Watson Sixth in State for Bulldogs

CHAMPAIGN—Augie Watson fought against the odds Friday night in the Class 3A 152-pound consolation bracket of the individual state wrestling tournament.

After dropping a high-scoring quarterfinal match to Marian Catholic junior Nate Jackson, the Batavia senior trailed Hersey senior Hunter Rollins by four points as the five-minute mark of the match rapidly approached.

But the nature of wrestling is its unpredictability, and Watson capitalized on Rollins’ glaring error to reverse him and complete a stunning pin with 59 seconds remaining in the match.

“(Watson) caught him in a move and reversed him for the pin,” Batavia Coach Ben Morris said.

With the dramatic reversal of fortune, Watson advanced to the third-place quarterfinals on Saturday morning at the University of Illinois’ Assembly Hall.

Looking for his 40th win on the season with a third-place semifinal bout against Lyons’ Matt Nora, Watson fell short of his goal with a 5-3 loss.

Watson's Words

“Yeah, I didn’t make it to the finals,” Watson said. “I didn’t make it to the third-place match. (Wrestling for fifth place) is still more than a majority of wrestlers in the Tri-Cities can say. (Nora) just beat me to the punch. He beat me in some of the scrambles.”

Watson was critical of his defense the entire weekend, and Morris was surprised as well.

“The other problem was his shot defense,” Morris said. “Guys were getting in on him. He is usually a lot harder to take down. He didn’t wrestle his best. Despite a rocky performance, he was still able to medal.”

Watson became the first Batavia state medalist since Logan Arlis’ consecutive honors the last two seasons with his fifth-place final.

The Bulldogs’ senior had to settle for sixth, however, when Jackson defeated him for a second time.

This was the first year wrestlers could face each other twice at the state tournament as the IHSA dropped the controversial walkover policy (that is, previous decision).

Building A Team 

Morris said Batavia will rebuild next year around current sophomore Joey Shump, the 112-pounder who was stunned at the Downers Grove North sectional by Brandon Walz, the West Aurora senior whom Shump defeated twice before.

For Morris, who took over from Tom Arlis after a successful run at traditional Class A power Stillman Valley, the season was not as smooth as he hoped it would be.

“I think I would summarize our season as a transition year,” Morris said. “We had some guys who didn’t come out. We had some guys who quit. That hurt us. It was kind of a long season where we took our lumps.”