Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Wildcats down Tigers for dual state title
FAYETTEVILLE — Springdale Har-Ber coach Eric Nolan threw his arms in the air when the official’s hand slapped the mat signaling a fall to put an exclamation point on his team’s Arkansas Wrestling Coaches/ Officials’ Association Class 6A-7A Dual State title Saturday evening.
The Wildcats had already clinched the dual, but Britton Bowman’s pin in the final match added excitement to the 48-19 win over defending champion Bentonville High in the finals of the fourth annual event at Bulldog Arena.
The dual state tournament is not sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association, unlike the bracket-style state tournament in two weeks. But coaches put together the tournament to match teams using each of the 14 weight classes in the dual format. The win was Har-Ber’s second dual state title in four seasons.
Har-Ber (23-5) avenged a regular-season dual loss to the Tigers in which both teams won seven matches, but Bentonville earned the 35-33 win thanks to bonus points.
It was never that close in the rematch as Har-Ber won six of
the first seven matches for a 273 lead and never looked back, handing the Tigers their first postseason loss in two years.
“Our kids stepped up today and finally got the monkey off our back,” Nolan said. “We considered everything up to now our preseason. This week, conference and state is everything we’ve been working for, not just throughout the season but the offseason, the summer camps, all the weight training.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a dogfight the next two weeks. We’re looking forward to it.”
Har-Ber, the No. 2 seed from the West, cruised into the finals with an easy 69-12 win over Little Rock Catholic, then defeated Searcy, the No. 1 seed from the Central, 43-22.
Nolan was pleased with his team’s effort, but acknowledged Bentonville was missing at least one important contributor from its lineup in defending state champion Cash Jones.
“We had a little bit more help in our lineup,” Nolan said. “Not to mention we made a couple of adjustments with Isaac Withrow going to 106. Even though he lost, he didn’t give up bonus points. They had some guys banged up it looked like, but the guys they put out there wrestled tough.
“I know over the next couple of weeks they’re going to bounce back real strong and we’re going to have to be ready for them.”
Bentonville coach James Rappe said missing Jones made a difference, but credited HarBer.
“I don’t think that dual defines our program or how well we’re gonna finish,” Rappe said. “I hope this is something that’s going to fire them up a little bit. We’ll come back, go back to work and see if we can’t chase them down in the next couple weeks.”