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By JOE PETRUCCI jpetrucci@leader.net
Sunday, March 09, 2003 Page: 4C
HERSHEY – An undefeated favorite coming into the PIAA Wrestling
Championships, Matt Dragon had some lofty expectations placed on his 130-pound
frame.
Two losses and a shoulder injury on Friday night turned those hopes into a
brief nightmare. But the same determination the Lake-Lehman sophomore used to
win every bout before Friday came in handy in the Class 2A fifth-place final.
Dragon used a bit of trickery to score three points in the final seconds of
regulation to force overtime and then scored a takedown with two seconds left
in the one-minute extra period for a 6-4 win over Wilson Area senior Ed
Labach.
“You have to keep going until the buzzer,” Dragon said. “Keep on
fighting and leave everything out there.”
Dragon said the shoulder pain that he suffered in his semifinal loss to
eventual champion Dana Gingerich, a senior from Delone Catholic, wasn’t a
factor in the fifth-place final.
“Once I got out there, the pain wasn’t there,” said Dragon. “The
adrenaline took over.”
Dragon rode Labach throughout the second period to keep things scoreless
heading into the third. With Dragon on bottom, Labach caught him in a spladle
– a leg and arm wrapped around Dragon’s leg and arm – and the Black Knight
surrendered three points. Dragon spent the next minute slowly working his
right shoulder – the one he injured Friday night – out of the hold.
“When he hit me with the spladle, I was going to wait to try to get out
but I did it in little bursts every 10 seconds,” Dragon said. “I knew
exactly how much time was left. Then I slipped my shoulder out.”
Dragon then mustered a reversal but time was winding down. With less than
10 seconds left, Dragon intentionally let Labach escape with the hopes of
taking Labach back down without giving him a chance to fully get up. Labach
stayed on the mat and Dragon pounced on him and was awarded a takedown at the
buzzer to tie things up at 4 and force overtime.
“It was just instincts. I don’t know if some (refs) would have counted it
as two (points), if he didn’t have enough time to get to his feet,” said
Dragon.
As the one-minue extra period wound down, Dragon got a single leg and
eventually spun around Labach to get the takedown with two seconds left.
Dragon’s determination, particularly late in the third period and overtime,
helped erase the physical and mental pain from not getting to the championship
final. Anything easier, or a loss, wouldn’t have been as satisfying.
“Coming back like that, I’m happy,” Dragon said. “If I would’ve beaten
up a kid or got beaten up, I wouldn’t feel as good.”