At first Manuel did not
seem to care that Bernard was the best 195 lbs. wrestler in the state.
The Cardinal wrestler was very aggressive and after a poor shot by
Bernard, Manuel just put a hand above the top of Bernard's shoulder and
pushed Bernard down to the mat to score the first points of the match.
The 2-0 did not last as within five seconds Bernard stood-up and
switched Manuel to tie the match at 2-2. Bernard "shut down" any
moves Manuel tried from the bottom, and the remainder of the period was
pretty non-spectacular, except for around the 30-second mark when Manuel
was able to stand-up and face Bernard, forcing Bernard to lift one leg
and trip Manuel back to the mat with the other. The first period
ended in a 2-2 tie.
Bernard won the toss and deferred to Manuel, who chose to start in the
neutral position After 50 seconds Bernard grabbed a single-leg and while
he pulled Manuel back toward the center of the mat Manuel broke the grip
on his leg and locked-up Bernard from behind. From there he
brought backward to the mat. As the two hit the mat Bernard tired
a switch, but to no avail and Manuel was awarded a takedown to take a
4-2 lead. With a minute remaining Bernard stood-up and scored an
escape to decrease Manuel's lead to one point. With 21 seconds
left, Bernard had his arms around Manuel's body from the side and Manuel
forced the two wrestlers off of the mat, prompting the beginning of the
match's stalling calls. With seven seconds left Manuel backed away
from another potential Bernard takedown, was again cited for stalling
and Bernard was award a penalty point, tying the match at 4-4.
With the match tied Bernard decided to start the third period on the
bottom. By this time, it was obvious that Manuel was tiring.
After 10 seconds Bernard was awarded another penalty point for an
illegal move by Manuel (the video did not show the foul). On the
restart Bernard stood-up, but Manuel showed he was not quite "out of
gas" as he followed behind Bernard until he lifted the Rebel wrestler
off of and back to the mat to regain control. On a second Bernard
stand-up, Manuel pushed him out of bounds and was cited for stalling a
third time and Bernard received two penalty points. For the first
time in the match Bernard held the lead, 7-4, and he was still in the
bottom position for the restart. Manuel started with his hands in
a triangle on Bernard's back and tried for a nearside cradle on the
whistle. Bernard, though, let Manuel push him off of the mat to
stifle that attempt. On the restart Manuel again started with the
triangle on Bernard's back, but Bernard was ready this time and, as the
whistle blew, immediate turned on his knees to face Manuel. After
they stood-up Bernard got free of Manuel with 70 seconds remaining,
increasing his lead to 8-4. With a minute remaining Bernard
grabbed a single-leg and with Manuel on his knees, Bernard pulled
Manuel's other ankle and pulled himself behind Manuel for the final two
points of the match. Bernard still worked intensely to turn Manuel
over, but Manuel would not let that happen. With his last bit of
energy Manuel stood-up on Bernard and turned to face him, but Bernard
used a single-leg and Manuel's waist to bring Manuel back to the mat
until the remaining sis seconds expired. Bernard won his first
state title with a 10-4 win. |
