Congrats to Stow Wrestler Connor McMahon!

The state wrestling tournament is a big production.  For three days, the best wrestlers in Division's I, II, and III each compete for their respective title.  In each division there are fourteen weight classes ranging from 106 pounds to heavyweight.  For the wrestlers, the journey started with practice back in October, but in reality the journey started long before then, when as a young boy they walked onto a wrestling mat.   The journey ends with the hardest of wrestling tournaments.

In Division I, for instance, there might be over two hundred wrestlers competing in a season for each weight class.  Each one representing his school which includes all of the Division I high schools across the state.  They wrestle for an entire season.  They enter the sectional tournament and the elimination process begins.  After three weeks of tournaments there are only two wrestlers left.  On Saturday night at The Ohio State University, Stow's Connor McMahon was one of those wrestlers when he took to the mat under the spotlights of the Shottenstein Center to wrestle for the division I championship at 160 pounds.

The setting is very impressive.  The tournament is conducted with ten wrestling mats spread out on the floor of the Schottenstein Center.  For the finals, though, all of the matches are concluded in the afternoon.  On Saturday night an elevated stage is set on the center floor with three wrestling mats on it.  One mat for the championship in Division I, II, and II.  The wrestlers are paraded into the arena before the event and they stand across from eachother while the national anthem is performed and the colors are presented by a national guard detachment.  Then the wrestlers cross the mat together and shake their opponents hand and the finals begin.  Before each weight class, the wrestlers wait in the tunnel of the arena and then they are called out individually to run out of the tunnel and up the stairs across to their mat in front of the thousands in attendance.  For an Ohio high school wrestler, it is a dream come true.

When it came to the match itself, in wrestling, if the outcome is not what one wants it is usually for one of three reasons.  One can be soundly defeated or pinned, one can lose, and sometimes its a case of one does everything right, but they do not win.  For Connor McMahon, it was the third case as he walked out on center stage and wrestled an excellent wrestling match.  He was the aggressor, he set the pace, and he was the driving factor in the match.  His opponent, Roy Daniels of Powell Olentangy Liberty, played defense, frequently worked his way off of the mat, showed great quickness with some key escapes, and earned a questionable penalty point to squeak out a 6-5 win.

McMahon went right after it to start the match.  He was close to a takedown, but the referee ruled they were out of bounds.  Later in the first period after a scramble following a McMahon shot attempt, a takedown also near the edge of the mat was awarded to his opponent.  McMahon bounced right back, though, with a reversal to tie the match at 2-2.  After the wrestlers went off of the mat, they started again with McMahon on top, but  Daniels escaped to finish the first period with a 3-2 lead over McMahon. 

In the second period Daniels conceded the escape and the match was tied at 3-3.  McMahon would then finish a single leg takedown to take a 5-3 lead.  The wrestlers went off of the mat a number of times as Daniels  seemed to make a bee line for the edge on every start.  With a few seconds left in the second period the wrestlers were started again and Daniels managed an escape as he hopped just out of McMahon's grasp. 

McMahon now had a 5-4 lead entering the third period.  McMahon was on top and he chose to wrestle from that position to ride out the match. The strategy nearly worked.  Daniels again repeatedly worked his way off of the mat, but could not escape McMahon.  With just under a minute left, McMahon stopped another stand up attempt and pulled Daniels back to the center of the mat with a solid riding hold in place.  From the vantage point high in the arena, it was hard to tell if there was a real injury or not, but Daniels suddenly had a  pain in his knee and he called out for the match to be stopped.  Daniels massaged the knee briefly and then regained his composure and had a drink of water. 

After over a minute of non action, the match resumed with a refreshed Daniels in the down position.  The wrestlers worked hard as time was winding down and with about 30 seconds left. Daniels got to his feet.  As he did, McMahon locked his hands momentarily around him, which is allowed if a wrestler gets to his feet, but the referee called a "locking hands" penalty and awarded Daniels 1 point.  Just as that happened Daniles then broke free for a 1 point escape. 

Suddenly McMahon trailed now 6-5 with time winding down.  Showing no panic at all, McMahon pursued Daniels for a takedown attempt, but again Daniels worked off the mat.  He was warned for stalling.  Another stalling caution would result in a point for McMahon and a tie match.  With about 15 seconds remaining the wrestlers were started again, and again McMahon pursued aggressively and took his last shot.   Again Daniels backed away.  In many instances in a match of this magnitude, a mere side step or any unaggressive movement is called stalling, but that was not this case with this official.  The backward movement was allowed, but McMahon managed a deep shot for the legs anyway.  With the closing seconds ticking away McMahon gathered in Daniels leg, who again was scooting off of the mat.  The wrestlers battled in the position for the final three seconds waiting for the call from the official.  It sure looked like it could have been awarded, but no takedown was given to McMahon.  Final score Daniels 6, Connor McMahon 5.  Daniels celebrated, and the injured knee seemed surprisingly healed now after the timely respite in the middle of the third period.

McMahon had come up one point short of a state title.  He had represented his school and team very well, though.  Certainly one could question some of the calls in the match, but this author has learned that is not Connor McMahon's style.  No excuses, just wins and losses.  It's a good way to compete at this sport and its a good way to approach life.  Just accept it and move on to the next challenge.

The tournament showed that the strength of the sport is located right here in Northeast Ohio.  While St Edwards is always a perennial powerhouse and they brought home another four state championships this year, seven of the fourteen possible state titles came out of the Mentor district where the Bulldogs had competed a week earlier.  Add those in with St Eds, and one from Wadsworth and that means that in Division I, only 2 state champions came from the rest of Ohio.   

In Ohio there is a report put together every season by a gentlemen named Brian Brakeman.  He predicts who the top wrestler is in each weight class and ranks the others.  It is really incredible that he can do this with such accuracy.  Brakeman actually predicted the state champion correctly for all but one of the Division I weight classes.  The only weight class that he missed on was the 160 pound weight class.  The reason he missed a perfect prediction record was because his projected winner from St Eds, did not make it to the championship match.  He was defeated in an overtime thriller by Stow's Connor McMahon in the semi finals.

Congratulations to Connor on his remarkable season.  What a great run to the title match!