OFSAA 2008 Article
Another silver lining for EC wrestlers by Steve LeBlanc. The Canadian Champion (Milton): Tuesday, March 4, 2008
It was a record-setting performance for E.C. Drury’s wrestling team in Caledonia Friday.
While being edged out of the OFSAA team title for a second straight year, the Spartans captured four individual medals and had three representatives in the gold medal round — the most in their illustrious history.
And if not for an injury to provincial juvenile champ Jared Robb, who battled through an ill-timed shoulder separation to take fifth, Drury may well have claimed the overall title.
Instead, they finished a heartbreaking four points back of Thunder Bay’s St. Ignatius, who out-numbered the perennial contenders 14-8.
Leading EC to an unprecedented 11th straight OFSAA team medal with golden performances were graduating co-captain Kevin Iwasa-Madge and 11th grader Bobby Fillman.
PERFECT SEASON FOR IWASA-MADGE
Setting the bar awfully high for himself with just one loss last year on the way to his first OFSAA triumph, 18-year-old Iwasa-Madge punctuated a perfect high school season with five straight wins in the 61-kilogram division.
The University of Guelph-bound grappler’s only legitimate challenge of the tournament came in the semifinals, where he had to fight out of a near fall to dispose of Ottawa’s Ilya Ablev in two rounds.
From there he became just the third back-to-back OFSAA champion in Drury history with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of Justin Kinish of Sarnia’s Riverside — his fourth technical superiority win of the meet.
“He (Kinish) was a surprise finalist and the clear underdog, so my coach said if I came out fast and scored early he’d probably break, and that’s pretty much what happened,” said the division’s number one seed and eventual champ, who moved into top spot on the school’s all-time career win list with 262.
While 2006/07 served as his breakout season, the highly-decorated wrestler seemed every bit as pleased — if not more so — with this year’s efforts.
“I think I’ve improved in just about everything. I was more confident this year and definitely had more fun. Last year I was really tense.”
One of few Spartans to every claim gold before his senior year, 16-year-old Fillman provided the team’s biggest individual upgrade from 2007 — when he placed fifth after taking a bronze as a rookie. Seeded fourth, the 51kg. competitor also went 5-0 in Caledonia — although his title run wasn’t quite so dominating.
He needed three rounds to win his final two matches, the latter against defending champ Kyle Smith of Smith Falls, who’d beaten him earlier this season.
After dropping the opening round 7-4, Fillman managed to force a tiebreaker, where with 20 seconds remaining — and down 3-1 — he scored a pair of two-point moves to deliver one of Drury’s most exciting title victories ever.
“It felt great,” said Fillman, whose championship drive included two superiority wins. “I think being the underdog in the finals actually worked in my favour. I really didn’t feel much pressure.”
Losing both flips for overtime, Duncan Moffat fell heartbreakingly short of giving the Spartans a third individual gold — losing to Newtonbrook’s Cruiz Manning in the 57.5kg. final after battling to a couple of scoreless stalemates.
His silver-medal showing was also a significant improvement after taking fifth last year.
Matching the third-place effort he turned in recently at the Ontario juvenile championships, Ranhir Hans rounded out Drury’s medal haul with 47.5kg. bronze. Playing giant killer en route to medaling, he knocked off the top two seeds — including last-year’s silver medalist in the battle for third.
Finishing off a gritty tournament with a 3-0, 4-0 decision to claim fifth, Robb gave Drury its fourth win in five finals matches.
Graduating co-captain Mac Fillman went 2-2 to join an elite group of Spartans who finished top-12 four years in a row, while completing the local contingent were Blair Norland and rookie Jeff Sinclair.
This marked championship architect Larry Jaroslawski’s final year as head coach of the team, although he’ll still be around to help out successors Simon Vanellis and James Crowe.