THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott Feb. 27, 2013
Last weekend was a good time to be the underdog, wasn't it?
Whether it was wrestling or basketball - it was all about the unexpected on Saturday afternoon.
WHILE THEY were expected to win a 14th national title over the week, the events leading into the final round of the NJCAA wrestling tournament were anything but that for the North Idaho College Cardinals.
NIC led through most of the tournament, but as sometimes happens, wrestlers suffered setbacks in the consolation round and only advanced one wrestler - Ryan Zumwalt - to a championship match.
The team that had been chasing the Cardinals all weekend - Labette Community College of Parsons, Kan. - advanced two, with one facing Zumwalt in the finals and another wrestling a little later that night.
After Devin Aguirre of Labette beat Zumwalt by an 11-7 decision to tie the tournament, it was all up to Labette's Cody Johnson at 184 pounds to either win it - or finish with a tie.
Fortunately for NIC, they got the help they needed as Johnson lost a decision to a wrestler from Pratt (Kan.) Community College to give NIC its first NJCAA title since 2003 and Labette a second straight title.
"We were cheering on the kid from Pratt like crazy," said NIC sophomore Jarrett Morrill, who finished third at 141 pounds. "After that match ended 0-0 after the first round, we were a little nervous. But after he (Pratt wrestler Landon Keiswetter) scored late in the match, we had a sigh of relief and gave him a big cheer after the match."
But a championship is a championship, no matter if it is shared or you win it outright.
Besides, after all they went through during the tournament - isn't it kind of fitting they had to share it anyway?
WITH THE odds already against Post Falls, with Centennial High of Boise qualifying 25 wrestlers for the state 5A tournament, another team was likely going to have to wrestle the tournament of a lifetime to try and knock them off.
Post Falls might have with four wrestlers - Alius De La Rosa, Drake Foster, Austin Wilson and Seth McLeod - winning state titles and Cody Johnson and Peter Berger finishing second, but in the end, it was Centennial that ran away with a state title with a record 318.5 points. The Trojans were second with 232 points and 14 qualifiers.
Speaking of the Trojans, how about that run by their boys basketball team last week?
Playing in loser-out games in the 5A Region 1 basketball tournament, the Trojans - seeded fourth out of four teams in the tournament - won at second-seeded Lewiston last Tuesday, then proceeded to beat third-seeded Coeur d'Alene at Coeur d'Alene High two days later and advanced with a win against Eagle in a state play-in game last Saturday in Grangeville.
At the state tournament, who knows if they can continue their good fortune and make it back to the championship game this year, or if Lake City will join them on Saturday night at the Idaho Center.
But it should be fun finding out.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.