004- 3rd place
2005- 2nd place
2006- ?, State Dual Champions. 

            What is truly impressive about the Eastwood victory is that St. Paris Graham has not declined- rather, Eastwood has elevated themselves to Graham’s level.  The gap between these two teams and the rest of the Division II field is staggering.  In the semi-final round, Graham took apart Columbus Desales 52-23, while Eastwood pummeled Walsh Jesuit 51-21.  Who would have imagined that result a few years ago!

Total Team Effort

            The key to Eastwood’s win was they truly wrestled as a “team” rather than a collection of individual wrestlers.  The wrestlers who needed to stay off their backs against Graham’s superstars (i.e. David Taylor, Coby Boyd, Ben Jordan) seemed to know what their job was and wrestled accordingly- both smart and valiant at the same time.    When asked what the key to victory was, Coach Cubberly had no hesitation “not giving up bonus points in the matches we lost,” he offered.  He pointed out that both teams had won seven bouts.
            A major key to victory was sophomore Jeremy Foster’s 12-6 win over David Thompson, in a battle of returning state fourth place-finishers.  Coach Cubberly was not surprised by the result, though he was surprised by the score. “I expected a one point match either way,” he stated, “but Jeremy has been looking forward to wrestling him.” This match was most likely a preview of the state finals- and the Foster win seemed to generate some momentum for Eastwood.

The Deciding Bout

            The pivotal bout of the night came at 140 lbs, where Aaron Hoffman of Eastwood met Eric Taylor of Graham.  With the score tied 2-2 late in the bout, Hoffman scored the go-ahead takedown, yielded an escape, and then held off Taylor for the 4-3 win.  The drama could not have been any greater as Taylor was in on several good takedown attempts- which Hoffman fought off, despite just returning from a collarbone injury.  The intensity level was unbelievable.  Both of these seniors are good wrestlers- but you are not going to see either one wrestling for a state title.  This is what is perhaps great about the state duals- the good, but not great wrestlers, have their day in the sun.  While Hoffman and Taylor will not make the state finals- on this Sunday afternoon, with Eastwood ahead 26-21 and Graham slightly favored in the only remaining bout, both competed as if a state title was on the line- and it was. 
         This was something you saw in every bout of the night.  In any other match David Taylor pins Bryan Smith at 103.  But not on this day.  It can be said without hesitation that in the entire dual, you never saw a single wrestler quit, or “break” mentally.   There is a difference in how hard a clearly outmatched wrestler will fight when the loss is only on him as compared to when thirteen other guys are counting him.  Whatever it was, there wasn’t a single bout of the finals that was less than riveting. 

Hart Defeats Llanas

            In a rematch of last year state finals and state duals, Aaron Hart of St. Paris Graham avenged his two losses to defending state champion Ben Llanas by a 4-3 score.  Hart looked very impressive- the match did not seem as close as the score as Hart had numerous near-misses on takedown attempts.  By wrestling Hart tough, Llanas seems to have rebounded from an early-season slump and is likely to meet Hart again in a finals rematch. 

Time Clock Hi-Jinks

            A bizarre subplot to the match was the recurring issues with the time clock.   The time-keepers and the “towel boy” (or “tapper” if you prefer) combined to form a sort of “axis of incompetence.”  This “axis” seemed dumfounded by the task assigned to them- and became lightning rods of scorn throughout the finals.  With the state dual championships on the line, there were innumerable incidents of the clock either not been started, or being allowed to keep running after the wrestlers were done- usually at key points in close bouts (Murphy’s Law in full effect).  Many of these miscues seemed to cut against Graham- though with such a plethora of foul-ups, some went each way.  Regardless, the Graham fans were understandably irate over the frankly pathetic display.  The most applause heard from the Graham fans all night was when the embattled “towel boy” was publicly terminated from his position, and slunk off into the shadows of wrestling infamy.  The only thing that was missing was Donald Trump to personally admonish him “you’re fired.”
         Perhaps the most serious error was at the 125 lb. match.  Ben Jordan, enjoying a 12-1 lead but eagerly seeking a pin, took his Eastwood opponent down, straight to his back with a cradle.  Jordan was seemingly in good position to secure the fall- however, the beleaguered table workers had naturally failed to start the time clock, and the official therefore had no choice but to stop the bout.  The official awarded the takedown and backpoints, which gave Jordan a technical fall- but his chances for a much-needed fall were gone.  Fortunately, since Graham lost by two, this bit of bumbling by the staff did not affect the outcome of the match.  
Another bizarre bout was 152, where James Mannier of Graham had approximately four questionable calls or non-calls (e.g. clasping) go against him.  The Graham fans were understandably livid.  There were, naturally, time clock mishaps in this bout as well.  However, Mannier escaped in double-overtime, so the errors in this bout became moot.  It was fortunate that the numerous boneheaded errors did not determine the outcome of the meet- when you actually break them down, Eastwood would have won regardless.  Nonetheless, after the match, the “axis of incompetence” served as virtual verbal piñatas for the Graham contingent.  They had a legitimate beef- in the biggest dual of the year, what materialized was a case of  “the inmates running the asylum,” as I heard one Graham fan quip after the match.

Conclusion

            The 2005 state duals was the culmination of a vision that Head Coach Ralph Cubberly had 15 years ago.  It is hard to overstate what the victory means for the program.  Eastwood has made a huge statement.  However, few would say the torch has been passed.  The final chapter of this story will be written in Schottenstein Arena the first weekend in March.

Eastwood - 29 Graham - 27
152 Mannier(G) dec Shroyer 4-3 ot
160 Luster (G) dec Kervin 7-6
171 Foster (E) dec Thompson 12-6
189 Stickel (E) dec Smith 2-1 ot
215 Clark (E) by Forfeit
275 Nachtrab (E) maj dec Walls 12-3
103 Taylor (G) maj dec Smith 13-4
112 Tinnel (E) pin Rowe :52
119 Hart (G) dec Llanas 4-3
125 Jordon (G) TF Eaton 16-1
130 Boyd (G) dec Taylor 2-0
135 R. Cubberly (E) maj dec Thomusseit 11-2
140 Hoffmann (E) dec Taylor 4-3
145 Kyle (G) pin E. Cubberly 3:34

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OhioWrestlingSite.com 2005