Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2012

Pin gives West share of title

Wildcats nip Clayton, 40-36, clinching another conference championship.

cbest@newsobserver.com

Down two points to their lead rival with a shot at a dual team conference championship on the line in the third period of a grueling match, West Johnston senior Zach Lychalk was exactly where he wanted to be.

The Wildcats' standout led Clayton's Jake Gray 9-4 after two periods of their grueling 195-pound bout. It was one of several matches in the clash between the Greater Neuse River 4A Conference rivals where grit and determination as much as mat skills determined the winner.

"We like to be in that situation," Lychalk said of matches where endurance becomes a factor. "Usually, the bigger weight guys get drained down. The last few years, we've done a good job of having that extra something, what you need to finish tough matches."

Lychalk scored a reversal midway of the final period, but wanted more even though his eight-point lead would give West the overall lead back. It would have been easy to ride things out and take the decision, but Lychalk caught Gray's head and was able to pitch the Clayton wrestler to his back with less than 30 seconds in the match.

"I wanted to get another pin, just for selfish reasons," Lychalk said. "But I knew it would help the team. I just gave everything I had to make it happen."

With just 17 seconds remaining, Lychalk got the slap of the mat he wanted - the one from the referee singling a pin. The win gave the Wildcats (19-4 overall, 6-0 conference) the lead for good en route to a 40-36 win over Clayton and thus no less than a share of the conference championship.

West will meet East Wake (5-1 in the conference) this Wednesday, needing a win to take the title outright. An East Wake win would create a three-way tie between Clayton, West and East Wake for the title.

Lychalk's win followed a major decision (15-6) for West's Keith Neal over Christian Novak in another grueling match, which cut Clayton's six-point lead to two points.

"I've always liked long matches, even that first year when we went 3-8-2, I liked our chances the longer any match went," said West Johnston coach David Prendergast, who won his 250^th career match earlier this month. "This is a young team with seven first-year starters in the lineup, but they set a goal to win the conference again and went out and did it."

The Comets (10-8, 5-1) pushed West to the limit, despite giving up 18 points on forfeits at 106, 113 and 285.

West led 18-0 after the opening two forfeits and a Seth Thomas pin of Austin Phillips at 120, but Clayton won the next five matches to go up 25-18.

Included in that run was a first-period pin at 132 by Comets' senior standout Luke Ludke. The win was the former state individual runner-up's 175^th career victory.