The Patriots hoisted head coach Scott Legacy high on Saturday after capturing their 20th straight Vermont crown, which set a new national high school record for most consecutive state championships within the sport. Legacy couldn't stop smiling as he held his team's historic trophy aloft, and only when his feet were back on the floor did he finally admit his relief at reaching the milestone.
"My shoulders feel lighter," said Legacy, who was named Vermont Coach of the Year for the sixth time in a ceremony preceding Saturday's championship finals. "It's just an awesome, amazing feeling. Now I know what the whole 'Disneyland' thing is about, how those guys like Eli Manning feel. It's incredible."
MAU's state tournament domination rid the title quest of any real suspense, as the Patriots advanced 13 of 14 wrestlers to Saturday's semifinals and 11 of those individuals earned a ticket to the finals. Mount Anthony wrapped up the tournament with seven individual champions, four runners-up and one each fifth and sixth-place finisher for a total of 290.5 team points - a staggering 150.5-point margin of victory over second-place Mount Mansfield.
Individual state crowns were captured by Mount Anthony's Mike Bradley (103 pounds), Jake Shortt (119), Scott Legacy II (130), Matt Parisi (140), DJ Legacy (152), Matt McVay (189) and Ethan Furlon (285). Two other titles slipped just beyond the Patriots' grasp, as Cody Wilkins (125) and Dan Pierce (135) each lost in the finals by a single point. Zech Burke (112) and Zak Randall (145) also dropped close decisions in the championship round.
"This group of kids really handled themselves well, and stepped up against some very good wrestlers," Coach Legacy said. "Even the matches we lost all seemed to come down to a few moves. I'm very happy with how all of our kids wrestled."
MAU's Kyle Lane wrestled back to take fifth place at 215 pounds after losing to eventual runner-up Lucas Hughes of Mill River in the semis, while teammate Cole Frost ended up in sixth place at 160. Patriot 171-pounder Brad Sawyer went 0-2 on Friday to fall short of the placement rounds.
Legacy II became a three-time state champion with his finals win, while Shortt, Parisi, DJ Legacy and McVay all won their second consecutive Vermont championship. Mount Mansfield's Robert Hamlin was named the tournament's Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 171-pound weight class to become a four-time state champ.
Bradley got the finals off to a solid start for MAU, pinning Essex sophomore Devin Sandon with 29 seconds remaining in the second period. The win was Bradley's 54th of the season, against only nine losses.
Senior Zech Burke looked primed to take down top-seeded Jordan Gray of Essex in the 112-pound finals, carrying a 2-0 lead into the second period. But the Hornet junior hit a double-leg on Burke to tie the match, then added two more takedowns and a near-fall in the third period to prevail, 8-3.
"Zech put up a valiant effort; he just got technically picked apart a little bit," said Coach Legacy. "Jordan is a tough kid from a tough line of wrestlers - both of his brothers competed at the Division I level and went to the NCAA tournament."
The 119-pound final appeared at first to be just another fireworks show by MAU's Jake Shortt, as the Patriot senior laced Spaulding's Kyle Edmunds in a cradle from which there appeared to be no escape. But the Crimson Tide junior used a double-elbow bridge to stave off the fall and then fought back with a pair of reversals, hanging around until Shortt regrouped with seven third-period points to win, 15-4.
In terms of sheer excitement, the 125-pound final was arguably the match of the tournament. MAU freshman Cody Wilkins and Otter Valley senior Tim Shields had waged a handful of epic battles over the regular season, and their ultimate showdown in the state finals saw Wilkins lose a point for grasping Shields' headgear in the first period but gain it back with an escape to begin the third.
Wilkins then took the upper hand with a takedown with 1:20 remaining in the match, only to see Shields hit a reversal 42 seconds later to re-lock the match at 3-3. The MAU fans roared when Wilkins escaped almost immediately to retake the lead, and the decibel level reached a near-fever pitch when the Patriot rookie took down his opponent yet again to carry a 6-3 lead into the final 20 seconds of action.
"Once I got up by three points, I thought I had (Shields)," Wilkins said. "I made what Coach calls a 'freshman mistake' and relaxed a little bit."
Shields capitalized on that lapse by reversing Wilkins and turning him with a crab ride cross-face, earning a pair of back points just as time expired to pull out a 7-6 victory and win his first state title.
"Cody wrestled like a senior for the first five minutes and 50 seconds of that match," Coach Legacy said. "And then he wrestled like a freshman for the last 10 seconds."
"Wilkins is a really strong, really tough kid who doesn't quit at all," Shields said. "I told him afterward that he'd better go on to become a three-time state champ."
