HUTCHINSON -- It was hard for Emporia High wrestling coach Greg Buckbee to hold back the tears.
He even smiled a little to keep from getting too choked up.
Minutes after watching EHS senior Josh Rodriguez capture a spot in the championship match of the 285-pound weight class with a grueling, seven-period, 3-2 victory over Harmon’s Nick Langford Friday at the Class 5A State wrestling tournament, Buckbee simply was overwhelmed with emotion.
“What a great thing for a senior that’s worked so hard,” Buckbee said. “I can’t be more happy.”
For Rodriguez, his victory over Langford — an opponent he beat twice at last year’s State tournament on his way to a third-place finish — earned him his third victory of the day and his first appearance in a State title match.
“This is very special,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve wanted this since I was a little kid.”
The match against Langford, one of the more physical matches of the day, took seven periods to decide, as the two went into overtime tied at 1 after each scored on an escape in regulation. After a scoreless fourth frame, Rodriguez went ahead, 2-1, with a fifth-period escape, which Langford countered with an escape of his own in the sixth.
In the sudden-death seventh period, Rodriguez began the match on bottom, and got an escape with 15 seconds to go to claim the victory.
“It was real tough; he was real aggressive with me,” Rodriguez said. “I kind of figured the match would go into overtime, but I thought my extra conditioning really helped me pull through in the end.”
Rodriguez was one of three Spartan wrestlers to make it to the championship rounds one year after Emporia was shut out of the finals, as joining Rodriguez were junior Sal Tovar at 125 pounds and sophomore Mark Kolmer at 189 pounds.
“We wrestled great today,” Buckbee said. “We’re going to celebrate a little bit tonight and take in those wins, and then we’ll come back (Saturday) and find a way to get it done. That’s what we do — we try to find a way to win. We’ve got some game plans set up, and we’ll see if we can get them done.”
Tovar won all three of his matches and gave Emporia its first State finalist of the day when he scored a 9-7 decision over Arkansas City’s Aaron Hoag, also in a thrilling overtime victory.
After Tovar got out to a 4-1 lead after the first period, Hoag came back with a fury in the second and third frames, tying the match at 5 before taking a 7-6 lead with a takedown in the third. A stall on Hoag gave Tovar the match-tying point at 7-7, setting up a wild finish.
As the time in regulation expired, the lead referee held up one finger that seemed to indicate another stall had been called on Hoag, which would have given Tovar the victory. But the point was taken away when the referee made it clear that his indication was for a 1-minute overtime period, not one point.
“Everybody thought it was my point and that I had won,” Tovar said with a laugh.
The miscommunication only delayed a victory for Tovar, though, as he scored on a takedown after an early stumble in the overtime period, taking the sudden-death, 9-7 win.
“I thought he almost had me once,” Tovar said. “I just kicked it in gear and took him down.”
As for Kolmer, he seemed to take out a little revenge on his semifinal opponent, Liberal’s Nate Davis. Davis handed Kolmer his first loss of the season back in January, something Kolmer didn’t forget in dominating Davis the second time around with a 16-0 technical fall.
“Mark lost to him (Davis) when he wasn’t quite in shape to wrestle,” Buckbee said. “He was in shape tonight.”
After a scoreless first period, Kolmer, who won his other two matches by pins, struck with a reverse and a near fall in the second to go up 5-0. He then poured it on in the third frame, scoring on a near fall, a takedown and two more near falls to end the match with about 30 seconds left.
“It was the perfect position for me to be in,” Kolmer said. “He beat me, and it was my turn. That match was going to put one of us in the State finals, and I just wrestled as hard as I could all three periods.”
The odds are certainly stacked against all three of Emporia’s finalists in the title matches, as all three will face undefeated, defending State champions. Tovar will wrestle Bishop Carroll’s John Keller (35-0), Kolmer will face Hutchinson’s Romero Cotton (40-0) and Rodriguez will square off against Shawnee Heights’ Atticus Disney (33-0).
“I’m in a situation where I’m all in,” said Kolmer, echoing the sentiments of Tovar and Rodriguez. “If I lose, I’ll have given it my best. I can’t ask for more. I just want to go out there and give it my all.”
Four of the other six EHS wrestlers at the tournament are still in the hunt for State placings, as each is still alive in their respective consolation bracket.
Jared Dakin (112 pounds) and Zeb Peak (140) both are in the second round of the consolation bracket and must win three matches today to make it to the third-place match. Justin Rose (119) and Tavo Dikin (135) are in the semifinals of the consolation bracket after losing in the championship semifinals of their respective weight classes, where Rose lost to Valley Center’s Chase Nitcher by an 8-6 decision and Dikin fell to Valley Center’s Cade Blair by an 8-1 decision. Logan Gaskill (152) and Ryan Bass (215) each lost two matches to fall out of the tournament.
“Tomorrow is a new day,” Buckbee said. “Our guys never quit. That’s the important thing. Win or lose, they’ll never quit. Emporia doesn’t quit.”
The second day of the Class 5A State tournament begins at 9 this morning with the consolation rounds. The championship bouts are expected to begin at approximately 6:30 tonight.
Harshman falls in quarterfinals
Chase County’s Brendan Harshman posted a 1-1 record at the 3-2-1A State Wrestling meet on Friday in Hays, falling in the quarterfinals of the 125-pound weight class.
Harshman took down his first-round opponent, 16-0, before falling to Oakley’s Mark Samuelson 2-1 in the second round.
Chase County had no other wrestlers reach Round Two. Freshman Glen Blue (102 pounds) lost by pin, senior Aaron Wold (152 pounds) lost by pin and senior Aaron Sisson (160 pounds) lost by decision, 10-2.
After the first day, Flinthills is tied for 28th place with 10 team points, while Chase County and Burlingame both have 3.5 points.