It’s On: Epic Showdown between Ohio Legends Jaggers and Schlatter Tonite!
 
They would tell you it’s just another match. 
            Don’t believe it for a minute.
            “Four-Time State Champion”.  Few phrases evoke such awe as this one for Ohio wrestling fans. There have now been fourteen of them in Ohio. Arguably, none have been more dominant, nor captured the imagination of Ohio fans quite like Jeff Jaggers and Dustin Schlatter.  Tonite, they meet in what might be best described as “the dream match”.
            Consider: Jaggers pinned or teched all 12 opponents at state after his freshman year.  Really think about that- not one opponent went the distance with Jaggers at state in three years! 
As impressive as his dominace at state was,  his state performances were not his finest hour.  Jaggers also won Junior Nationals in Fargo- but it was his performance at Senior High School Nationals in Cleveland that fans will talk about for years to come.  Jaggers was matched up in the semi-finals with 3x California State Champion Troy Tirapelle.  Tirapelle had stunned Jaggers the week before at an All-Star match.
            It would be an understatement to say that Jaggers came out with fire in his eyes for the rematch.  All Jaggers did was take down Tirapelle to his back three times in under one minute.  The third time he stuck him.  The entire gym went ballistic!  Jaggers had this to say about the bout:

             “I was hungry.  I haven’t stopped thinking about what happened last week.  They bring me out to California, drop their state golden boy to beat me up in front of their 5,000 fans and shoot off fireworks,”  said an extremely emotional Jaggers.  “I got two knee picks, and knew he was going to try and throw me.  I knew when I locked my arms in, and saw his back flat it was over. I’ve never been more emotional after a match in my life.”

            Jaggers followed that up with a quick technical fall over Ohio State Champ and 4x finalist Steve Blunk in the finals.  It’s possible that no high school wrestler has ever wrestled two matches as impressive back-to-back. 
            While Jaggers is intensity and aggressiveness personified, Schlatter has a much different style.  He is the definition of the word “skill”.  In terms of technique and timing, he is unmatched.  Wrestling analyst Brian Brakeman said it best in his annual report: 

“During the sack of Rome in 1527--when civilians in great numbers were being murdered and buildings looted and burned--the great Italian painter Parmigianino failed to notice the turmoil all about him.  A man preoccupied with his work he was unaware of the disaster until German mercenaries, with swords drawn were already in his house.  Finding him painting they were then so stunned by his genius that instead of pillaging and murdering they sat down and asked him to render them on paper. Even the lowliest of troops instantly recognized his genius.  So it is with Dustin Schlatter.  Anyone who sees him wrestle, but one time can instantly recognize he is someone special.  He will become our 14th four-time champion and permanently engrave his name on the list of all-time greats.  He has excelled at every level in wrestling and I have never seen a high school wrestler better at flowing from move to move.”

            Schlatter performances in the state tournament were amazing.  Simply put, he was never pushed.  Just look at his state finals results: 

Freshman Year- Wins 11-2 over defending state champion Jordan LaFollete.
Sophomore Year- Wins 11-0 over undefeated Senior Jorge Conger, a returning 3rd place finisher.
Junior Year- Wins by technical fall against Anthony Ciraky.  Fans still talk about how Schlatter scored four takedowns in the first minute of the match. 
Senior Year- Won by what else, a technical fall, 25-10.

