Madison has super mat finish

With the coveted state title on the line, Madison County’s Tyler Atwell took center stage Feb. 21 at the Salem Civic Center, where more than 5,000 spectators were on hand for the combined Group AA/A state tournament.

The senior leader knew he had to be at his best to become the school’s third state wrestling champion.

And like an award-winning actor, he couldn’t have performed any better.

In the championship match at 140 pounds, it was vintage Atwell.

A perfected fireman’s dump followed by deadly tilts produced a dominating win by major decision, 12-0, over Rural Retreat’s Spencer Schillig and a state championship, which performance was equaled only by the depth of emotion that followed.

As Atwell acknowledged the crowd, tears of joy filled his eyes as years of hard work and dedication came to fruition on that historic night.

Exiting center stage, a raucous round of applause erupted from the Madison faithful combined with congratulations and embraces bestowed upon Atwell that came from teammates, coaches, family and even wrestlers from district rivals.

Madison Coach Mike Sacra put the emotion and dominating performance into perspective.

“The training and pride he’s put in is the culmination of the progress he’s made,” said Sacra. “He had a good opportunity and winning the title is a good ending to his high school career.”

Atwell paced a Madison team that turned in its best finish in Mountaineer history.

Represented by a total of seven wrestlers, the Madison tallied 91 third-place points, nine behind runner-up Strasburg, which finished with 100 points and 32 points back of first-place Glenvar, whose Highlanders tallied 123 points and claimed their second Group A state crown in three years.

All seven Mountaineers placed at the event. Besides Atwell’s championship title, Jarrett Brumett (135) came in third and Bobby Basta (125) finished in fourth.
Baxter Helmick (145) came in sixth and Dylan Basta (119), Ethan O’Connell (130) and Brandon Utz (215) all finished in seventh.

Team-wise, Madison’s finish in third capped off a record-setting season that witnessed the Mountaineers set a new team record for most wins in a season, 32, plus a runner-up finish to Strasburg at both the Bull Run District and Region B Tournaments.

In his customary humble fashion, Sacra distanced himself from the team when the third-place trophy was presented. He let his wrestlers bask in the glory.

“Third place is the best effort we’ve ever had,” he said. “I have to wonder if maybe we felt overwhelmed with the pressure of knowing we could challenge for the title. The kids went after it three weeks in a row.”

Atwell became the school’s third state champion and joins charter member George Webb IV, who won the 145-pound title in 2000 and second summit climber Tommy Frazier (285) who made it a two-some in 2006.

His progressive run to the title began his freshman year when he competed at the state tournament but did not place. The following year as a sophomore he finished fourth at 119 pounds and then a year ago as a junior finished second to Lancaster’s Sam Frere at 135 pounds.

Atwell dedicated himself during the off-season and compiled a 53-3 record going into the championship finals on Saturday.

Before his bout with Schillig, Atwell and Sacra put together a game plan.

“He’s a tall opponent and I’m just going to go out there and do my stuff,” said Atwell. “He’s tall so I’ll go with the ankle picks and firemens.”

“We told him to relax and to wrestle his style,” said Sacra. “I hate to use the term dominating, but what he did is a great way to finish his career,” which concluded with a school record 170 wins against 32 losses.

Atwell took the action to Schillig and remained relentless throughout. He executed a fireman’s for a quick takedown and then went to work with two sets of back points in the first period.

Schillig never posed a serious threat as Atwell added three more points in the second and two more in the third to accentuate the shutout win.

Brumett, who was second only to Atwell as the Mountaineer to go the deepest in the mix, graduates this summer as the school’s leader in wins by fall with an astounding 124 to his credit.

Except for Dylan Basta and O’Connell, the five state contestants and placement winners are all seniors and their departure creates a huge void.

Asked if he would miss Atwell after his crowning moment, Basta said: “Yes, I’m going to miss him, but I’m going to miss all of (the seniors).”

“It’s going to be a hard group to replace,” said Sacra. “This group has set some tall feats for the kids coming up. Looking back they have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Individual results at Group A state tournament:

119-pound -- Dylan Basta, sophomore, went 3-2 and finished in seventh. His wins came against Robert Meza of Northampton, 7-5 decision, Matthew Hill of Coeburn, 7-2 decision, and Jamie Jewell of King William, when Basta escaped with five seconds remaining to win by decision, 5-4. He finishes the season with a record of 42-18.

