Written and Reported by Dave Ritterpusch
Blair and Coach Buxton’s credo has long been, “We duck nobody.”
So on successive weekends the end of January and the beginning of February, as Blair moved into the heart of its 2010-2011 dual-meet schedule, it took on the two programs that were #2 and #3 in the USA – behind only Blair -- over the past decade.
This gauntlet-run began on Saturday, January 29 as USA co #1 team from last season, St Paris Graham (OH), visited Blair for the first time ever.
Then, the following weekend Blair traveled to Cleveland to wrestle in the St Edward (OH) Super-Quad, continuing the annual home-and-home series that former longtime USA #1 St Ed’s and Blair have courageously engaged in for many years.
Between them, St Paris Graham and St Ed’s currently have 22 of the top-ranked wrestlers in Ohio, according to the latest Brakeman Report, a highly respected ranking service focused on Ohio wrestling. In fact, St Paris Graham has five Ohio Div II #1’s, one #2 and two #3’s. For its part, St Edward has three Ohio Div I #1’s, three #2’s and one #3.
Making the challenge even more compelling for Blair is the fact that the only two dual meets Blair lost over the entire first decade of the 21st century were to St Ed’s (in January 2007, at St Ed’s) and to St Paris Graham (in January 2010, at Graham). And as you might expect, each loss knocked Blair out of consideration for the USA #1 ranking in the season concerned.
As an added dimension, this challenging stretch began with the private dedication of Blair’s new NCAA-style wrestling room to Coach Jeff Buxton at 1 PM Saturday, January 29 and the associated, spectacular “Celebration of Blair Wrestling” in the “sold-out” Blair gym at 7 PM that day, i.e., immediately before the dual meet with St Paris Graham.
What took place against St Paris Graham and St Ed’s these consecutive weekends in the winter of 2011 was in essence a two-pronged milestone event in Blair’s legendary wrestling history.
The bottom line is that St Paris Graham and St Ed’s could muster only 9 wins – combined – versus Blair, despite being two of the best teams in the USA and despite having 22 of Ohio’s top-ranked wrestlers, as mentioned earlier. (Note: St Paris Graham was without injured Isaac Jordan, its regular 160 lb wrestler, who is ranked #1 in Ohio Div I.)
Moreover, the two national powers suffered pins in 6 of the bouts, including a critical one registered at 145 lbs over St Ed’s Ohio Div I #1 ranked Matt Van Curren by fast-improving Blair super-frosh Dylan Milonas.
The other Blair pins were recorded versus both teams by freshman Joe McKenna at 103 lbs and versus St Paris Graham by junior Mark Grey at 125 lbs, junior Todd Preston at 130 lbs and sophomore Brooks Black at 285 lbs.
Making the story all the more interesting is the fact that although Blair won the two duals by similar scores -- 39-18 and 39-15 -- the duals unfolded in completely different patterns, as Blair won the first 6 bouts in a row versus St Paris Graham (3 by fall) to go up 27 to 0; while it trailed 12 – 15 after the first 7 bouts versus St Ed’s, and then won the last 7 bouts in a row. Note: As you may have guessed, this striking dichotomy occurred primarily because the St Paris Graham dual started at 103 lbs, while the St Ed’s dual started at 140 lbs.
A factor contributing to Blair’s margin of victory in each of the two duals -- besides losing only 9 bouts and getting 6 pins and a forfeit – was the ability of most of the younger Blair wrestlers who did lose to give their opponents fits and keep their bouts close enough to avoid giving up bonus points, not even the single extra team point that goes with a major decision, i.e., losing by 8 or more points.
The St Paris Graham match and the St Ed’s match showed clearly just how much Blair has improved since the start of the season. Beyond improved wrestling all around, adding 2009-2010 USA#1 Evan Silver back into the Blair line-up at 112 lbs the end of December and brand new Blair wrestler super-sophomore Frank Mattiace at 189 lbs the middle of January has upgraded the Blair line-up. Both are undefeated as we go to press, and both defeated Ohio ranked wrestlers each of the past two Saturdays, meaning against St Paris Graham and against St Ed’s.
Aside: Congratulations to Evan Silver for being selected to the USA All Star team that will face the PA All Stars in the annual Dapper Dan Classic at the University of Pittsburgh immediately after the season.
As a historical footnote, let the records show that in its other two duals at the 2011 St Ed’s Super-Quad, Blair defeated fellow National Prep members Kiski Prep (PA) and Wyoming Seminary (PA) 53 – 13 and 52 - 9, respectively.
