Posted on Jan 21, 2007 13:30 | Edited by ReasonsLastStep on Jan 21, 2007 18:32
First off, I want to thank Christian County's coaches and team for running a such a good tournament. There were only two breaks, and it was all wrapped up by 8 pm. Thanks.
Second I want to comment on two matches, naturally they are the two that I have the most interest in. The Badgett/Elam match was nerve wrenching all the way through.
It began with Elam tossing Badgett to his back from some kind of underhook. Badgett used the momentum from the throw to help reverse him and put Elam on his back. This all happened very fast, and by the end of this whole sequence the ref awarded the points. He awarded 2 take-down and 2 nearfall for Elam, and 2 reversal and 2 nearfall for Badgett. I was astonished that nearfall points were awarded for Elam because there had not been any visible counting by the ref, and there was no way imo that there could have been a 3 count. (Ive even seen this situation play out where there would not have been an initial td awarded because no control was established) At the end of the first period Elam won an escape and the score was 5-4.
Union chose down in the 2nd, and Badgett quickly got a warning for stalling while he was working for wrist control with Elam fully broke down. An escape was the only point scored in the second, it was now 6-4.
Badgett chose down in the 3rd. He quickly got an escape and held on to finish a single-leg as his opponent leapt out of bounds. As Elam tried for a stand up Badgett returned him to the mat keeping his hands locked long enough to give up a point for the technical violation. Elam got an escape with about 30 seconds to go putting the score at 8-7. He then did what any wrestler with a one point lead and less than a minute to wrestle would do, he avoided the take-down. The refs that i have seen this year, like at the WCI, would have been awarding some points for stalling, but hey, when in Rome...(or WKY). With about 6 seconds left Badgett attempted to take down Elam but they went out of bounds. They started back at the middle and Badgett shot on the ref's whistle. As Elam backed up the ref stopped the match(and Badgett's momentum) to warn Elam for stalling. (finally) With 3 seconds left they started from the lines once again, but it was too late for Badgett and the match ended 8-7.
Even though it was a heartbreak for me personally, and I disagreed with some of the officiating, I thought this was probably the best match of the night. Both wrestlers wrestled hard/smart and should both be proud of themselves. Good job guys!!
Luke Ervin looked impressive beat johnathan miller and i thought had won the finals but it was a close match anyways.
IDK how you would think he won in the finals. Before the 3rd period the only point that he had scored was an escape. In the 3rd he did go on a tear with 2 take-downs and a reversal(and a warning for stalling-finally) but it wasn't enough because Walls had controlled the whole match prior to that. Justin scored one takedown two sets of near falls an escape and two reversals. The final score was 11-8.
Not to take anything away from Union Co.(and some people might even take this as a compliment) but they do a very good job of wrestling with the better portion of the mat in front of them.