Braves finish one win short of improbable NE8 upset

Heading into the very final bout of Saturday’s NE8 championships, the Bellmont Braves still had a shot at the trophy.

Such an opportunity might have been attractive at the start of the day to supporters of the Bellmont program, but the Braves came so agonizingly close that the close margin will not be much consolation.

Grady Baker reaches the finals at 285 with his second close victory over Charles McGrant of New Haven this season.

As expected, the New Haven Bulldogs used their five individual champions to clinch the team title. They finished the day well, winning five of seven on the championship mat.

The Bellmont Braves, meanwhile, went 3-3 in their six championship bouts. They spent the day trying to pounce on the fact that New Haven did not score a point in two weight classes, but they hampered their efforts by failing to score a point themselves at 132.

In the end, the two teams traded the lead multiple times in the final two rounds and at one point late in the finals, the margin between the two teams was just one half of a point.

That half-point margin still existed heading into heavyweight, when Grady Baker faced the tall task of a rematch against undefeated and #3-ranked Isaiah Coolman of Leo in the championship 285 bout. With New Haven’s Charles McGrant wrestling for third and potentially able to score four points if he won by fall, Baker faced an even more difficult task knowing that the Braves might have needed a fall to capture the team title.

Coolman, however, was too much to overcome and he had really the only positive note for Leo on the day by winning the 285 title by first-period fall as McGrant captured third place and New Haven won by 2.5 points.

The Braves’ chances would have been at zero for Baker without the heroics at 215 of Ryne Fawbush, who went from trailing his third-place match to winning by fall over Jason Chen of Leo. New Haven had caught a break at 215 when their man accepted a medical forfeit in the placement round and grabbed two free points.

Fawbush’s win was the fourth in a row for the Braves as part of their late charge. Landon Rich made a big impact on the team race with a fall in his fifth-place match after Gavin Davis scored a tech fall in the 165 championship against Rylee Biddle (30-3) of East Noble.

*Gavin Davis dominated the 165-pound class, winning the championship with a tech fall. (Photo by Patrick Gunsett)*

The Braves also had a milestone win at 190 in the finals, with Xavior Palacios winning not just his third career conference title, but also his 100th varsity match.

Xavior Palacios wins his third career NE8 title.

Henry Faurote spent about nine minutes on the mat for the Braves in capturing the title at 138.

*Henry Faurote captured the 138 title for the Braves and scored valuable team points in the final round to give the Braves a chance at the team title. (Photo by Patrick Gunsett)*

Team Scores

1st-New Haven 228; 2nd-Bellmont 225.5; 3rd-East Noble 180.5; 4th-Columbia City 127.5; 5th-DeKalb 125.5; 6th-Huntington North 121; 7th-Norwell 115; 8th-Leo 108.5