A buzz started to spread slowly through the gymnasium at Poston Butte after spectators at the Division I state wrestling tournament started reading and sharing important news from the NCAA wrestling tournament. Roman Bravo Young won the 133-pound national championship with Penn State and that buzz turned into a thunderous roar from the Sunnyside faithful when the announcer relayed the good news over the speakers.
Anthony Leon with his fourth title in a row and he had little time to get things going @SSBDwrestling pic.twitter.com/UugwksYUH2
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) March 21, 2021
Maybe it was a coincidence in where the state meet was at time, or maybe it was some sort of spark, but the Blue Devils were barely clinging to a 135 to 123.5 lead over Liberty at one moment and then 151 to 132.5 the next. When it was all over about four hours later, Sunnyside came away with the 34th state championship in program history after scoring 198 points to 166.5 from Liberty.
Young graduated from Sunnyside with 182 wins and no losses and he took his four straight state championships with him to Happy Valley where he now has a 58-9 record and a national championship. It’s something a lot of young wrestlers dream about but one has to believe some of those dreams are closer to reality when you live on the southside of the tracks where wrestling is like a religion….
LINK: STORY AT AZPREPS365
SOUTHERN ARIZONA TEAM SCORES
1: Sunnyside (198)
17: Tucson (33.5)
19: Marana (30)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
106 WEIGHT CLASS
4: Cesar Vasquez (Sunnyside) 9-3, Fr.
113 WEIGHT CLASS
CHAMPION: James Armstrong (Sunnyside) 12-0, So
120 WEIGHT CLASS
2: James Brown (Sunnyside) 11-1, Sr.
132 WEIGHT CLASS
5: Cristian Rivera (Sunnyside) 12-1, Fr.
145 WEIGHT CLASS
2: Jaime Rivera (Sunnyside) 13-1, Jr.
152 WEIGHT CLASS
2: Mike Avelar (Sunnyside) 9-2, So.
3: Kaleb Pool (Tucson) 12-3, Sr.
160 WEIGHT CLASS
CHAMPION: Sebastian Robles (Sunnyside) 12-0, Sr.
170 WEIGHT CLASS
5: Troy Fox (Marana) 18-4, Jr.
182 WEIGHT CLASS
CHAMPION: Rene Fragoso (Sunnyside) 12-0, Jr.
220 WEIGHT CLASS
5: Obed Craft (Sunnyside) 12-1, Sr.
285 WEIGHT CLASS
4: Santiago III Miranda (Tucson) 7-2, Sr.
Queen Creek freshman Cole Ludwig wrestled against Mesa sophomore Ricky Cruz in an exhibition match held before the medal round. They tell us Cole was born with “only” half a heart but his heart beats to a drum very few of us could keep pace with. He pinned Cruz to win the match but Cruz also came out a winner as did referee Charlie Jones. Jones gave Cole his wristbands and his flip disk.
Cole Ludwig freshman from Queen Creek took on Mesa freshman Ricky Cruz in the 126 pound division. Ludwig is still undefeated with no end in sight. #azpreps365 @AZPreps365 @QC_Wrestling pic.twitter.com/M7Afn1Jv3I
— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) March 21, 2021
FOLLOW @ANDYMORALES8 ON TWITTER
Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014, he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017, a 2019 AZ Education News award winner and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. He was the first in Arizona to write about high school beach volleyball and high school girls wrestling. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Andy was named an Honorary Flowing Wells Caballero in 2019 and he is a member of the Amphi COVID-19 Blue Ribbon Committee. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
Recommended for you
