What was the lore/hype around some of legends coming into college?

[Ohio Elite]

I still have the 2005 Senior Nationals on DVD.

[Truzzcat]

41 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

I still think Metcalf VS Schlatter Round 1, which was at the Medina tournament in Ohio is the best High School wrestling match this side of Y2K... maybe on either side of Y2K.

Being a Michigander and having my kids get their asses handed to them repeatedly by that era of Roy Hall's boys (and Metcalf was by far his best product ever), I went in very naive.

The buildup for that finals match was intense.  Everyone knew it was going to happen and every round it got closer, everyone started whispering a little more loudly about it.

Finally it was going to happen and I couldn't believe my ears - Everbody (okay not EVERYbody... but most everybody that I talked to about it) wanted the match.  They were all saying that Metcalf couldn't handle his pace or his power and it completely blew me away because Metcalf hadn't wrestled anybody in nearly a decade who couldn't handle his pace and Schlatter was actually coming up to 145lbs,whereas Metcalf had been there a couple of years now and had always been the larger wrestler.

I came away awe-stricken at this match.

I then remember when Senior Nationals came along and they were both entered and the same sort of energy was in the air.  Everyone knew it was going to happen again.  Metcalf was still considered the underdog because many considered that Metcalf was gifted that first match. 

https://www.flowrestling.org/video/5155124-145lbs-brent-metcalf-vs-dustin-schlatter-05-sr-natls

 I remember the hype around this match being insane however there were a lot of factors going on. This was Chances first tournament of the year and he was up a weight. Wiercoch was a 2x state champ and 3x finalist coming into it and it was in his home gym at cannon mac. The match certainly lived up to the hype.

[nhs67]

33 minutes ago, Ohio Elite said:

I watched the first match live. It was Awsome! I remember Schlatter had pinned his first 4 opponents all under a minute. Metcalf had 2 pins and 2 techs on his way to finals.  

Interesting enough USA wrestling mag had them both ranked #1 in the country. Metcalf at 152. ( I guess they didn't get the memo he was staying at 145.)   Talk about a super match...

Reader was up at 152 all year long for them, even bumping several times for the team.  He came up from 135 or 140 that year.  Reader's jump from his Junior season to his Senior season in High School was phenomenal.  I still think, to this day, that he beats any kid in the state of Michigan that year.  He could have bumped to 275 that year and won it rather easily, I think.

Another interesting thing about that class (Michigan High School Division 1) that year:  Ben Bennett was robbed in his semi-finals match against Sean Dong at 152lbs in Bennett's Soph season.

Anthiony Biondo at 145lbs would go to the University of Michigan, Redshirt at 174lbs, and then go 197lbs for them for four years.  He tripled in size.

[alex1fly]

1 hour ago, nhs67 said:

I still think Metcalf VS Schlatter Round 1, which was at the Medina tournament in Ohio is the best High School wrestling match this side of Y2K... maybe on either side of Y2K.

Being a Michigander and having my kids get their asses handed to them repeatedly by that era of Roy Hall's boys (and Metcalf was by far his best product ever), I went in very naive.

The buildup for that finals match was intense.  Everyone knew it was going to happen and every round it got closer, everyone started whispering a little more loudly about it.

Finally it was going to happen and I couldn't believe my ears - Everbody (okay not EVERYbody... but most everybody that I talked to about it) wanted the match.  They were all saying that Metcalf couldn't handle his pace or his power and it completely blew me away because Metcalf hadn't wrestled anybody in nearly a decade who couldn't handle his pace and Schlatter was actually coming up to 145lbs,whereas Metcalf had been there a couple of years now and had always been the larger wrestler.

I came away awe-stricken at this match.

I then remember when Senior Nationals came along and they were both entered and the same sort of energy was in the air.  Everyone knew it was going to happen again.  Metcalf was still considered the underdog because many considered that Metcalf was gifted that first match. 

https://www.flowrestling.org/video/5155124-145lbs-brent-metcalf-vs-dustin-schlatter-05-sr-natls

Thanks for sharing this story and finding the match! Wow what a battle

[11986]

58 minutes ago, Ohio Elite said:

I watched the first match live. It was Awsome! I remember Schlatter had pinned his first 4 opponents all under a minute. Metcalf had 2 pins and 2 techs on his way to finals.  

Interesting enough USA wrestling mag had them both ranked #1 in the country. Metcalf at 152. ( I guess they didn't get the memo he was staying at 145.)   Talk about a super match...

They ended up being the USA team reps at 145 and 152 at the Dapper Dan that year, pretty cool:

145: Brent Metcalf (USA) dec Matt Dragon (PA), 8-7

152: Dustin Schlatter (USA) dec Joey Ecklof (PA) 5-2

and fun fact, Dustin's older brother CP wrestled another Ecklof at same even a few years prior:

145: C.P. Schlatter (USA) dec Jeff Ecklof (PA), 1-0

 

[Wrestleknownothing]

This thread is heating up nicely. Great off season topic, @Kerouac

[PortaJohn]

3 hours ago, 11986 said:

They ended up being the USA team reps at 145 and 152 at the Dapper Dan that year, pretty cool:

Here's some Dapper Dan Trivia. 

-The year 1992 is probably the most famous because of the Bono/Kolat match.  Manning heavyweight that year for team USA was now Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell. 

-NCAA champs who have lost at the event are Kellen Russell, Eric Juergens,  Jake Herbert, Darian Cruz, Anthony Ashnault,  Cory Clark, Alex Dierenger, Chris Perry, LeRoy Smith, Barry Davis, Jeff Prescott, T.J. Jaworsky