As is its practice in quads, Blair used partial starting line-ups in each of these preliminary duals. But rest assured, as was so often the case in the last decade, future Blair stars got in plenty of meaningful, developmental work as a result.
Observations
• We hear people around the country talking about next year, and nominating pre-season USA #1’s, as they anticipate the graduation of so many of Apple Valley’s best wrestlers.
• Folks, catch your breath: Blair is wrestling 3 freshman, 4 sophomores and 4 juniors in its starting line-ups – and has three super underclassmen ready to be added to the starting line-up next year.
• Moreover, a number of the younger starting Blair wrestlers, all of whom are ”gifted and talented’ grapplers, are showing signs of developing skill sets consistent with their inherent talent.
• See, for example, freshman Dylan Milonas, who is wrestling at 145, where his opponents are often seasoned juniors or seniors. Dylan was seriously injured last year – and is just now finally fully recovered. Saturday Dylan had pins versus Wyoming Seminary and St Ed’s.
• Sophomore Russ Parsons, at 140 lbs, had a critical shutout win to open the St Ed’s dual for Blair. It was strikingly similar to the shutout win Russ had earlier in the day against Wyoming Seminary. In both bouts, he showed a non-stop tenaciousness and strong skills in all three major positions, on the feet, on the bottom and on top, with several minutes of riding time in each bout.
• Look for Blair’s 2011-2012 team to be strikingly similar to the 2008-2009 USA #1 team, meaning particularly that it will be strong up and down the line-up, making it an extremely good dual-meet team and a force in tournaments as well. Aside: Biggest difference from 2008-2009 will be “only” 4 starting seniors – vs. the 8 the 2008-2009 team had. This difference bodes well for the following years.
• If Blair is not the consensus #1 going into 2011-2012, it better be because one of the Soviet Union’s better teams from the Cold War years is.
• By the way, if a wrestler does not want to do everything possible to maximize the return on his native ability, he ought not go to Blair. Coach Buxton was NOT satisfied with some of the things he saw vs. St Paris Graham, the final score notwithstanding.
• If you want evidence of the focused coaching between the St Paris Graham match and the St Ed’s match, just check out closely the Blair individual bout scores vs. St Ed’s.
Blair and Coach Buxton’s credo has long been, “We duck nobody.”
So on successive weekends the end of January and the beginning of February, as Blair moved into the heart of its 2010-2011 dual-meet schedule, it took on the two programs that were #2 and #3 in the USA – behind only Blair -- over the past decade.
This gauntlet-run began on Saturday, January 29 as USA co #1 team from last season, St Paris Graham (OH), visited Blair for the first time ever.
Then, the following weekend Blair traveled to Cleveland to wrestle in the St Edward (OH) Super-Quad, continuing the annual home-and-home series that former longtime USA #1 St Ed’s and Blair have courageously engaged in for many years.
Between them, St Paris Graham and St Ed’s currently have 22 of the top-ranked wrestlers in Ohio, according to the latest Brakeman Report, a highly respected ranking service focused on Ohio wrestling. In fact, St Paris Graham has five Ohio Div II #1’s, one #2 and two #3’s. For its part, St Edward has three Ohio Div I #1’s, three #2’s and one #3.
Making the challenge even more compelling for Blair is the fact that the only two dual meets Blair lost over the entire first decade of the 21st century were to St Ed’s (in January 2007, at St Ed’s) and to St Paris Graham (in January 2010, at Graham). And as you might expect, each loss knocked Blair out of consideration for the USA #1 ranking in the season concerned.
As an added dimension, this challenging stretch began with the private dedication of Blair’s new NCAA-style wrestling room to Coach Jeff Buxton at 1 PM Saturday, January 29 and the associated, spectacular “Celebration of Blair Wrestling” in the “sold-out” Blair gym at 7 PM that day, i.e., immediately before the dual meet with St Paris Graham.
What took place against St Paris Graham and St Ed’s these consecutive weekends in the winter of 2011 was in essence a two-pronged milestone event in Blair’s legendary wrestling history.
The bottom line is that St Paris Graham and St Ed’s could muster only 9 wins – combined – versus Blair, despite being two of the best teams in the USA and despite having 22 of Ohio’s top-ranked wrestlers, as mentioned earlier. (Note: St Paris Graham was without injured Isaac Jordan, its regular 160 lb wrestler, who is ranked #1 in Ohio Div I.)