            However, like Jaggers, his crushing dominance at state was not his most awe-inspiring performance.  For Schlatter, there are two milestones that far eclipse his state tournament achievements.  First, there was Junior Nationals after his sophomore year (“Fargo” as it is known).  The 135 lb. field that year was one of the greatest ever assembled in Fargo.  It featured graduated seniors Ryan Lang and Dan Frishkorn- both 4x state champs and national champions themselves.  Rising senior Alex Tsirtsis, a 4x Indiana State Champion who graduated with a 236-0 career record (this is not a typo), was considered the favorite by most experts.  As Schlatter prepared for his match, few gave this underclassman a chance against either Tsirtsis or the graduated senior stars. 
            Schlatter had other ideas.  Bob Preusse of Amateur Wrestling News put it concisely after the match: “It was no contest”.  Young Schlatter notched three takedown and two backpoints, and only conceded a takedown in the closing seconds to defeat Tsirtsis 5-1.  For his next feat, he shut-out Frishkorn (who was 4th at NCAA’s as a freshman) 3-0; to set up a matchup against Ohio fan favorite, graduated senior 4x State Champion Ryan Lang of Lakewood St. Edward’s.  Schlatter jumped out to the lead and held on to win 6-4, despite being a full two years younger than the outstanding Lang. 
            After simply embarrassing all opponents his junior year, Schlatter moved to 145 for his senior season.  145 just so happened to be the weight dominated by now- 4x undefeated state champion, 6x junior national champion Brent Metcalf.  Metcalf completed his career with a staggering 228-0 record.  How good was Metcalf?  Put it this way- he scored technical falls against both Ryan Lang and Jason Johnstone in freestyle.   Schlatter and Metcalf were to meet twice- first at the Medina Invitational Tournament, second at Senior Nationals.
            The first bout went to Metcalf as he rode out Schlatter in double-overtime.  However, with all due respect to Metcalf, the official blew the outcome-determinative call.  Seemingly going to overtime, Schlatter hit what might be called a “peek out” while in a front headlock, in the closing seconds and clearly had control.   Two points were awarded as Metcalf started to take off his anklets.  Then, the officials conferred and ruled that the points were after the clock.  This was a unique situation where the officials were not in the best position to make the call, with their attention focused on the wrestling.  From the stands, you could clearly see that Schlatter beat the buzzer with his takedown.  The official had his back to the clock and probably wanted to make sure that any doubts in this supermatch were resolved against the hometown kid. 
            The rematch was in the finals of Senior Nationals- Schlatter set things right with a 4-3 win over Metcalf, the first time Metcalf was ever beaten in folkstyle wrestling.  The Metcalf bouts only served to reaffirm Schlatter’s legend.
            Now, Jaggers is a redshirt freshman at Ohio State and Schlatter a true freshman for Minnesota.  Despite being freshman, both have battled through a very tough field at the Southern Scuffle to advance to the finals.  Jaggers stunned the #3 ranked wrestler in the nation (in the rankings at www.revwrestling.com) in his semifinal, the undefeated Gregor Gillespie.  Schlatter was Schlatter, dismantling the #3 seed, Josh Medina of Lock Haven, by 15-0 technical fall.
       Schlatter versus Jaggers.  From a Buckeye-state perspective, this may be the biggest matchup of all-time.  In this writer’s view, no other 4x state champion has captured the imagination of Ohio fans quite like these two.  Their contrast in styles make the match even more interesting.  You might characterize the match as the irrestible force (Jaggers) versus the immovable object (Schlatter).  Jaggers attacks constantly and creates opportunities in all three positions- piling up big points without fail.  Schlatter is the master of capitalizing on his opponents mistakes and is virtually impossible to score on- he probably yielded fewer points than any Ohio wrestler ever, despite wrestling a schedule constisting of the best national competition all season.
Such a matchup obviously calls for a prediction; so here it is:  expect the unexpected.  While most would predict a close bout, Ohio Wrestling Site will go out on a limb and forecast the match going one of two ways:
1) Jaggers aggressive style plays into Schlatter’s hand and he controls the bout, winning by a comfortable margin.
2) Jaggers succeeds in getting a big move and takes Schlatter out of the match mentally, winning big. 
If forced to make a call, I will take Schlatter.  Stay tuned!

(Editor’s Note: The Southern Scuffle finals start tonite at 6:30- therefore, results should be in for this epic showdown around 7:30.  Come back to Ohiowrestlingsite.com for the results at that time!  A complete article about the match will be up Saturday, December 31st).

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OhioWrestlingSite.com 2005