Best Semi's match

[scourge165]

Now...I always love watching the Semis and...the Quarters and...well, all the D1s, but this round just felt different.

There were SO many matches that were either shocking to me or just INCREDIBLE matches. 

I was going to ask if this was the best Semi's ever, but I'll just go with the Keckiesen vs McEnally match. 

That was just an INCREDIBLE match.

Up there with O'Toole and Devos.

Hamiti over Haines. I thought someone may be needed to give Hamiti the Heimlich in the 3rd period(and he did his best to choke that away)...but he finally pulled one of those out. Last year he's in the finals if he holds on vs Mesenbrink. Should have beaten O'Toole last week.

We'll see if he's over it and can get it done tomorrow night. 

 

Rommey...I thought HE had that match won. Fugitt vs Ayala...never thought he was going to win, but if he finishes that TD, he had a great game plan for Ayala(it ended up being a whooping). 

 

Barr beating Cardenas was great. Barr wrestled that about as well as possible.

 

Was that the best Semis ever? Or is that a little silly recency bias?

[Boring]

It was a pretty good semifinal night, several really good matches. 

[Perry]

No semis round will top the atmosphere of zeke moisey abusing Thomas Gilman and ultimately pinning him. That was the most alive I've ever seen an arena regardless of round. 

[Perry]

Keck vs mcenelly was the best match of that round tonight imo. 

[pokemonster]

Keck vs McEnelly had to be the match of the night. Awesome all around. Mendez pulling out that win vs Beau was great.

Fun night besides the fact I'm a buckeye fan, so that was a bit disappointing.

[RawDog]

Mendez vs Bartlett almost gave me a heart attack. Luckily Mendez has let the dog out.

[scourge165]

1 minute ago, Perry said:

No semis round will top the atmosphere of zeke moisey abusing Thomas Gilman and ultimately pinning him. That was the most alive I've ever seen an arena regardless of round. 

Yeah, but I'm not at this one...it's totally different being there vs not. I remember watching Johnny Thompson get knocked off early or...Caldwell lose in the finals. It's always wilder in the arena. 

Are you out there? Do you have an Apples to Apples comp?

 

I will say, at HWT...I picked Kerk, but in retrospect, I'm not surprised. He's a guy who has looked like he's been afflicted with HEW for years. Despite that, he's taken a 2nd and won it last year. But now he doesn't have to Wrestle Gable? IDK, certainly not saying he threw it, but I doubt his heart is broken at the moment(or maybe he just shows very little emotion and I'm WAY off the mark). 

[Boring]

14 minutes ago, pokemonster said:

Keck vs McEnelly had to be the match of the night. Awesome all around. Mendez pulling out that win vs Beau was great.

Fun night besides the fact I'm a buckeye fan, so that was a bit disappointing.

I was feeling for McEnelly, I thought he had Keck there at the end. 

[WrestleFan12]

6 minutes ago, Boring said:

I was feeling for McEnelly, I thought he had Keck there at the end. 

Likewise. I also feel like McEnelly had the better shot at beating Carter in the finals, if he could have made it there.

[dragit]

Nice thread.

The Keck match was such high level fabulous wrestling. Match of a great night.

I'd probably put 2016 higher based on my growing fogger memory.  Some personal bias there, I was in a great seat near the semis matches and they went off with an absolute bang. 

Gilman beats defending champ NaTo with an OT pin and then, boom, Garrett jumps all over defending champ Breuer, puts him on his back twice and pins him, speed I've never seen before in any sport, and then lights up MSG with his smile. 

Trying to remember the other good matches.  I think the Cousins Jordan. 

And wasn't there a lot of action IMar vs Ian Miller, tons of flurries including Miller putting Martinez on his back with a throw without control and Jason Bryant saying something on the PA about it not being freestyle, no points, and lots of people booing and then everyone laughing.  

I could be making this all up but it's probably mostly accurate.

[dragit]

7 minutes ago, WrestleFan12 said:

Likewise. I also feel like McEnelly had the better shot at beating Carter in the finals, if he could have made it there.

