Finally the season has started. I was a little torn going into the weekend, because there is this struggle for time that goes on at InterMat. One side of my mind was dreading the season because there are so many more things I wanted to have lined and done on the site before the flow of results monopolize my time. The other side of mind was aching to see some actual action and some results that matter. It only took one weekend and I am fully into the season. Here are some of my highlights from the opening weekend:
Super 32:
I’m sad I could not make it down there, because the competition looked to be great as usual. Looking back through the brackets a few things jumped out to me.
First being Robert Dyar of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. Dyar has little by little made me a believer. Dyar on the surface may be knocked for only having one state title in a state that is not a wrestling powerhouse and on top of that it was as a Junior at 103. However, Dyar performed well at both NHSCA’s and Fargo. Then he took second to Devin Carter of Virginia at 112 this weekend. I am not trying to slight Carter, he is the one that took home the belt. I simply want to put Dyar out there as a kid who is turning into a stud and is not from one of the traditional big time wrestling states.
Another runner-up that jumped out to me is Josh Kindig from Pennsylvania. Kindig clearly has already made a name for himself. Kindig’s second place finish is significant because his loses may prove be more telling than his wins. He only loses 1-0 to David Taylor in the Super 32 finals this year. He also wrestled a tight match with Jordan Oliver in last years P.I.A.A. finals and was a double finalist at Fargo where he fell victim to the Alton family. Kindig is certainly one the best wrestlers in the country to not own a state title.
Michigan state champ Jackson Morse ran through the gauntlet at 145. He pinned his first three opponents in less than 4 minutes. The beats Cody Bollinger, Joe Cozart, Dylan Alton, and Joey Napoli. Early season or late season. Short matches or a full six minutes. It doesn’t matter, that is impressive.
College:
The Fighting Scot Duals headlined the weekend with Edinboro downing Army, Findlay, and Maryland. One of the big questions entering this weekend was Matt Kyler’s ability to perform at 149. Kyler puts some of those questions to rest with a strong performance. Kyler recorded a fall against Findlay’s Sean Dong, a major decision over Torsten Gilliespie of Edinboro and a fall against Eric Medina of Maryland. Medina took an early lead, but Kyler tied the match at 5 and then pinned the No. 14 ranked Maryland wrestler. Kyler’s fall provided huge bonus points in a match that ended tied at 19.
Yesterday at the Buffalo Open, Paul Donahoe stepped onto the mat as a Fighting Scot and won the tournament. Donahoe defeated Ohio State’s Nikko Triggas in the finals. Eric Morrill took third place a t 125 for the Scots. At 133 Reece Humphrey took the tournament, but the big news at that weight was Ohio State commitment Ian Paddock taking third. Another high school competitor, James Fleming, a recent Clarion commitment took fourth at 157. Also, two notable transfers won their weights. Garrett Scott rolled through the 141 bracket in his competition since going to Edinboro and Cody Gardner took his first college tournament and did it as an Ohio State Buckeye.
At the Eastern Michigan Open, Pat McCaffery won the tournament at 125 for Navy and Pitt transfer Eric Albright defeated Kenny Jordan in the finals at 133. Mike Letts of Maryland won the 174 bracket and Scott Steele of Navy won at 285.
Those are just some of the highlights of the first weekend of competition on 2008-2009. Next weekend should be equally exciting with many more teams opening their seasons and more off-season questions beginning to be answered. The most exciting part of next weekend for me will be Lehigh versus Maryland. There are several good stories inside the story of that match. I will try to bring some of them to you throughout the week, leading up to InterMat’s live coverage of the dual on Sunday. Hope everyone is enjoying the season as much as I am so far.
3 Comments
November 3, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Slight correction on Cody Gardner. This was not his first tournament championship in college as he won the East Stroudsburg Open last season (as a Hokie) prior to taking a leave of absence for the remainder of the year.
Keep up the good work. Glad the season has finally started.
November 3, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Perhaps he meant first ‘non-open’ tournament victory.
April 15, 2009 at 8:15 am
The style of writing is quite familiar to me. Have you written guest posts for other bloggers?