You can’t get more David vs. Goliath than this story. If a
high school senior is going against a high school freshman, 100 out of 100
times, you would go with the senior if you didn’t know the history of the two
athletes. Now make the high school
senior a boy wrestler and the high school freshman a girl wrestler. Now you may
take the boy senior 101 out of 100 times?
But before you go to Vegas, you better make sure that girl
isn’t Brooke Bunch.
Brooke and her Connesville High School team were pissed.
They had gotten slaughtered the weekend before, and were ready to extract some
revenge. Hagerstown was a welcome sight to Brooke’s teammates. As Brooke said,
“This was going to be one of the easiest teams for us to beat.” Just not for
Brooke.
You see, Brooke, a 9th grade freshman, wasn’t just going up
against a senior, she was going up against the boy on his night…Senior Night.
But Brooke didn’t realize she would be going up against a
senior, at least not at first. She was still mad about the weekend prior, but
happy that they would be going up against a team not as talented. “Well, this was a dual meet against one of
the easiest teams for us to beat, and it was just after we had gotten beaten
pretty bad at a rough tournament the weekend before. It was the Hagerstown
Senior Night. The junior varsity kids went first, then our heavyweight and then
me. I had gotten beaten an insane amount the weekend before.”
So Brooke decided to try and scope out who her opponent
would be. “The seniors were walking with their parents and by the time the
heavyweight match was going on, which was right before mine, I realized I was
going against a senior. I was really nervous because I never went against one
before.”
Brooke didn’t want to believe her bad luck. “Oh no. Please
say they're kidding. Come on guys! He's going to kick my butt and go as hard as
possible especially since it's his senior night."
But this was no time for a pity party, and Brooke knew it. Once
she got on the mat, Brooke’s confidence grew. “The kid had huge leg muscles,
but overall he looked pretty weak. Though I can’t underestimate him.”
So despite being 3-4 years younger, Brooke went from being
incredibly nervous, to fighting back cockiness. And then the two wrestlers
shook hands, something odd happened, both wrestlers thought victory was in the
bag. Brooke says, “When we shook hands, I knew for sure I had the match. My
hand shake was a lot firmer.” But the Hagerstown boy, named Ryan, didn’t lack
for confidence against Brooke. “He had this look in his eyes like he knew he
was gonna win. That look drove me harder.”
She was really mad that he had so much confidence? “Yeah it
set me off. I knew that if I didn't beat him, he'd brag to all of his friends
and everything so I knew I had to put him in his place.”
Then the match started and it was time for both wrestlers to
put up or shut up. Her opponent, Ryan, went for the victory early. “He went for
a quick shot and got a takedown. I tried to sprawl but couldn’t get out in
time.”
The period ended with the boy being up 2-0. Many freshman
wrestlers would be freaking out, but not Brooke. “It was 2-0 him and I knew
I had to get a reversal and I wasn't nervous. I'm typically good at getting my
reversals. It was a deferral and went to his decision and he chose top so I
knew for sure that I had to try my hardest.”
While I wasn’t able to contact her
opponent, Brooke says, “He probably felt pretty confident. He most likely felt
stronger than me as well. Otherwise he wouldn't have chosen top. My coach knows
how good I am on bottom and figured my opponent would chose top which is why we
deferred.”
Girls often think their opponent is
stronger too, but not this time. Brooke says, “Not really. I could turn him easily. That usually takes
all of my strength. But he had very strong leg muscles.”
The 2nd Period started and Brooke immediately
turned the tables. “I reversed with my sit out switch. I quickly broke him down
just enough to slide my legs in and ride him out and eventually got a power
half in and got him in a near pinning situation.” She had now taken the lead,
4-2.
That’s when her opponent and teammates started realizing, he
was in for a match. “Don't let her beat you on your night!!!" "You
can't get beat by a girl!!" and many more remarks.” Brooke heard them all,
but felt she was going to do exactly what his teammates didn’t want. Ruin his
night. “I got pretty confident because I had been riding legs with a
power half pretty much the whole period and he could hardly move.”
And once again, most freshman wrestlers
would over exert themselves because of their emotions, and most seniors would
have the experience to stay the course. But the roles were reversed. “I knew I had to keep my emotions under
control and stay composed.” Brooke says, her opponent was anything but
composed, “I
had infuriated him. He was raging. He kept bucking trying to get me off of him.”
This spurred on Brooke even more. “Yeah, I
understood that if I could just ride him out a little longer he would be
mentally broke.”
With the match still very close, Brooke
realized how important this was. “Well normally when an opponent is mentally
broke they're upset they're losing, getting angry at themselves or the person
they're wrestling, or they just give up. And yes, he was mentally broke by the
end of the period. I felt pretty confident and excited.”
Ryan made a critical
mistake by choosing bottom for the 3rd Period. He couldn’t escape
Brooke’s legs the 2nd Period, and things didn’t change for the
third. “I was completely baffled. He had been rode out all of last
period but still went for it.”
“It” didn’t work. Brooke was able
to hold him down and ride legs until
there were 30 seconds left. This was a big match for Brooke and she knew it. “I
was extremely worried, but I tried to stay calm and focused.”
While Brooke wanted
to win, her opponent needed to win.
And to his credit, he did not give up. “There was
thirty seconds left, he knocked me off of him (I was riding legs) and went for
my leg. With 10 seconds left, I staggered on foot while he's holding on to the
other. I had a 1/4 Nelson in trying to keep him down. 5 seconds left and I'm
getting extremely nervous, he takes my legs and starts to lift me but doesn't
get a takedown before the buzzer went off.”
The match was over, Brooke had won. But
the boy wasn’t ready to accept defeat. He wouldn’t let go, until he finally
took Brooke down. “I kept telling him
the whistle blew, to let go. But he didn't until I was on the ground. My
seniors got mad, but it was actually kind of funny.”
Brooke has a theory on why he wouldn’t let
go. “I don't think he let go because he wanted to show he was still dominant.”
But after losing to her 4-2, Brooke doesn’t see it. When I asked if she felt he
succeeded in being dominant she said, “No, not at all.” As a matter of fact,
Brooke felt it was the other way around. She was the one who felt dominant.
“I had just beaten him on his senior night and left him scoreless
for two periods. When we went to shake hands I was pretty calm about it, just
the normal firm handshake I always have. But his handshake changed from weak to
an extremely weak handshake. You could tell he was
about to burst into tears.”
Brooke couldn’t help but feel for her
opponent. “I actually felt bad. I know what it feels like to lose and he had
just lost in front of his hometown with everyone rooting him on. I put him in
his place and accomplished what I had wanted but at the same time I know how
bad that sucks. ”
Though she feels badly for her opponent, she cant help but
enjoy her win. I asked her if this was one of her favorite matches, “Yeah, I suppose it is. I liked the satisfaction that came along
with the win. Just being able to beat a senior on his senior night felt pretty
darn great.”
It’s a match, that Brooke cant help but
feel conflicted. “Exactly!! I loved the fact that I had a guy older than me
mentally broke and crying but at the same time feel bad because that was
probably extremely embarrassing. Haha.”
And while some girls like, but don’t admit
they like when the boy cries, Brooke tells it straight. She enjoyed it. “I was
glad. That's what he got for underestimating me.”
Brooke’s last words for her opponent and
future opponents, “Never underestimate an opponent, they might just surprise
you with a win.”