Moreover, the two national powers suffered pins in 6 of the bouts, including a critical one registered at 145 lbs over St Ed’s Ohio Div I #1 ranked Matt Van Curren by fast-improving Blair super-frosh Dylan Milonas.
The other Blair pins were recorded versus both teams by freshman Joe McKenna at 103 lbs and versus St Paris Graham by junior Mark Grey at 125 lbs, junior Todd Preston at 130 lbs and sophomore Brooks Black at 285 lbs.
Making the story all the more interesting is the fact that although Blair won the two duals by similar scores -- 39-18 and 39-15 -- the duals unfolded in completely different patterns, as Blair won the first 6 bouts in a row versus St Paris Graham (3 by fall) to go up 27 to 0; while it trailed 12 – 15 after the first 7 bouts versus St Ed’s, and then won the last 7 bouts in a row. Note: As you may have guessed, this striking dichotomy occurred primarily because the St Paris Graham dual started at 103 lbs, while the St Ed’s dual started at 140 lbs.
A factor contributing to Blair’s margin of victory in each of the two duals -- besides losing only 9 bouts and getting 6 pins and a forfeit – was the ability of most of the younger Blair wrestlers who did lose to give their opponents fits and keep their bouts close enough to avoid giving up bonus points, not even the single extra team point that goes with a major decision, i.e., losing by 8 or more points.
The St Paris Graham match and the St Ed’s match showed clearly just how much Blair has improved since the start of the season. Beyond improved wrestling all around, adding 2009-2010 USA#1 Evan Silver back into the Blair line-up at 112 lbs the end of December and brand new Blair wrestler super-sophomore Frank Mattiace at 189 lbs the middle of January has upgraded the Blair line-up. Both are undefeated as we go to press, and both defeated Ohio ranked wrestlers each of the past two Saturdays, meaning against St Paris Graham and against St Ed’s.
Aside: Congratulations to Evan Silver for being selected to the USA All Star team that will face the PA All Stars in the annual Dapper Dan Classic at the University of Pittsburgh immediately after the season.
As a historical footnote, let the records show that in its other two duals at the 2011 St Ed’s Super-Quad, Blair defeated fellow National Prep members Kiski Prep (PA) and Wyoming Seminary (PA) 53 – 13 and 52 - 9, respectively.
As is its practice in quads, Blair used partial starting line-ups in each of these preliminary duals. But rest assured, as was so often the case in the last decade, future Blair stars got in plenty of meaningful, developmental work as a result.
Observations
• We hear people around the country talking about next year, and nominating pre-season USA #1’s, as they anticipate the graduation of so many of Apple Valley’s best wrestlers.
• Folks, catch your breath: Blair is wrestling 3 freshman, 4 sophomores and 4 juniors in its starting line-ups – and has three super underclassmen ready to be added to the starting line-up next year.
• Moreover, a number of the younger starting Blair wrestlers, all of whom are ”gifted and talented’ grapplers, are showing signs of developing skill sets consistent with their inherent talent.
• See, for example, freshman Dylan Milonas, who is wrestling at 145, where his opponents are often seasoned juniors or seniors. Dylan was seriously injured last year – and is just now finally fully recovered. Saturday Dylan had pins versus Wyoming Seminary and St Ed’s.
• Sophomore Russ Parsons, at 140 lbs, had a critical shutout win to open the St Ed’s dual for Blair. It was strikingly similar to the shutout win Russ had earlier in the day against Wyoming Seminary. In both bouts, he showed a non-stop tenaciousness and strong skills in all three major positions, on the feet, on the bottom and on top, with several minutes of riding time in each bout.
• Look for Blair’s 2011-2012 team to be strikingly similar to the 2008-2009 USA #1 team, meaning particularly that it will be strong up and down the line-up, making it an extremely good dual-meet team and a force in tournaments as well. Aside: Biggest difference from 2008-2009 will be “only” 4 starting seniors – vs. the 8 the 2008-2009 team had. This difference bodes well for the following years.
• If Blair is not the consensus #1 going into 2011-2012, it better be because one of the Soviet Union’s better teams from the Cold War years is.
• By the way, if a wrestler does not want to do everything possible to maximize the return on his native ability, he ought not go to Blair. Coach Buxton was NOT satisfied with some of the things he saw vs. St Paris Graham, the final score notwithstanding.
• If you want evidence of the focused coaching between the St Paris Graham match and the St Ed’s match, just check out closely the Blair individual bout scores vs. St Ed’s.
awesome