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November 16, 2015
R E S Sports S
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State champion Matt Stencel returns to national stage
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By Mark Griffin Press Contributing Writer sports@presspublications.com
I knew I had to come home and get stronger to compete with the kids when I moved up a weight class.
The look on Matt Stencel’s face said it all.
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Stencel, a Clay senior and last year’s Division I state wrestling champion at 195 pounds, had his opponent in the “down� position with one second left in their 220-pound title match at the FloWrestling Super 32 Challenge on Nov. 1 in Greensboro, N.C. The controversial finish did not end well for the 6-foot-2 Stencel, who will wrestle at 220 pounds for Clay this season. He took second at the state tournament at 182 pounds as a sophomore. “After wrestling season last year, I ended up getting up to 235,� Stencel said. “I have a six-pack right now and I’m pretty healthy. I didn’t want to cut down a lot of weight because I didn’t want to lose my strength, and I’m going to wrestle heavyweight in college (at Central Michigan).� Stencel competed at the Super 32 tournament for coach Jacob Kasper’s Ohio Raptors squad. Stencel’s parents, Bud and Kim, attended the tournament as well. It was Stencel’s second big tournament of the season. He competed at the Junior Fargo (N.D.) Nationals in late June, and took fourth in Greco-Roman and third in the freestyle portion of the tournament. “I was not prepared for that tournament,� Stencel said. “I had bumped up to 220 there and I hadn’t been lifting before that. I knew I had to come home and get stronger to compete with the kids when I moved up a weight class.� Stencel’s first four matches at the Super 32 went easy enough. He pinned Mikail Robinson in 1:22, pinned Tyler Cook in 1:07, decisioned Evan Ellis 4-0 in the quarterfinals and pinned Cole Nye in 1:42 in the semifinals. Stencel pinned Cook a month before the Super 32, at a dual-meet tournament. Stencel faced senior Jordan Wood of Boyertown, Pa., in the finals. Wood is the second-ranked 220-pounder in the nation by FloWrestling, and Stencel is ranked fourth. Wood won a state championship in Pennsylvania last season, and will wrestle at Lehigh University next year. Stencel took an early 2-1 lead, but Wood tied the match when the official awarded him a point for getting “run� off the mat by Stencel. The official did not give Stencel a prior warning. “That call technically should be called stalling,� Stencel said. “It shouldn’t have been called anything at all. He didn’t attempt to stay on the mat. If it was any call at all, it should have been a stall on me. I was pushing out of bounds, but I was trying to return him and just went out of bounds. I
Clay wrestler Matt Stencel winning a Division I state championship at 195 pounds last March. (Press file photo by Harold Hamilton/HEHphotos.smugmug.com) was just trying to hang on and the refs said I pushed him out. “I knew I had to keep wrestling. I wasn’t going to be able to change the ref’s mind, so you just have to keep wrestling.� Stencel trailed 3-2 after an escape by Wood, and then a takedown by Wood put
Stencel in a 5-2 hole. Wood would give up a point to narrow it to 5-3. “Him being No. 2 in the country, when he got a shot he knew how to get on his feet,� Stencel said. “My strength is wrestling on my feet and getting takedowns. Before the match my dad told me not to
rush anything. I was more laid back than I would have liked to have been. You can go back and look at that match and there could have been 1,000 different things to make a different outcome.� Stencel tied it at 5-5 with what the match announcers deemed a controversial takedown of Wood with one second left in the final period. Both wrestlers tumbled off the mat, and the match was stopped momentarily as the official gave an explanation to Wood’s coach. “That wasn’t controversial at all,� Stencel said. “The lady who was tapping for time was up (in the period), she tapped the ref too early and the ref blew his whistle. The ref was saying to their coach that I initiated the attempt at the takedown and (Wood) was still defending it the whole time.� Wood then chose the down position, and in the blink of an eye he was awarded an escape, giving him one point and a 6-5 victory. The look on Stencel’s face was utter disbelief. One announcer said, “I’ve never seen that in my life.� Stencel said that final second was just another example of where there were “one hundred things I could have done differently.� “Time wasn’t out,� he said. “I have a picture (of it) on my phone. It was my fault for leaving it up to the refs to make that call. I can hold him down for more than one second, no doubt in my mind. It was an objective call from the ref and it was my fault for leaving it up to them.� Stencel said he learned a valuable lesson, even at this stage of his decorated career. “Don’t leave it up to the refs,� he said. “Beat your opponent by five or more points and you don’t have to leave it up to the refs to make the call.� That attitude doesn’t bode well for Stencel’s opponents at Clay this year. “I’m ready,� he said, “for the season to get started.�
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