When he was in fifth grade, Hunter Collins set a goal for
himself.
”
I wanted to be a three-time state champion,
”
the Gilroy sophomore wrestler said.
”
I fell a little bit short.
”
Bakersfield – When he was in fifth grade, Hunter Collins set a goal for himself.
“I wanted to be a three-time state champion,” the Gilroy sophomore wrestler said. “I fell a little bit short.”
A “little short” doesn’t do justice to describing just how close the sophomore was to getting his first state title at the CIF State Wrestling Championships Saturday.
Wrestling on the raised mat under a huge spotlight spotlight in front of 7,234 people at Rabobank Arena, second-ranked Collins was either tied with or leading top-ranked Louis Bland of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Central Catholic High for nearly two and a half rounds of the title match at 171 pounds. But Bland, a sophomore who won the state title at 152 pounds as a freshman, had two crushing takedowns in the final 35 seconds to beat Collins 8-5.
“(Hunter) was the aggressor, did all the work and Louis Bland has the uncanny ability to score when he needs to,” said Gilroy head coach Armando Gonzalez.
Collins, the first Gilroy wrestler to reach the finals since Kordell Baker won the title at 138 pounds in 1987, took a 3-0 lead when he scored on a takedown 20 seconds into the second round. Shortly after, Bland returned the favor with a takedown of his own. But Collins managed to escape to give himself a 4-3 lead going into the final period.
The third period started with Collins in the top position. He managed to keep Bland on the mat, but as he attempted to turn the returning state champ, Bland escaped to even the score at four with 1:28 left to wrestle. Over the next half minute, Collins and Bland battled each other on their feet, with Collins attempting twice to go for takedowns by grabbing one of Bland’s legs. The second time Collins went for a leg, Bland quickly countered and circled around behind the Gilroy wrestler for a takedown and a 6-4 lead. With eight seconds left, Collins escaped to close the gap to one. But Bland put a stop to any last-chance moves by Collins with a takedown of his own at the buzzer and sealed the 8-5 win.
“He really picked it up,” said Collins, who finished with a 47-4 record on the season and improved on his eighth-place finish at 160 pounds in the state meet last year. “He’s got some great go at the end of matches and I got caught on my heels.”
Gonzalez called the match an exact replica of the meeting the two wrestlers had in the final of the Five Counties tournament in early January which Bland won 5-4.
“I didn’t really think about how the other match went,” Collins said. “He’s really good at changing speed. He can go slow and pick it up really fast and it’s hard to wrestle someone like that.”
Bland finished the season at 49-1. Ironically, his only loss was because of a disqualification at the Gilroy-hosted Mid-Cals. The sophomore, who Collins was hoping to meet in the Mid-Cal final for a tune-up to state, lost by disqualification for illegally body slamming an opponent in an earlier match.
By the time Collins’ semifinal match rolled around on Saturday, he was Gilroy’s last chance for a finalist. Seniors Armando Gonzalez and Adin Dueñas had already lost their semifinal matches. Also still on the line was Gilroy’s hope for a top-three finish.
Collins responded to the challenge with an emphatic semifinal win against Martin Beeler of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s Ripon High. Collins man-handled Beeler from the whistle, getting a takedown at the one-minute mark. From there, the sophomore turned the Ripon wrestler on his back and held him down for the eventual pin. The whole ordeal took just one minute and 14 seconds.
Though he has two more years to go for a state title, Collins was upset he felt short of one this season. But the loss gave him something else: Motivation for 2007.
“It felt really good to be in the finals and I think that losing in the final has really given me a lot to drive for next year,” Collins said.
Collins wasn’t the only Central Coast Section representative in the finals. The section produced three other finalists – all from Fremont. The three, brothers Boris (103 pounds) and Filip Novachkov (119 pounds) and Greg Crane (160 pounds), all came away as champions. It was the most title winners the CCS had ever had in one year.
