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Storybook Finish: Madison’s Sacra wins state title in father’s last match as coach

Photo by Bart Isley

Saturday’s Class 2 wrestling heavyweight state championship match had all the ingredients for a storybook ending. 

 

Madison County’s Jacob Sacra battling for his first state title. His father, coach Michael Sacra, in the corner coaching his final match after announcing his retirement. An opponent who knocked Sacra out of the state tournament last year with a semifinal pin.

 

Jacob Sacra just had to meet the moment with his performance and then the perfect words after the match, that line that punctuates the finish.

 

He delivered.

 

“When your kid comes over and tells you ‘I love you dad,’ that’s pretty good,” Michael Sacra said. “That’s a pretty good way to go out.”

 

Sacra’s son Jacob, the Mountaineers’ star heavyweight, told his father he loved him after he ripped off his headgear, sprinted and leapt into his dad’s arms. The Mountaineers’ sophomore won the Class 2 state wrestling title with a third period pin to put a bow on his father’s long career as the program’s head coach that included more than 400 career team wins, but none as sweet as that individual match Saturday night in Salem.

 

Sacra’s coaching career ended the way any coach would dream, with his son leaping into his arms as a state champion.

 

“It was really awesome, it was special,” Jacob Sacra said.

 

Sacra pinned his opponent, defending state champion Will Moss of Marion, in the third period after being tied 2-2 and then building a 5-2 lead on an escape and then a takedown when Sacra sprawled, blocked and spun to snag the two points. Moss then tried to roll Sacra and Sacra just didn’t move off the top as Moss spun underneath him. Sacra kept his hips down and that was enough to pin Moss.

 

“I don’t know what happened honestly, I just remember getting him on his back,” Jacob Sacra said.

 

The finals’ victory capped a hard fought run to the championship match as Sacra won his quarterfinal match 3-2 and his semifinal match 3-2 in triple overtime against James River’s Levi Walker, who was a state finalist a year ago. This was no cakewalk to the title, Sacra had to earn every single point, every single inch. Despite that challenge, Sacra knew he had an ace up his sleeve that isn’t always common in the heavyweight division.

 

“I know I’m pretty in shape so I can go a long time and in this kind of match you’ve got to be aggressive and pay attention to your counters,” Jacob Sacra said.

 

His conditioning seemed to play a role down the stretch in the title match, allowing him to keep attacking, keep making decisive attempts to score in the third period. He’d been countering Moss mostly in the first couple of periods, but he found a different gear in the third, bolstered by a penalty on Moss and his own escape in the second that knotted the match at 2-2. 

 

“He’s a resilient kid and that’s just a great way to go out,” Michael Sacra said.

 

Jacob Sacra will get two more years to add to his already impressive wrestling resume, but it’ll be hard to top this one. For the moment, for the stakes, for everything. 

 

“It’s surreal, you can’t describe it,” Sacra said. “It’s awesome.”

 

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