With high school wrestling now in full swing, it was time for all the teams on Vancouver Island to meet up for the first time this season and go to battle.
The Port Hardy Secondary School wrestling team made the four-hour drive down island to compete at the first tournament of the season on Saturday, Nov. 30 in Nanaimo at the John Barsby Secondary School gymnasium. Grade 11 student Anthony Blacha led the way for PHSS with Grade 8 student Jayden Jones and Grade 9 student Hunter Stagg competing in the tournament as well.
Blacha is currently in his third season of high school wrestling, previously competing last year at 60 kg. This year he’s moved up two weight classes to 66 kg and is hoping to qualify for the BC Provincial Championships in February.
Jones and Stagg had both never competed before but were game to give the sport a try, and try they did. Jones ended up having five matches in the 62 kg weight class, finishing in fourth place with a record of 1-4 after pinning his fourth opponent of the day, while Stagg had just two matches in the 65 kg weight class and lost both, but did receive a consolation bronze medal for his efforts.
As for Blacha, he got out to a slow start after losing his first match by 10-0 tech fall to the top seeded Harper Vanderkwaak from Nanaimo District Secondary School. Undeterred by the loss, Blacha went back to the sidelines and regrouped before stepping back on the mats to face Andrew McKee from Timberline. It turned out to be a back and forth war which ended 13-8 in Blacha’s favour after he managed to survive getting caught in a near-pin with only seconds left in the match.
After getting to rest for a bit, Blacha was ready to face off against Theris Ward from Alberni District Secondary School in his third match. The score was tied 8-8 midway through the first period when Blacha injured his knee and ended up getting pinned. Blacha wasn’t sure if he would be able to compete for the bronze medal in his fourth and final match against Bernard Wei from Queen Margaret School, but ultimately decided to put on a knee brace and try his best to find a way to win.
And find a way to win he did. Blacha absolutely dominated Wei with single leg takedowns and ground control, winning the match in the first period by 10-0 tech fall and securing the bronze medal.
Blacha said afterwards he felt he performed “pretty good,” and then joked that his teammates could have done better by winning more matches. As for whether he was going to forfeit due to hurting his knee, Blacha said he thought about it for a moment but then decided against it.
“I can’t forfeit, I’m from Port Hardy,” he said with a laugh.
Jones stated he found the tournament “pretty cool” and his favourite part about it was “the wrestling” and “when I won by pinfall.” He added he’s planning to work more on his takedown defence before competing again.
Stagg felt he performed better than he had originally expected he would, as he’d only attended five wrestling classes before deciding to enter the tournament. He noted he’s going to work on his double leg takedowns and "the half Nelson. Yeah, I'm going to work on those. I think I also really need to perfect my form.”
PHSS head coach/manager Paul Cagna was pleased with what he saw from his team in Nanaimo.
“They really outperformed my expectations,” he said. “They were solid and they gave a good showing. Every single wrestler that we had today came to wrestle and they left it all on the mat.”
Cagna added he wanted to thank former PHSS wrestler Sheldon Frank for coming to the tournament to help coach.
“Sheldon represented PHSS last year at the BC Provincial Championships in Vancouver,” said Cagna. “It was good to have him out. He helped coach our team, was giving really good instructions to our wrestlers, and helped get them ready for their matches.”
Above all else, Cagna wanted everyone to know he was proud of how Blacha and his teammates represented Port Hardy.
“The other teams, they all know that we're not coming to these tournaments just to get rolled over, we're coming to compete.”
The PHSS wrestling team will be doing a weekend bottle drive in the coming weeks to help fund the rest of their tournaments this season.
