Post by Alumni on Feb 12, 2007 10:00:24 GMT -5
By Jeremy Evans
SPARKS - Under any circumstance, Denny's is an unlikely setting for a defining moment in an athletic program's history. But unlikely is the only way to describe the ride South Tahoe wrestler Elliot Pekar experienced on Friday.
"We went out to dinner on Friday night at Denny's and we heard people talking about the kid from South Tahoe and how he beat the top guy (from Cimarron-Memorial) in Las Vegas," said STHS coach Ken Robbins. "I've wrestled a lot myself and I've coached a lot of kids, and that was one of the best one-day performances I've ever seen. Elliot was unstoppable."
As a No. 3 seed, Pekar was forced to wrestle a pigtail match on Friday morning just to reach the quarterfinals later in the day at the 4A state championships at Spanish Springs. He won the pigtail match 8-7 with a takedown at the end of the third period, then upset Sunset Regional champion Brogan Ashjian of Cimarron-Memorial 11-5 to advance to Friday night's semifinals.
Once there, the South Tahoe senior dominated Green Valley's Wesley Goldbaum 11-4. Of the nine points scored on him in the quarterfinals and semifinals, two were on a takedown and the other seven were on one-point escapes Pekar allowed his opponents to have just so he could throw them back on the mat.
"I started in the pigtail match, so nobody expected me to do well," Pekar said. "It was my senior year. If I was going to lose, I wanted to lose doing my best and doing my best moves. This was my first time at state, and it was nice to come here and kick some butt."
Pekar's fairy tale story ended in the finals, where Fallon's' Trevor DeBraga won by technical fall 17-2. In the Northern 4A regional tournament semifinals held the previous weekend, DeBraga beat Pekar 16-1.
"DeBraga is a tilter and a turner," Robbins said. "When you're a long guy and good tilter like he is, it's hard on a more compact wrestler like Elliot. Fallon had a great game plan on Elliot, and we thought we had a great game plan on DeBraga. It just wasn't Elliot's night in the finals."
Pekar was trying to become the first STHS wrestler to win a state title since Scott Milbrodt in 1988. Another STHS wrestler on the same quest was senior Miles Wallace, the Northern 4A's No. 2 seed.
Wallace, though, lost to Basic's Garrett Muro 8-5 in Friday's quarterfinals, then was eliminated by a 6-4 overtime decision to Reno's Scott Gettings in the consolation round on Saturday. Muro ended up placing third.
"Miles and Elliot are going to make my job pretty easy," Robbins said. "We have about 30 kids in the middle school program, and the reason why those kids are out there is of the stories they are reading about Miles and Elliot. Miles contributed most of his life to this sport. It had been a lifelong ambition to make it to this tournament.
"Elliot came to us four years ago as a football player. Like a sponge, he soaked up everything. Both of them have shown that if you work the way we ask you to work and do the things we ask you to do, there are rewards. Miles and Elliot are examples of that."
SPARKS - Under any circumstance, Denny's is an unlikely setting for a defining moment in an athletic program's history. But unlikely is the only way to describe the ride South Tahoe wrestler Elliot Pekar experienced on Friday.
"We went out to dinner on Friday night at Denny's and we heard people talking about the kid from South Tahoe and how he beat the top guy (from Cimarron-Memorial) in Las Vegas," said STHS coach Ken Robbins. "I've wrestled a lot myself and I've coached a lot of kids, and that was one of the best one-day performances I've ever seen. Elliot was unstoppable."
As a No. 3 seed, Pekar was forced to wrestle a pigtail match on Friday morning just to reach the quarterfinals later in the day at the 4A state championships at Spanish Springs. He won the pigtail match 8-7 with a takedown at the end of the third period, then upset Sunset Regional champion Brogan Ashjian of Cimarron-Memorial 11-5 to advance to Friday night's semifinals.
Once there, the South Tahoe senior dominated Green Valley's Wesley Goldbaum 11-4. Of the nine points scored on him in the quarterfinals and semifinals, two were on a takedown and the other seven were on one-point escapes Pekar allowed his opponents to have just so he could throw them back on the mat.
"I started in the pigtail match, so nobody expected me to do well," Pekar said. "It was my senior year. If I was going to lose, I wanted to lose doing my best and doing my best moves. This was my first time at state, and it was nice to come here and kick some butt."
Pekar's fairy tale story ended in the finals, where Fallon's' Trevor DeBraga won by technical fall 17-2. In the Northern 4A regional tournament semifinals held the previous weekend, DeBraga beat Pekar 16-1.
"DeBraga is a tilter and a turner," Robbins said. "When you're a long guy and good tilter like he is, it's hard on a more compact wrestler like Elliot. Fallon had a great game plan on Elliot, and we thought we had a great game plan on DeBraga. It just wasn't Elliot's night in the finals."
Pekar was trying to become the first STHS wrestler to win a state title since Scott Milbrodt in 1988. Another STHS wrestler on the same quest was senior Miles Wallace, the Northern 4A's No. 2 seed.
Wallace, though, lost to Basic's Garrett Muro 8-5 in Friday's quarterfinals, then was eliminated by a 6-4 overtime decision to Reno's Scott Gettings in the consolation round on Saturday. Muro ended up placing third.
"Miles and Elliot are going to make my job pretty easy," Robbins said. "We have about 30 kids in the middle school program, and the reason why those kids are out there is of the stories they are reading about Miles and Elliot. Miles contributed most of his life to this sport. It had been a lifelong ambition to make it to this tournament.
"Elliot came to us four years ago as a football player. Like a sponge, he soaked up everything. Both of them have shown that if you work the way we ask you to work and do the things we ask you to do, there are rewards. Miles and Elliot are examples of that."