Caissons Wrestling Puts Five on Podium at State Tourney

Report from Coach C:

So the State tournament is over and we made it back to campus at just about midnight, after a very long long long weekend of wrestling. So the season is over…or is it????  Brain Farrell has Quailified for  the National Prep Championship Tournament; so FMS will be sending a wrestler to Lehigh PA this Friday 22 Feb (more on this to come). 

So, how did the State tournament end? With a lot of excitement and still some confusion and unknowns…. Let me explain.

This was a wild tournament with 11-time State Champions St. Christopher’s and LCA in a battle for the Championship, it went back and forth the entire tournament while little FMS just stayed steady in the top 10 ALL WEEKEND. At one point, Fishburne sat as high as the #5 spot in the team scores.

At the end they had announced that the top 2 teams TIED… maybe they had to recount, (maybe it was a hanging chad…lol ) After the recount, LCA was announced as the STATE CHAMPS breaking the 11-year run by St. Chris. But then again there was another rerecount, (maybe it was absentee points or something).

With all this going on the awards were given and we departed the gym seeing that Fishburne Military School had finished in 9th place overall in the State Tournament. We headed to our annual “After States Dinner” at Golden Corral.  After we got seated, in came the full LCA Team who sat next to us and there was a lot of chit chat back and forth as I was speaking the the LCA Coaches. They they all had the smart phones out and the NEW points came out online again and again LCA was still the STATE CHAMPS, but by only a half a point. They also changed the order of finish of a few teams in the top 10…and in doing so dropped FMS from 9 to 10.

Was a very strange ending that STILL may not be over. It was announced that the Potomac School was the top scoring Mid-sized School at the tournament, but now online it says that FMS was the top Mid -sized School. Don’t know will just have to wait and see.

Here is what I do know for sure and this can NOT be changed…..The Caissons STEPPED UP BIG TIME.

Fishburne went into the State Tournament with a goal of a top 10 finish, some doubt was thrown at the team as one of our top wrestlers, Kory Norris seeded #7, was injured in practice on Wed and it was confirmed as we were leaving campus that he was OUT of the State Tournament. This meant several team points we would not get so the rest of the team had to pick up the slack. I just told them all, that they each needed to score one extra point. One extra win, or a pin to make up for the loss of those points.

Well, just like at the VIC Championship they went to work building up bonus points as one Caisson after another stepped onto the mat and made short work of their opponents (winning SEVERAL matches by pin and advancing to the next round). It was a great start late Friday night. Our smallest guy with a HUGE heart stepped on the mat against a kid that had 30 pounds on him and was about 10 inches taller at least. Thomas Fosdick would fall behind early in points and was about to be turned over to his back when his HUGE heart kicked in and he rolled through the move and ended up holding the other guy on his back and taking the lead for good.

It was an awesome thing to watch and hear the Caisson Nation fans cheer as, time after time, Thomas turned the other kid over and then went on to win a match in the State Tournament. The smile on his face said it all…what a tough kid who stepped up big time on Friday night! 

When we departed the gym we still had 12 of our 13 wrestlers alive in the tourney and we held 5th place overall. This was a great night and you could feel the eyes on us as people began to see that this team was for real and that Fishburne Military School wasn’t  just a team that won a lot of matches…this is a bunch of kids with HEART… 

Day 2 started on the scales, which was not an issue, then it was time to wrestle. Now remember, at this point the brackets had been trimmed down by all the wrestlers that were knocked out on Friday night so the competition gets better with each match.

Time after time, the Caissons would step on the mat and move one step closer to a medal. Then it came to the point that just one more win would put them on the podium and we still had 8 kids going strong looking to take home a top 8 spot.

Biggie Morrison-Rogers was the first to secure a spot in the top 8 with a sudden reversal and pin to advance. Then Brian Farrell was the next to join him. We had now tied last years team with at least 2 top 8 finishers. …..OH but not done yet…. then it was James Park’s turn to join them, giving us 3 confirmed in the top 8 of their weight classes. Next up was first-year wrestler Harold McCoo who lost a heart breaker by just 2 points to miss out on a top 8 spot. Then it was Brandon Campbell and the same result…just 2 points short. Then Novak Porter took to the mat and was, once again, just 2 points short. Porter was behind by 4 with 20 seconds to go when he got a take down but was unable to score the final 2 needed. Then it was Michael Blackburn who did what was needed and moved on to the medal round. The count was now at 4. Allen Davis would be the last one with a shot as he stepped on the mat with a kid that was easily 35 pounds larger. And in the end… it was over in the second period with a pin and Davis gave us 5 for sure in the top 5. THIS WAS AWESOME

The Final tally looked like this…

126 Brian Farrell 5th place
132 Biggie Bevan Morrison-Rogers 8th place
152 Jams Park 8th Place
182 Michael Black Burn 7th Place
285 Allen Davis 6th Place 

A great showing by the Caissons this weekend.

Again, Fishburne finished in either 9th or 10th place in the State, but either way the goal of a top 10 finish was met by this team! Our goal, however, was met not this weekend…it was met during all those days of HARD WORK up on the stage back on the FMS Campus. Most of these young men wrestled the best matches they had all year long. A lot of hard work has now paid off….

Congratulate ALL these young men for all they have done all year long. and for how they shined this weekend at the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Tournament.

GO Caissons!!!