Sussex Central shocks Smyrna to win D-I wrestling title
SMYRNA – Sussex Central had to fight tooth and nail just to earn another shot at Smyrna in the DIAA Division I Dual Meet Wrestling Championship match on Tuesday night.
Once the Golden Knights got there, they sent legendary coach Phil Shultie out on top with a thrilling, 32-30 victory that ended the Eagles’ four-year reign as D-I champs.
Shultie, 63, is retiring at the end of this season after 41 years at Central. In the final dual meet of his career, the Knights won the school’s second state wrestling championship (the first came in 2008) and pushed his state-leading win total to 432.
This may have been the sweetest one of all.
“This is it, and there’s no greater way to go out than to have a state championship team,” Shultie said.
Third-seeded Central (12-2) dispatched No. 6 William Penn 60-15 in the first round, then struggled through an epic semifinal against second-seeded Cape Henlopen. A pair of 2016 individual state champions – Central’s Brandon Bautista and Cape’s Cory Lawson – clashed in the final match at 160 pounds.
Bautista gritted out a 4-3 decision to give the Knights a 28-26 victory. Meanwhile, Smyrna easily dispatched Dover 45-22 in the other semi, earning at least 30 minutes of extra rest.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen because we did everything we had to do to beat Cape,” Shultie said. “Cape was a strong team and I kind of thought we lost everything we had. But the kids, they went back, they regrouped, we talked about what they could do.”
The Knights did everything they needed to do. Central lost to Smyrna 39-27 in the same gym last Friday, so there was some ground to make up.
That dual started at 120 pounds, and the Eagles won the first six matches in running out to a 30-0 lead. This one started at 182, a much better place for the Knights.
Central built an 18-9 lead, as Lucas Hudson won a 2-1 decision at 182, John Morris won a 1-0 squeaker at 285 and Javon Saffold (106) and Yony Morales (113) scored pins. Smyrna’s Nick Natarcola got a pin at 120 to pull the Eagles within 18-15, setting up a turning point.
Central’s Rashad Stratton missed Friday’s match due to illness, and the Knights gave up a pin at 126. This time, Stratton turned the tables completely with a pin for a whopping 12-point swing.
“This was for Shultie,” Stratton said. “I had to make sure I was ready for the last ride for Shultie.”
Greg Baum got a pin at 132 to pull Smyrna within 24-21. But Drew Morris, who had lost to a 3-2 decision to J.T. Davis on Friday, beat the freshman 5-2 this time. Morris cost his team a point when he shoved Davis after the match, but he still pushed the lead to 26-21.
“I was coming back from a sickness on Friday,” Morris said. “Today, I just knew that it was Shultie’s last ride and I knew I had to give my all for him.”
Smyrna rallied, as Chase Archangelo pinned at 145 and Nate Bryant earned a 7-3 decision at 152. That put the Eagles up 30-26, but Bautista worked his magic again with a 2-1 decision over Dakota Kerr at 160 to pull the Knights within 30-29.
That left it up to Central’s Blake Chambers, who had pinned Masen Wilson at 170 on Friday. The senior didn’t repeat that feat but stayed on top throughout the third period for a 6-0 decision that set off a wild Central celebration.
“I knew if we all came out here today really ready to go full blast, they would take us there and I would just bring us home,” Chambers said. “After Brandon won, I knew that was it. I went out there confident, and we took it all.”
Top-seeded Smyrna (13-3) was riding a 56-match in-state winning streak, its last loss to a Delaware opponent coming exactly five years ago against Caesar Rodney in the D-I final.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Eagles coach Kurt Howell said. “They’ve wrestled really well all season. I just really have to credit Shultie and his boys. They won close matches, they saved points, they got off their backs, and they got the pins when they needed them.”
Chambers summed up his coach’s role best after winning the final match.
“Honestly, I’m honored just to be under Shultie’s wing, to be coached by Shultie,” the senior said. “To give him this second state title is the least I could do, I guess, for the four years he’s coached me. He has basically been a godfather for me and all of us.”
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