Wrestling: Coronado edges Pine Creek late for 5A Metro title

Championship contests are supposed to go down to the wire with athletes coming through in the clutch. The 5A Metro League Championship dual between Coronado and Pine Creek played out just the way it was supposed to.

The Cougars earned a 33-31 victory over the host Eagles on Wednesday when Carter McElhany pinned Alex Markowski in the second period of the final match.

Click here to see a slideshow of photos from the dual.

With Coronado trailing 31-27 McElhany needed at least a technical fall to win. But Markowski wasn’t giving up any near fall points and McElhany led 3-1 after the first period.

As the second period wore on McElhany grew frustrated. He let Markowski up twice in order shoot for a takedown and the move he wanted. He used a Butcher, tying Markowski’s arms across his own chest, then used his elbow to get him on his back for the pin with 1 second remaining in the period.

“That’s not really my style to let people up,” McElhany said. “I never want to give up points. I took my coach’s advice and let him go and took him down to his back, so I owe it to my coach.”

It was the third straight year the two met for the title. Avenging last year’s loss made the win sweeter for McElhany.

“This is a great win,” McElhany said. “It’s always good to get a win against Pine Creek.”

Both teams knew the match would be tight, with Coronado figuring to dominate the middle weights.

Starting the dual at 130 pounds, the Eagles won two of the first three matches, before the Cougars rattled off four in a row.

Coronado’s Trevor Powers scored a 2-point reversal with 10 seconds left for a 6-4 decision over Chase Stevens at 145 pounds to start the streak. Jared Rieck won an 8-4 decision over Everett Hildenbrandt at 152, nearly pinning him twice in the first.

The Cougars Nick Burghardt needed less than a period to notch a 15-0 technical fall over Greg Luebe at 160.

Ethan Olson pinned the Eagles’ Clay Hildebrant in 5 minutes, 22 seconds to the give the Cougars a 21-9 lead.

“The kids really stepped up,” Cougars coach Matt Brickell said. “They did just what they had to do to win it.”

Starting with the heavyweights Pine Creek strung together four wins to open up their lead, but didn’t amass enough points to close the door on the McElhany and the Cougars.

“Our guys battled well, but my expectations are a little higher,” Eagles coach Billy Gabel said.