Sports
Westfield Comes Through in the Clutch to Win Concorde Wrestling Title
Five Bulldogs win individual honors.
With a spotlight dimming directly down on the wrestling mat at Centreville High School, Westfield and Robinson were essentially in a stalemate heading into the final weight classes to determine who would win the Concorde District tournament.
In the narrowest of margins, Westfield held on to win the Concorde District with a close 225.5 to 219 victory over Robinson. The Bulldogs needed to win the last pairings in the 215 pound and heavyweight divisions to prevail and the brother tandem of junior Jacob DeLeon and senior Tyler DeLeon came out on top in both weight classes.
In total, five Westfield wrestlers won their weight classes. The most memorable matchup was probably the last out of the 14 weight divisions.
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Westfield’s Tyler DeLeon took down Robinson freshman Jake Pinkston in the final seconds of the heavyweight class to prevail with a 5-3 decision.
“He’s real tough and real short, which is a disadvantage for me since I’m real tall,” DeLeon said. “I’m a lot older than him and I used my strength to my advantage and bullied and tried to get that last takedown. I just gave it all the strength that I had. It was hard.”
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The senior, who won the 2010 Northern Region championship last year, improved his seasonal record to 31-10 record this season to go along with a 66-20 career mark. DeLeon will never forget his high school accomplishments.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” DeLeon said. “I’m proud of all my teammates for wrestling hard all weekend. It’s just a memory that I’ll have forever.”
Westfield junior Brett Campbell won the 112 pound weight class as a technical winner with ease and was awarded the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the meet, but he was more fulfilled by the effort that his teammates showed.
“We’ve been working so hard all year,” Campbell said. “We’ve just got something off our back. It’s inspirational knowing our entire team came together and that we can do what we put our minds to.”
Sophomore Beau Donahue took home the 140 pound weight class title with a 13-2 major decision. Donahue has been nearly unbeatable all season with a 52-3 mark and has now won back-to-back district titles.
Senior Harry Van Trees won the 152 pound class with an 8-4 decision. Van Trees has now won 103 career matches and finished eighth in the state last season. Junior Jacob DeLeon, who is 49-9 on the season, won the 215 pound weight class by pin. DeLeon won the Hopewell and Freedom Invitational titles earlier this season.
The Bulldogs won the Concorde District tournament from 2004-09 and are the favorites to win the Northern Region and are a viable contender at the state meet later this month.
In total, 14 Bulldogs advanced to regional competition, which will be held Feb 10-12 at Fairfax High School.
