Jan. 8, 2010
By Isaac Babcock
The Voice
Ray Rowland's back is nearly pinned to the ground as he fights desperately for a way to escape. It's about half past noon on Dec. 29, and his chances of a championship are quickly slipping away. His eyes shoot to the right for just a moment. He only has 10 seconds left to try to do the improbable — flip opponent Jimmy Dankle before it's too late. His teeth grit, and he pushes up.
Only a couple hours before, he had the upper hand at the eighth annual Zac Jarzynka Memorial Ironman Tournament. At the end of the quarterfinal round, the referee raised the clenched fist of the boy in all black. Rowland had just won out easily to advance to the final four in the 135-pound weight class.
But this was no ordinary tournament. Fifty feet outside the northwest entrance of Oviedo's sprawling gymnasium, half the cars sported license plates from the other side of the country. They came by the hundreds, sometimes busloads of wrestlers crossing the continental divide to find out of they had the grit to win one of the biggest tournaments in the country.
"It was a nice preview for the state tournament," Coach Tom Coffman said. "Three of the teams we'll face there were at the tournament."
Many more state-champion-caliber teams were on hand that weekend. And all in one moment, that reality was pummeling Rowland in the face. Cuyahoga Heights was one of the best teams from the best wrestling state in the country. In the semifinal round, Rowland was facing one of their finest in Jimmy Dankle, who had just pinned his quarterfinal opponent.
In one final moment of struggle on the mat, with Rowland desperate to stop a devastating pin, he pushed up as the crowd cheered louder, many of them wanting to see an Oviedo wrestler fall, many more rooting for Rowland, who had become a sudden underdog. He held back the pin, barely escaping but pulling off the unlikely on his way to a 14-3 decision loss.
But that final struggle may have helped spell the difference for Oviedo, which had fought to maintain momentum despite some all-star performances on the mat. They needed some, as the Lions looked for redemption at their rapidly growing home tournament. In its first five years they'd never lost, then in the last two they lost both. Last year it was by less than five points.
This time, they wanted it back. That pressure rested firmly on Erin O'Dell's shoulders as the 160-pounder stared down his final opponent in the tournament with only about 20 points separating his team from second place.
The Oviedo senior had won 23 of 25 matches so far this season, and wasn't about to end the streak. His first four rounds were won by pins or technical falls. In the semifinal he won 15-0, one of the biggest blowouts in the weekend.
But it would take him three full rounds of fighting to beat Tim Gilbert from Camden, Ga. By the time the buzzer sounded, he was up 5-0 — his narrowest victory, but enough to help solidify a win.
The nail-biter of the weekend would come from junior Jay Taylor, towering at a tall 189-pounds. He'd never lost in 2009, with 28 straight wins entering the tournament. For the next four rounds, he put on a pin clinic, taking down every opponent within three minutes leading into the championship.
After a tournament of dominating wins, his final bout would come down to only one point. But that 3-2 victory helped propel his team to long-awaited redemption.
"It was a great match," Coffman said. "That was the first match he's had all year that he didn't win by pin."
Right there with him, 145-pound Lions star Chase Gordon went undefeated in his final Jarzynka tournament, with tech falls in all but the final round.
The Lions would reclaim the title at their home tournament, winning by 229 points to 205.
Along the way, Oviedo found new heroes, like sophomore Doug Vollaro, who pinned four opponents before losing in the final by a narrow 8-4 decision.
"It was a great win," Coffman said. "It's a good confidence-builder for our team."
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