125-pound -- Bobby Basta, senior, went 3-2 and finished in fourth. He opened the competition with a win by decision, 6-4, over K.W. King of James River and then in the championship quarters defeated Washington and Lee’s Lucas Tyler by decision, 10-6, to advance to the semis where he lost by major decision to eventual champion Ryan Lowery of Northwood. In the consolations semis he overcame a 4-2 deficit to Arcadia’s Keith Whatley and won a hard-fought 11-9 decision. With third place on the line he fell to Floyd County’s Jesse Redford, 5-2. Basta finishes the season at 47-11.

130-pound -- Ethan O’Connell, sophomore, went 3-2 and finished in seventh. A fourth-place finisher a year ago at 119 pounds, he found himself competing in one of the most competitive weight classes in the tournament, which was won by Bull Run District nemesis Guppy Higginbotham who defeated O’Connell in the Region B Tournament, 5-4. O’Connell opened with a win by decision, 11-5, over Franklin’s Antwan Flyth and then advanced to the quarterfinals to face Group A’s No. 1 ranked wrestler Chad Sizemore of Covington who won over O’Connell by technical fall, 20-5, in Madison a few weeks ago. This time O’Connell narrowed the gap between them and lost by major decision, 10-0. Sent to the consolation rounds he defeated Riverhead’s Joey Waltz for the third time this season, 10-0, but then lost in the consolation quarters to Jon Addington of JJ Kelly, 9-6. O’Connell then claimed a forfeit by Mathews’ Tyler Maddox to finish in seventh. He finishes his season at 47-12.

135-pound -- Jarrett Brumett, senior, both a district and region champion and the recipient of “Most Outstanding Wrestler” at the Region B Tournament, went 5-1 and finished in third. He opened with a win by injury default by Lancaster’s Michael Nguyen but then lost in the quarters to Radford’s William Saunders by decision, 12-5. Trailing just 7-5 with 0:30 remaining in their match Brumett invited Saunders to the center of the mat and looked for a takedown against last year’s state champion at 119 pounds but the Bobcat caught Brumett in a throw and took him to his back for a five-point maneuver to win the match. In the consolations Brumett unknowingly worked his way for a rematch with Saunders. First, Madison’s career leader in wins by fall (124) dispatched Lebanon’s Nick Vincilli and next Cumberland’s Kentuan Hughes to get to the consolation semis where he pinned Patrick Henry’s Ethan Prater. With third place then on the line, Saunders re-appeared. This time Brumett made sure he scored first and went on to win 4-2. Brumett finished the season with a record of 57-3.

140-pound -- Tyler Atwell, senior, went 4-0 and won the championship. He began his championship quest with a win by fall over Lancaster’s Dylan Asbury and then in the quarters won by major decision, 15-2, over Glenvar’s Trey Allen. In the semis he defeated Ryan Helper of James River by major decision, 15-7, to set up the championship bout against Rural Retreat’s Spencer Schillig who he dominated by major decision, 12-0. The district, region and state champion finished the season with a record of 53-3.

145-pound -- Baxter Helmick, senior, went 2-3 and finished sixth. He started well by pinning Northampton’s Frankie Krawczel. Next, he outworked Castlewood’s Elliott Wohlgamuth to win by decision, 6-3, to advance to the semis against Radford’s Julian Minter. Helmick led Minter 4-2 when the Bobcat executed a takedown with just 0:10 remaining in regulation to tie the match at 4-4. In sudden victory Minter scored a takedown to win, 6-4. In the consolation semis he once again had to settle matters in sudden victory, this time against Covington’s Brandon Oxley. Leading 7-6, Helmick was penalized for stalling, which tied the match 7-7 as regulation came to a close. In sudden victory, Oxley scored the winning takedown to prevail 9-7. With fifth place on the line, Helmick met district and region foe Justin Sager of Strasburg for the third consecutive week. Sager made it a sweep of their series by winning by decision, 7-3. Helmick finished the season with a record of 49-8.

215-pound -- Brandon Utz, senior, went 3-2 and finished in seventh. He opened with a win by fall over St. Paul’s Dakota Smith. In the quarters he lost by fall to James River’s Anthony Garrison, which sent him to the consolation rounds. He made short work of Shawn Schulthaiss of Mathews by pinning the Blue Devil in just 0:33 but in the consolation quarters he lost by fall to Kolby Huffman of Virginia High School. “I beat him last year,” said Utz, “but he got a lot better with using his legs this year.” With seventh place at stake, Utz worked his way to a win by decision, 3-0, over Buffalo Gap’s Jesse Banks. Utz finished the season with a record of 50-7.