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A dramatic moment at State Wrestling

I hadn’t been to the state wrestling tournament for many years. Sam always took care of it for us.

But there was no Sam this year.

In honor of our late sports reporter, and because I wanted to show support for our Lovell and Rocky Mountain wrestling teams, I made the trip on Saturday morning, driving from Riverton, where I had been covering the 2A West Regional Basketball Tournament.

I’m so glad I went.

If you’ve never been to the state wrestling tournament, you’re missing out. The Ford Wyoming Center is packed to the rafters, with matches on eight mats going non-stop for 2 1/2 days, then finals commencing on four mats: all-class girls, 2A boys, 3A boys and 4A boys.

The cool thing is that fans in one corner of the arena will be cheering for their wrestler on one mat, while others across the arena will be cheering for a different competitor on another mat. A roar will go up over there, then in back of you, then across the arena.

It’s wild and chaotic. And great fun.

At the very end of the tournament, I witnessed surely one of the greatest contests in Lovell High School sports history. In the heavyweight championship match, senior James Love battled defending state champion Christian Reilly of Hulett, who had beaten Love the year before for the 2A title.

Love cruised to the title match with two first-period pins and a pin against Elyott Gorsuch of Moorcroft in the semifinals. Lovell and Reilly had not met this season.

Love and fellow senior Rosendo Garcia had to wait all day for the finals, surely a nerve-wracking time period, and once warmed up, James paced along the 2A mat – back and forth, back and forth – as 215-pound matches wrapped up and medals from 190 pounds were awarded. I jokingly asked former Lovell head coach and current AD Nick DeWitt if Love was exhibiting some nervous energy. “Just a little,” he replied.

Then the match began. The two evenly matched wrestlers circled and hand fought in the first period, neither one able to get a takedown. Love had the bottom position in the second period and escaped to pick up one point. Reilly did the same in the third period. The match went into overtime tied 1-1.

Wyoming high school wrestling features sudden death overtime rules, which coaches like to call sudden victory. The first wrestler to score a point of any kind gets the win.

The first overtime period saw both contestants on their feet, and like the first period, neither could get a takedown. Love was “down” to start the second overtime, and he was unable to escape.

The drama came in the third period. Love was attempting to hold down the larger Reilly, but he held on for dear life, and as the final seconds ticked away, a young lad ready to tap the referee to signify that time was up, Love saw an opportunity to score and suddenly flipped Reilly over into a pinning position using something called a chin whip. (I had no idea such a thing existed.) He was awarded three near-fall points and the match ended 4-1 in favor of the Lovell senior.

It was dramatic. It was sensational.

At first, it seemed like the realization that he had won came slowly to James, but then he thrust his arms high in a victory gesture as the referee held three fingers high. The heavyweight ran to his coach, Ty Hecker, and jumped into his arms as Hecker and assistant Skye Mickelson laughed, then received a round of hugs from numerous others, emotion filling his face.

Finally, he climbed up to the first row of the Ford Wyoming Center seats and hugged his mom, JeriLyn, and sister, Stormi, who both shed tears of joy. He then hugged Hecker again.

James finishes the season with a 33-2 record and titles at the best of the best Ron Thon, 2A West Regional and 2A State tournaments. He’s rarely the biggest wrestler on the mat, facing some absolutely huge opponents, but his heart is clearly the greatest.

For all of the problems we endure in modern society, one of the aspects of life that still binds us together is sports competition. And moments like James Love overcoming all to win a state title are priceless.

Great job, James. You’ve made us proud. And somewhere Sam is beaming.