Joey Burch knew he needed a takedown. He knew he had to have it to score, win a region title and punch his ticket to the state tournament.
He also knew he needed to wait.
“Last year one of the reasons I struggled is I was kind of always attacking and it’s good to attack, but you’ve got to be smart,” Burch said. “I think I’ve really gotten smarter in my wrestling.”
Burch stayed patient and then with about 13 seconds left he made his move, hitting a high crotch and driving through for a takedown. It left his opponent, Liberty Christian’s Thomas Murphy, no time to rally and Burch celebrated a region championship just moments after making that move.
“I could feel his elbow was a little high and I thought I could hit a little high crotch there,” Burch said. “I thought I could hit it the entire match but towards the end I thought, he’s tired I can definitely hit this.”
The takedown earned Burch a 3-1 decision and the Region 3C title a year after the junior missed out on a state tournament berth and finished outside the top six at regionals.
Burch moved up three weight classes from 152 to 182 pounds this year, a sizeable leap in a single year. But he didn’t lose much of the quickness and aggressiveness that made him a tough out at the lower weight class as just a sophomore and it seems to have become even more of a weapon at 182 pounds where he picked up a pin in the semifinals to advance to the title match.
“All quarantine I’ve been lifting and trying to get bigger and stronger,” Burch said. “And that kid definitely had some weight on me — I’m just pumped. I’ve been working all season for this.”
Burch wasn’t the lone state qualifier from the area either. Fluvanna County’s Shawn Metcalf will also head to Salem. He’ll likely be looking for some redemption at 160 pounds after losing a brutal 1-0 decision in the region final where Metcalf struggled to escape in the third period while his opponent looked to ride him out for much of the period and didn’t give Metcalf many openings.
Metcalf had to fight his way into that final, earning a 4-3 decision in the semifinals over Wilson Memorial’s Noah Campbell. Campbell won the consolation bracket but by virtue of having beaten him, Metcalf wasn’t forced into a wrestle-off for true second place and punched his ticket to the state tournament and the eight-team bracket Thursday with his runner-up finish.
In a non-COVID season, six other area wrestlers would have earned spots in the state tournament, but only the top two finishers in each weight class from each region advance. Leading that pack were Charlottesville’s Aiden Lewandowski who took third at 132 pounds after falling 10-3 to Brookville’s Quintavius Harris in the true second place match. Fluvanna County’s Aiden Valentine also wrestled his way into the second place match after falling in the semifinals and took third at 145 pounds, getting pinned in the second place showdown.
Charlottesville’s Owen Lindsay finished third at 126 pounds and the Black Knights’ Pyi Khant took fourth at 113 pounds. Fluvanna’s Samuel Stoltz and Sean Oliva also would’ve been state qualifiers in a normal season with fourth place finishes at 138 and 152 pounds respectively while Western’s Will Donovan would’ve gotten in with a fourth at 220 pounds.
Rounding out the local placers were Fluvanna’s Tayvon Summe in fifth place at 170, the Flucos’ Austin Moore in fifth place at 195, Fluvanna’s Jason Hamshar in fifth at 220, Monticello’s Nathan Houchens finishing tied for sixth at 132, Western’s Thomas Warren tied for sixth at 138 pounds, Charlottesville’s Xavier Castaneda taking fifth at 145 pounds and Western’s Jack Tressler taking sixth at 145.
Fluvanna County finished seventh as a team in the tournament, with Wilson Memorial taking home the team championship. Charlottesville took ninth and Western finished 11th. Monticello tied for 14th.
The state tournament for Class 3 is scheduled for Thursday in Salem.