Speaking of McEneley and speaking of my often faulty memory, is it just me or does he remind anyone of Jack Dechow??  High school football star, awesome athlete, not a classic wrestler build, great competitor, took people by storm as a freshman, think he lost a tough match in the semis and finished third or fourth.  Here's hoping Mceneley progresses the way I always thought dechow would but didn't. 

[scourge165]

7 minutes ago, WrestleFan12 said:

Likewise. I also feel like McEnelly had the better shot at beating Carter in the finals, if he could have made it there.

Maybe. He's more athletic...but that's not a huge margin. And I think Parker is bigger and more physical than Starocci. Just a bigger frame, length. 

I think they both had a chance to beat Starocci and I still think Parker does.

 

I really think this will be Starocci's more impressive tournament could be this year(though...last year, the bad knee, beating former NC back to back was also pretty impressive. 

Also why in all the arguments I made about Starocci and what a 5th would mean I qualified it with an IF he wins. 

 

And another topic, but I mentioned this yesterday, but how ridiculous is 184 gonna be next year?

McEnally, Barr, Welsh, Ferrari, you have a bunch of guys coming back. Berge and others. Just a stacked weight. Oh, Sinclair seems like he'll be at 184(though...I hope it's 174). 

[scourge165]

7 minutes ago, dragit said:

Speaking of McEneley and speaking of my often faulty memory, is it just me or does he remind anyone of Jack Dechow??  High school football star, awesome athlete, not a classic wrestler build, great competitor, took people by storm as a freshman, think he lost a tough match in the semis and finished third or fourth.  Here's hoping Mceneley progresses the way I always thought dechow would but didn't. 

I don't know how good of a football player McEnelly was(obviously good) but wasn't Dechow offered D1 Scholarships? I thought he was a 200LB back who ran like a 4.5 40 and could have...potentially played at the next level(I guess if you're that good and highly recruited, I just assume you COULD go pro). 

 

I'm not sure his build is not a normal Wrestling build. He's just ...good sized '84. More athletic and his feet are quicker than normal 84's, but he looks like a slightly bigger Cael as a Freshmen. 

[dragit]

4 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

I don't know how good of a football player McEnelly was(obviously good) but wasn't Dechow offered D1 Scholarships? I thought he was a 200LB back who ran like a 4.5 40 and could have...potentially played at the next level(I guess if you're that good and highly recruited, I just assume you COULD go pro). 

 

I'm not sure his build is not a normal Wrestling build. He's just ...good sized '84. More athletic and his feet are quicker than normal 84's, but he looks like a slightly bigger Cael as a Freshmen. 

I think you're right that Dechow might have been a more blue chip football recruit.

Regarding his build I mainly meant muscle definition, such as compared to the two finalists. 

[scourge165]

2 minutes ago, dragit said:

I think you're right that Dechow might have been a more blue chip football recruit.

Regarding his build I mainly meant muscle definition, such as compared to the two finalists. 

Well, Starr is more cut and...looks more cut, but I thought he was actually a little more cut than Keck, but Keck is thicker in the core. 

He could have a Ruth like career or he could have a Hidlay type career. Wouldn't be shocked either way. Again, the talent at '84 is going to be wild the next few years. If I was Barr though, I'd be spending the off-season building up and planning on staying at '97. Even if that means Mirasola has to cut or....well, not make the lineup. 

[BarSeries]

That was an amazing night of wrestling!

[scourge165]

51 minutes ago, BarSeries said:

That was an amazing night of wrestling!

The ONLY thing that could have made it better would have been if Trephan would have finished that single on Gable, made that a closer match and then if Romney could have gotten out and gone to the OT. That was such a good match. 

Oh, and if Fugitt gets that early TD and then DOESN'T give up the 5 with seconds left in the 2nd for the decisive margin. 

 

If I'm being greedy, I'd have loved to have seen Haines get a TD and then Hamiti have to go back on offense and just watch them battling and throwing haymakers at each other(figuratively).