NEW YORK STATE DIVISION II WRESTLING: NV'S RUPERT PINS HIS WAY INTO FINALS (2019-02-23)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
ALBANY - Tioga's Stephen Taylor and Newark Valley's Trentyn Rupert met once again. This time it was in the 285-pound semifinals at the 2019 NYSPHSAA Division II Wrestling Champion- ships at the Times-Union Center here Saturday morning.

Rupert would capitalize on a Taylor miscue to score a fall in 4:51, using a corkscrew hold which he is very adept with.

"We dropped that far shoulder and at that weight you've got to be careful when you drop that far shoulder," said Tioga assistant coach Jason Bellis. "A corkscrew at that weight class is tough."

"He went after it. He did what he had to. We had a plan," NV head coach Mike Daly said. "Stephen likes to put two hands on the head and just pull for three periods and hope something happens. It's been a good strategy for him, but we knew we had to plan for that and we did. When he got that first-period takedown it was huge."

Rupert and Taylor do a push-and-shove battle for the first minute-plus then, with 45 seconds to go in the period, Rupert was able to get Taylor off balance and jump on him after he crashed dot the mat to pick up a takedown and a 2-0 lead.

The cardinal senior trie dot work an arm lever in the final 10 seconds of the period, but Taylor refused to give in.

In the second period, Taylor chose neutral, but neither wrestler scored. Rupert chose top in the third and eventually found a chance to use the corkscrew.

"Rupert's a competitor. He's been here before. He's very experienced," Bellis said. "We had good mental confidence going into the match. It just didn't go our way."

"That's tough. He's wrestled that kid like a hundred times," Daly said. "I'd really like to know, quite honestly, how many times they've wrestled from youth to modified to varsity. They've seen each other a lot and Trentyn has had the advantage every time, so that's nerve-wracking. Eventually, you wrestle a good kid enough times, and Stephen Taylor is a good kid, they beat you. He didn't today, thank goodness."