Final Thoughts from the 2012 Thomas Tournament

[CaptinAmerica]

Tri-valley impressed me. they were all top notch. Chestnut ridge definately went above the expectations. As for bedford they have to be a little dissapointed with their finals matches. I was happy for crouse but at the same time i felt for Ryan Easter. he has a history of getting second and i was really hoping he could get this one. All the credit to crouse though beating 2 state placewinners in one tournament takes some stones. and as far as lumping all bedford kids as "disrespectful" is absurd. the only 2 kids on their team who i thought were disrespectful were the brett brothers. you cant count one family for an entire team. Ryan easter could have very easily acted like an idiot but he went and shook both coaches hands and didnt do a thing towards the ridge faithful.

[HWT]

I watched the finals and have a few thoughts.

1. I think the Crouse vs. Easter was a great wrestling match. Congrats Crouse.

2. Bedford didn't wrestle well in the finals at all. Or all day Sat.

3. Sheib from TriValley is a BEAST.

4. Micheal Brett. good wrestling, HOWEVER. I can tell you toward the end with the 15 secs. left I see a coach Deputy instructing and coaching. Saying keep the pressure on keep him down. Brett looks over at the younger whos sitting on the side giving the neutral sign and Brett picks NEUTRAL!!!! I would flip the **** out as a coach. I cant beleive that. I know for a fact when I wrestled you didnt dare do crap like that.

5. I can't beleive Hixson is ranked #1.

[sparky]

I didn't want to list names but since everyone threw them out..i dont have respect for the brett boys, there whole family actually, or coach creps.. I agree the ripple's and the easter's have great sportmanship and i respect and admire that.

[boxer156]

Wow, some of you guys are talking about 16-17 year old kids here (the Brett boys). I don't know the younger one that much, but I do know Mike very well, and no matter what is posted on here, he is a GREAT kid (notice I said kid since he is 16/17 years old). You all are talking about a kid in a high-pressure situation, and kids deal with that differently. I don't always agree with everything he does while wrestling, BUT he is one of the nicest kids off the mat you will find. Plus, he is one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch--whether he is down by 2, or up by 10, he is always pushing the action looking for a pin.

Since a couple of you stated you have no respect for him (or the family), why don't you take that up with him or his dad. Since a couple of you know him so well, I'm sure I don't need to point them out to you.

I guess the Ridge people on here didn't take offense to the complete overzealous celebration when Crouse beat (in OT nonetheless) Easter. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that was the state finals (running onto the mat, taunting, etc). It goes both ways---kids will be kids, after all they are in high school.

[sppawfan]

I was happy to see tanner cahill bounce back with a great tourney also with his injuries he has been dealing with! Congrats to him also on a nice tourney! Hopefully he is now getting healthy at the right time. Who beat solly to knock him out of the tourney at 152? I saw his 2-0 win over otten and he lost 6-3 to doak. How didn't he place? Someone had to upset him for him not to place in the top 8! Doak and crouse are beasts for freshman! Doak had a tough weight class and got 3rd as a freshman and that is impressive! 152 was stacked! Wow! What a great group of wrestlers!

[mcdanimal]

I agree Brett should have never left him up and being that I was sitting amongst the Ridge people I heard Coach Deputy telling him to keep him down. No need to give Philips a shot to tie the match. Especially when Brett wasn't in any sorts of trouble on top.
I don't necessarily agree that they wrestled bad in the finals. (except for Easter) and exactly what boxer said. These kids are just in fact just kids. That just shows all these kids put there pants on the same way everyday and if one kid just believes he can do something anything is possible. Every kid that stayed and watched that tournament and saw that match should have learned a valuable lesson next time they walk on the mat and are outmatched. The Brett's have seem to taken over as the new Lascari family in D5. In my opinion it keeps things interesting. I don't know either of them but do see some similarities to a lesser extent. I'll be in my normal seat at BHS this saturday to see these teams lock horns.

[sppawfan]

Yah, I think easter took crouse lightly. I think easter will be ready for the rematch! Take nothing away from the awesome freshman though! Should be another good match!

[HWT]

Ridge is always over reacting to wins when its against Bedford. Has always been that way, will always be that way. its D5 vs. Bedford always. No one else in the district cares if a Ridge or Berlin or North star kid wins just as long as Bedford loses. Success breeds jealousy and envy. Just the way it is.

As for the Brett's I dont know then more than just to see them and their dad to say hey. My only issue is with the "disrespect" shown to a coach in that situation. That is my issue.

[Ice Man]

What did Crouse to after the match with Easter? The kid was basically crying because he was almost in shock that he was capable of winning a match against a kid the quality of Easter. Nothing he did was disrespectful in the eyes of this neutral observer. He wasn't acting like "The Thug of Bedford County" like some other people already mentioned in this thread.

Sollenberger lost to Darr from Somerset in the 1/4's and Doak in the next round of concys. Doak lost a shocker to Bafia for his only loss of the tourney. I was super impressed with Doak, he's really mat savy for a freshman.

[sppawfan]

I can't believe northern garrett only had 1 wrestler place in the top 8. They usually have a couple good kids!Thanks on the info on solly! I didn't know he lost to darr. That is weird otten beat darr 10-5 and pinned bafia in the 2nd and otten lost to solly 2-0 and solly lost to darr! Also otten pins bafia and doak lost to him but beat otten 5-1??? I guess it is how kids match up to other wrestling styles!