Wrestling Season Ends with One Caisson in the Parade of Champions!!!
The excitement of the wrestling season came to an end on Saturday evening… well at least the wrestling has come to an end. Excitement still lingers for the future of this young Caisson Wrestling Team.
Excitement was the word of the day as all but two wrestlers had never taken part in a wrestling tournament of this nature; a State Championship Tournament. The tournament started out tough. Kyle Harvey lost his weigh-in to the scale and was out before it started. Kyle has been fighting a mid season growth spurt and has struggled the entire time in maintaining his weight below the allowed 121 pounds. The rest of the team made it safely and were ready to take their shot at the glory of winning at a state tournament.
Michael Labianca was our only seeded wrestler in the tournament. He was seeded 12th. To be seeded at the state tournament means a lot no matter if it’s 1st or 16th, it shows that people have noticed you and took what you have done that season as a measure as if you were someone to deal with at this level.
The team had set a goal for the tournament and it was just one goal, to be wrestling on Saturday, the second day of the State Championships. After the wrestling began at 10pm on Friday night five Caissons were still alive. The five that were still alive: 103 pounds – Michael LaBianca (10th grade), 130 pounds – Jonathan Vincent (12th Grade), 135 pounds – Joseph Forehand (9th Grade), 189 pounds – Novak Porter (9th Grade), and 285 pounds – Justin Bell (11th Grade).
The final Caisson standing was Jonathan Vincent. Vincent was the only wrestler with over ten matches that entered the tournament with a losing record at his weight. He spent the first half of the season up at 135 before moving down. His task in the 12th round was to beat the # 7 seed. Vincent peaked at just the right time and wrestled the best he has all year knocking off the #7 seed to advance to the top 8 in the State! Vincent lost his next match to the #5 seed sending him to the 7th and 8th place match. He had a long break after that awaiting for all the weights to get down to just 8 wrestlers and its a good thing as Vincent had injured his shoulder in his prior match and was not sure if he could move on. My guidance to him was this, “if you can go then you go, if you can’t go then so be it we med default the match.”
The State Championship Tournament “Parade of Champions,” was next. The parade is when all of the top 8 wrestlers in each weight class are paraded into the main wrestling area to music and lots of cheers. It’s a special moment for a young man to be in that parade and there was Jonathan Vincent, marching in proudly wearing his FMS WRESTLING warm-ups for all to see!
Vincent decided to take a shot against a tough wrestler from the Covenant School who he had split his prior two matches against. It was a back and forth match all the way. In the third period, you could see that Vincent was in pain but he kept on going. He made his only true mistake of the tournament when he was rolled over, had a hard time overcoming his injury, and was pinned at the end of the match. Cadet Vincent finished the day in 8th place and stood by the podium at the end of the day during the awards ceremony.
As the new Head Coach, and this being my first year at FMS, I have to say that this team has brought me as much pride as any team I have coached in any sport for the past 31 years. I have had teams win small school titles, conference championships, and compete at the national level, but this team has brought me more pride then any one in the past.
At the State Tournament so many parents and coaches from other schools came up to me and told me how wonderful it was to see FMS Wrestling doing as well as they were, and to be so well behaved. As Coach Anson mentioned, yes, at the VIC Tournament I was selected as the 2010 VIC Wrestling Coach of the Year. The award is wonderful and a true moment of pride for me, but mainly due to the fine young men that have taken the mat for FMS all season. This team never lost interest, never stopped working, and they never stopped pushing each other.
In closing, I want to make sure to send a special thanks out to all the parents of the young men on this team. To be at the State Championship Tournament on the same weekend as Parents’ Military Weekend, and look around and see the Garnet and Gold of FMS being displayed in the bleachers is a magic moment. So a special thank you to all the parents who traveled to the tournament and for their support, and to the entire FMS Family who supported these young men this past season. We look forward to seeing you all there again NEXT SEASON.
Sincerely,
Coach C
Head Coach
FMS Wrestling
