SALEM — Saturday night’s crowd in the Salem Civic Center thinned after perennial superpower Christiansburg had wrapped up its ninth straight team title when Rich Eva won at 152 pounds for the Blue Demons and fellow power Grundy saw its last wrestler at 160 pounds.
By the time the whistle blew to start the match at 189 pounds, it was much quieter than it was nearly three hours before when Willie Crawford was introduced to the crowd.
And that fit Crawford, who is as business-like and obsessed with his own process as they come, just right. The Fluvanna County senior efficiently knocked off Millbrook’s Joey Jessen 5-1 and wrap up his second straight state title. Crawford completed his senior year with a 38-1 record.
But the victory, and his second championship, was a little bittersweet.
“I’ve got this song I listen to and it’s about living for today and doing all you can and I was thinking about that before the match when I thought I’ve only got six minutes of high school wrestling left,” Crawford said. “I’ve got this bond with my coach that I’ll lose, my parents won’t be able to see me in every match — it’s just not going to be the same.”
Crawford jumped out to a 3-0 lead on an escape and then appeared to take complete control with a takedown that gave him a 5-0 lead, but it was wiped from scoreboard on a protest by Jessen’s coach. Instead of an emotional reaction to losing the points, a scene that was common during the tense finals session that featured 26 bouts, Crawford shot a quick glance toward Fluvanna assistant coach Paul Chirico as head coach Craig Conner asked for clarification. Chirico told Crawford not to worry about it, and Crawford didn’t, continuing to counter everything Jessen tried over the next period and a half. Jessen snagged his lone point during that stretch, but Crawford remained in control throughout and scored a takedown just as time expired in the third to push the lead out to the final of 5-1.
With the win, Crawford survived a gauntlet of opponents, wrestling with a target on his back all season as opponents looked to make a name for themselves against a defending state champion. Crawford marched through the schedule and then marched through the state tournament field, pinning his first two opponents before winning a major decision 17-6 over Staunton River’s Dustin Kidd in the semifinals.
He barely missed out on avenging his sole loss of the season when Fort Defiance’s Aaron McMillan fell to Jessen in the semifinals.
“Jessen had a great match had a great match against (McMillan) and I went up and told (McMillan) that I was disappointed to see him lose because I wanted to avenge that loss,” Crawford said.
McMillan beat Crawford by a point at Albemarle New Year’s dual round robin.
That bittersweet feeling for Crawford was rooted in the loss of his high school coach, Conner. Conner made a big impression on Crawford, who emerged as a team-oriented, veritable assistant coach for the Flucos this year, helping his teammates at every turn. Conner played a critical role in that transition.
“The thing I like about Conner is that five years from now you can call him and say I’m getting married and he’d be more happy about that for you than he was when you won him the state title,” Crawford said. “He’s more in it for helping you become a better person in the long run.”
Crawford’s focus on his team seemed to pay some immediate dividends, as another Fluvanna wrestler, Jonathan Wharton earned a spot on the podium in eighth place at 125 pounds.
Along with Christiansburg’s Devin Carter, a three-time champion who completed his prep career Saturday too during the Blue Demons’ championship assault, Crawford will head to Virginia Tech next season. But he may not be completely done at Fluvanna.
“I hope to go back and coach at Fluvanna, so we’ll see how that goes,” Crawford said.
O’Connell falls just short in final
Ethan O’Connell was prepared and he was confident, having pinned his opponent, Covington’s Chris Bowden, earlier in the season at a match at Buffalo Gap.
But sometimes, the thing you never really think about before a match — like an alleged eye poke — can change the course of the night.
O’Connell lost critical points to two different instances involving alleged eye poking during a contentious match with Bowden and fell 7-5 in the Group A, 130-pound class final in Salem.
O’Connell made a valiant late escape to cut the lead to just two points, but he couldn’t muster a takedown in the closing seconds.
“It was probably the worst feeling I’ve had after a wrestling match ever,” O’Connell said.
After a scoreless first period, O’Connell nabbed a lead in the second period with an escape, but the first of the poking incidents evened the score.
The fact that O’Connell managed to keep his cool was impressive itself, but he had some extra help in former Madison County state champion Tyler Atwell, who coached from just beyond the scorer’s table, unofficially aiding head coach Mike Sacra. But O’Connell was fighting his own mental battle to stay focused too
“I kept reminding myself exactly what I have to do in the match — stay low, stay in your stance, never think you’re in the lead — I kept telling myself little things like that,” O’Connell said.
Despite the loss, O’Connell enjoyed a massive improvement from last year when he placed seventh, and he isn’t done yet — O’Connell is just a junior.
Madison had three other wrestlers in the semifinals. Senior Andrew Riner at 152 pounds and sophomore Anthony Jewett at 160 pounds both finished sixth. Peter Thawngzauk took an eighth place at 103 pounds. Juniors Lynn Welch and Derek Nicholson also participated in the meet and picked up a win each.
More from Salem…
Monticello’s Timmy Rollins, the Region II champion, fell in the semifinals in Salem, but came up with a pin of Courtland’s Chris Ragonesi in the third to take fifth place overall. … Josh Scharf, Louisa County’s lone representative at the state tournament and a Region II champion, went from not podiuming as a sophomore to a seventh place finish at 112 pounds as a junior.
In Fairfax…
Albemarle’s Zach Morris, after winning his first match by pin, fell in the second round of the Group AAA tournament at James Robinson High. Morris lost to James River’s Josh Wells, who went on to finish fifth in the tournament.
