The Second Period - Original Writing

In the first 20 seconds of the match, I had the first take-down. I was working crossfaces, cheap tilts, and everything else I knew after my takedown. Then, I did what I do best and gave him a swift, hard crossface and cradeled him up. Squeezing with all my strength and might it took about 7 seconds of him being on his back and he was pinned! It took a total of 55 seconds to pin my first opponent at state.

That’s where my 170lb counterpart aggressively double legged [basically 2 leg tackle) me to the mat. As soon as I went down one of the two refs called the match declaring that I had been defeated. Instead of acknowledging my loss I immediately reacted and attempted to counter the takedown despite the final call. In all luck the second ref recognized that there had not yet been establishment of control by either 170lb wrestler and notioned my coach to challenge the curious call. After watching the opposing team douse their coach with gatorade as a means of celebration the final call was reversed and we were back in it. I looked at my coach, took a deep breath, fixed my headgear upon my noggin, and prepared for this seemingly endless finale. All in all we tied after overtime and approached the infamous double overtime mark. It all came down to two thirty second bouts to see who could score the most from the bottom position. My adversary succeeded in scoring a point and taking a 1 point lead. Now it was my turn to return the favor. I was stuffed to the mat and struggle to find a way to escape. Yet, with 10 seconds on the clock I pulled the same maneuver that brought us into overtime to gain a 1 point advantage and more importantly the win! Shortly after the celebration I immediately hopped on my post match ritual of

It was his choice wince he won the toss and chose bottom. I started my crossface again working it but nothing was there for me to do. Finally I had a chance and took it, I got a cross face cradle and took him to his back with 30 seconds left in the second period he was on his back all of those 30 seconds. At the end of the second it was 5-0. I was starting to get tired since I used a lot of my energy to keep a hold of my grip.

I looked at my opponent across the mat. He was much stronger than me, but that wouldn’t be a problem. I am quicker than him though. And speed, always beats strength.

Next, I wrestled the kid from Jeff West, Hunter Thelen. We both started circling and then I tripped over my feet. He came running at me, he pushed me over then I reversed it and then I got him on his back and he was done by that point. I had him on his back for about five seconds. Then he gave up and I pinned him for the victory.

The match went into overtime. “First takedown wins the match”, notified the referee. We circled around, each playing it safe. He ducked and attacked my legs. I sprawled instantly, came around behind, and scored the points. I had won the match. The referee raised my hand in front of the audience. My eyes narrowed in on one section of the bleachers. There stood my teammates, smiling

"I'm going to pin him in 10 seconds, I'm going to pin him in 10 seconds," was ringing through my head, and that's also exactly what I told there coach. A little before there match he approached me and asked what weight I was wrestling I answered and the told him, "I don't care who I'm facing I'm going to pin him or her in 10 seconds." It was the last match of the year against our rivals and the hype of the match was intense. It made people nervous just thinking about it. I wanted to get the fastest pin for the school. I remembered the saying, "You can do anything you put your mind to," and that exactly what I did. It was at the brand new West York gym and we were the first sporting event to be held there. All over social media there was trash talk but the mat is the only place you can own your words. I knew I wasn't going to let anything or anyone stand in my way.

They charged again, this time I had a chance to avoid their attack and I countered with a special move I call rasengen.I blew the rock off the roof and onto a spike. John Cena charged, getting his five knuckle shuffle ready as he went along. Noticing this fact, I charged as well and cut off his arm before he could release that powerful

Constant drilling, sweat dripping, and four days before the 2017 Napa Wrestling Tournament, the biggest event with some of the best wrestlers of California competing. Regrettably, it was also the week that my knee had begun to swell. In wrestling, a valid takedown means your knee must touch the mat before your opponent does. Constant friction between my knee and the mat caused the pain in my knee to become unbearable, grievously leading to a visit from James Logan High School’s athletic trainer, Jorge Maldonado.

I was ready to show off my new gear and wrestle. After the coach did a quick head count we all got on the bus and drove fifteen minutes to Olivet University for the event. We walked in, weighed in as a team, stretched out and got wrestling ready, then relaxed for a bit prior to the tournament starting. I was wrestling at the weight class 133lb, so I was the second match up. I focused in and got my mind right, I was ready. What made me nervous before I wrestled was having to see our 125lb wrestler who’s ranked 9th in the country get beat by a non-ranked wrestler on the other team. I thought to my self “maybe these kids are the real deal?”, then followed it up with “Too bad there’s only one way to find

How coaches undertake penalty killing in youth hockey varies upon the age, skill level, and number of players on a team. I outlined the basic concepts in Chapter 11 but felt coaches of older teams or teams with more advanced personnel would require a more in depth discussion.

A day after he forced Johnny Gargano to wage war by his terms, Timothy Thatcher found himself fighting in Drew Galloway’s world. Galloway refused to let Thatcher take the match to the mat and sent him to the outside. Champion and challenger brawled in the crowd with Galloway coming away with the advantage. Then, with a few glimmers of offense by Thatcher, Galloway completely dominated the match. He punched, piledrove and DDT'd the Thatcher into the ground, but he was not able to put away the champion. The Scotsmen pleaded with the official to end the match to no avail. So Galloway went up top to try and end things. A strategically placed headbutt to an airborne Galloway

The simplicity of this match is what made it so enjoyable. Johnny Gargano attempted to prove he could go with the new breed of wrestler in EVOLVE; he tried trade holds with the master technician, Drew Gulak, and failed. As a result Gargano resorted to high risk/high reward offense and aggravated the army injury from his match with Timothy Thatcher from the previous show. Gulak spent the rest of the contest destroying Gargano’s arm and finally put him away with a stunning sequence where Gulak transitioned an ankle lock into a Japanese stranglehold.

The whistle blows and right way we tie up and he just starts punching. I back out, but while I’m backing out he rushes and throws me to the ground, luckily we were out of bounds. We tie back up and again a blow to the face with a clinched fist. No one sees that I 'm getting punched only I’m the one that knows he 's throwing punches. One more blow is all it takes for my nose to become a river of blood. At this point my face is starting to swell and turn red, but the I must finish the match. This just adds on to my rage. The whistle blows again and this time it 's our last tie up. I snap him down and crossface him so hard that the snot comes out of his nose. This is where the crowd goes insane because I just turned this

I land blow after blow. I can’t believe it I’m fighting Mike Tyson and actually doing well. I go for an uppercut and Mike goes down. The crowd is silent in awe, this is the first time he has gone down, ever. One tiny kid put Mike Tyson down. Mike gets up but he looks shaken. I know I have him. He goes in for a haymaker and I dodge and come back with a uppercut and he goes down again. That’s two. One more and it’s a TKO. I can do it. Mike stands up he looks enraged. He looks as if I have just caused his death as a champ and he does not like it. He retaliates with a flurry of blows. Each blow hits me. There’s the pain I’ve been hiding from, it feels like I just went through a washing machine filled with bricks. I fall. No, I can’t lose, not now. I hear, “...7,...8.” I can’t do this, but I have to try at 9 I’m up. I crack my neck, shake off, and put out my glove and call him over. He goes in for a final punch but I’m too quick. One sharp blow to the stomach and he’s out. TKO. I’ve done it, I’m the champion. Doc is over in the corner screaming and cheering, Mike splayed out on the mat, and me, well, I’m just basking the glory that I beat Mike Tyson. And they said it couldn’t be