Rawls repeats; two Patriots take gold
Nansemond River, First Colonial wrestlers earn titles
Nansemond River’s Owen Rawls won his second consecutive state championship, the latest by fall in dramatic fashion at the Class 5 Tournament at the Virginia Beach Sports Center on Saturday.
Rawls, wrestling at 126 pounds, dropped Jerry Simon of Deep Run in the final second of the second period to repeat as a state champion.
Rawls fell behind early but was behind just 5-4 after the first period. In the second, Rawls gained momentum, outpointing Simon 7-3 before overpowering his opponent and delivering the pin just as time expired.
In the day’s only Class 5 final to feature two Beach District wrestlers, Thomas Stofka of First Colonial topped Cox’s Parker Tillery 9-0 to capture the 157-pound division.
Stofka was the first of three First Colonial wrestlers in the finals, and his performance helped lead the Patriots to the best finish by a local team in Class 5.
“I didn’t get the fall, but I was happy,” said Stofka. “[Tillery] is a good competitor. But I visualized what I wanted to do and executed.”
In the evening ’s last bout, First Colonial’s Colin Pedersen shut out Behanzin Bowen of Prince George 5-0 at 285 pounds to win the Patriots’ second individual crown.
Other wrestlers to make the final round included Josiah Irizarry of Tallwood (106), Granby’s Leonard Ashley (150) and Schey Huff from First Colonial (215).
Third-place finishers from Hampton Roads were Princess Anne’s Dawson Bowden (113), Salem’s Kyree Farmer (120), First Colonial’s Cole Murphy (132), Tallwood’s Trey Thebarge (138), Cox’s Carter Shupert (144) and Tyler Haley (165) and Nansemond River’s Camden Bauswell (175), and Seth Murphy (215).
First Colonial placed fourth in the team standings with 132 points, while Cox was fifth with 129. Mountain View won the team championship with 191 points.
Just seconds after Rawls’ pin on the adjoining mat, Grassfield’s Jahleel Armstrong scored a fall over Forest Park’s Anthony Orlando to score the area’s first Class 6 crown.
The bout went back and forth in the first three minutes, but Armstrong began to gain momentum in the final minute of the second period.
“I knew it would be a stalemate,” said Armstrong, “but I feel like I’m the best-conditioned wrestler in the state and that I would need to tire him out in the second and third periods.”
Landstown’s Yuta Otero (132) also won by fall, pinning Nick Ta of Westfield at the 1:52 mark, giving the Beach District two champions. Grassfield’s Matox Allen (144). Nate Bushey of Ocean Lakes (175) and Nassir Edmonds (285) from Landstown also made the finals.
Landstown’s Hayato Otero (113) and Kellam’s Brodie Altman (132) finished third.
Robinson, of Fairfax, defended its team title from last year but faced a much stiffer challenge, just holding off a pair of contenders. The Rams tallied 98 points, but Westfield was right behind with 96.5 and Chantilly totaled 91.5. Landstown was the top Hampton Roads team, placing fourth with 88.
Class 2
Poquoson couldn’t wrest its figurative Class 2 state championship belt back from Strasburg, which took the team title with 209.5 points at Salem Civic Center.
Glenvar was second with 137.5, and the Islanders were third with 129.5. Poquoson edged Strasburg at the Virginia Duals, but the Rams thrived more in the tournament format.
The Islanders had taken four consecutive team titles before placing second a year ago.Jared Goodson took Poquoson’s only championship, defeating Strasburg’s Peyton Dean 9-2 at 113 pounds. Kam Harrell (106), Bryan Latta (126), Reed Booth (132) and Blake Latta (157) all captured third place for the Islanders.
VISAA
Catholic’s John Custis won the 285-pound championship at the VISAA Tournament on Saturday.