Legacy II showed that domination can come in different forms at 130 pounds, winning both his semifinal and final matches by technical fall despite coming into the tourney with a goal of "four first-period pins." The MAU senior co-captain said that his scoring barrage against Harwood's Josh Kernan in the finals was a result of the Highlander junior's flat-out refusal to be cradled.
"By reaching to block the cradle, (Kernan) kept giving me his hands, and setting himself up to be tilted," said Legacy II, who improved to 59-3 on the season. "My approach was to pin, but part of wrestling is to take what your opponent gives you. I'm happy with my tournament."
The 135-pound final between MAU's Dan Pierce and Otter Valley's Alex Ramage headed into its third period still scoreless, until Ramage chose down and Pierce opted for a neutral restart to hand his opponent a 1-0 lead. The two then circled for the reminder of the match, sprawling hard on every attempted shot and refusing to yield what would be a decisive takedown. Pierce ramped up his attack over the final 20 seconds, but couldn't find an opening and lost, 1-0.
"I saw (Pierce) peek at the clock, so I think he was trying to wait and hit something at the very end," Coach Legacy said. "But even though he lost, when you look at how far Dan has come, he's a success story."
Parisi's final match at 140 ended up being somewhat lopsided, as the senior transfer rattled off 15 unanswered points to defeat Middlebury's David Ashley by technical fall and climb to 59-2 on the season. The 145-pound final pitted Randall against Mount Mansfield's Travis Garrett, a gangly junior who used his long reach to shoot the double-leg takedown with devastating effect.
Garrett hit two such takedowns on Randall to earn a 4-2 lead some 17 seconds into the third period, then turned the Patriot senior to add a pair of back points. Randall caught Garrett riding high and very nearly backed out for a late reversal, but the Cougar hung on to win, 6-2.
Despite both being finalists for the referees' sportsmanship award at the tournament, MAU's DJ Legacy and Mount Abraham's Dana Kamenick each seemed to adapt a "no more Mr. Nice Guy" attitude in their 152-pound final match. Kamenick earned the first takedown of the match after trapping Legacy's head beneath his chest and spinning, but the Patriot co-captain escaped and hit a hard takedown of his own on which the Eagle senior groaned on impact.
"Usually it happens that the first takedown sets the tone for the match," DJ Legacy said. "But I wanted to change that tone, mentally and physically."
The latter half of that goal was further accomplished through relentless riding, on which the MAU junior sank double legs and proceeded to grind Kamenick's head into the mat for nearly the entire third period en route to a 4-2 decision.
Hamlin turned the 171-pound finals into his own personal four-peat, defeating an opponent - Fair Haven's Chris Davis - who had won a whopping 45 matches during the regular season. Hamlin will now progress to regionals, where he will attempt to lock up his third consecutive New England crown.
"Right now I'm favored, but my top competition (at New Englands) is going to be tough," Hamlin said. "I'll definitely have to work for it."
McVay's repeat championship at 189 could only be described as methodical; the Patriot senior scored seven unanswered points on Spaulding's Michael Baril before finally yielding a reversal in the third period. McVay had beaten Baril in the North/South Duals back in December, something that gave the MAU co-captain a little extra swagger on his way to his successful title defense.
"Even though this match was a little harder than I expected, I was confident I was going to come out on top," McVay said. "You don't want to be cocky, but you have to be confident to win (in wrestling)."
Furlon showed admirable composure in the 285-pound finals, as his match with Rutland's Matt Therriault ended up deadlocked at 1-1 when the Raider heavyweight escaped with 1:20 remaining in the third period. The MAU junior began having flashbacks to his heartbreaking loss to Middlebury's Nick Desjadon in last year's finals, in which he was ahead, 8-4, but ended up getting pinned.
"I started thinking back to last year, and reliving that match a little bit," Furlon said.
Luckily, a Therriault nosebleed forced a stoppage in action during which Coach Legacy spoke with his 285-pounder, and saw a marked spike in his confidence.
"The look in his eyes just changed, and I knew he was going to be OK," Coach Legacy said. "Ethan has been in four or five of those kinds of matches this year, and he's a better wrestler because of it. He's battle-tested."
Furlon's renewed focus proved the difference in the final seconds, when Therriault went for a headlock despite a Furlon body-lock and the Patriot was able to slip it for the decisive takedown and prevail, 3-1. That victory tied Furlon with Parisi and Legacy II for the team lead in wins this season, with 59.
Afterward, Coach Legacy and his Patriots were presented with their trophy by Steve Gaydosh, the president of the National High School Coach's Association. As the MAU coach was boosted into the air by two of his repeat champions in the background, Gaydosh reflected on the magnitude of the Patriots' achievement in breaking the record set by Paulsboro, N.J., from 1983-2001.
"Doing anything for 20 years is difficult; what this team has done is simply amazing," Gaydosh said.