COLUMBUS — For someone who had come excruciatingly close to winning a state championship only to see the opportunity slip away, Jesse Palser was remarkably even tempered.
Mansfield Senior’s unflappable junior, who upset a pair of returning state placers during an improbable run to the Division I 170-pound title match, dropped a heart-breaking 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker decision to projected state champ Joe Heyob of Cincinnati St. Xavier on Saturday night during the championship round of the 77th annual state wrestling tournament at The Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center.
Palser was within one second of winning the crown in the second of two 30-second tiebreaker periods before Heyob escaped to knot the score at 2-2. Then in the 30-second ultimate tiebreaker period, Heyob prevented Palser from escaping to earn the title.
“It was tough but he was the better man,” Palser (42-2) said without even a hint of emotion. “He wrestled his style and I didn’t wrestle mine. I wish I would have done more on my feet and got a takedown, at least.
“It’s not a biggie. I’ve just got some stuff I’ve got to work on.”
The match was scoreless after one period before Palser took a 1-0 lead with an escape early in the second. Palser kicked out Heyob (deliberately allowed him to escape) to start the third to even the score at 1-1.
After a scoreless sudden victory period, Palser took a 2-1 lead in the first 30-second tiebreaker period when Heyob was penalized for an illegal hold.
“That kind of hurt us because I believe we were just about to get a two-point reversal at that point,” Senior High coach Billy Stevens said. “The referee stepped in and it was a good call.”
It looked like the 2-1 advantage would hold up in the second 30-second tiebreaker period. Heyob started in the down position and Palser kept control of the unbeaten senior (50-0) for 29 seconds before he managed to escape just before time expired.
“That was something we worked on … because we anticipated a lot of close matches down here,” Stevens said. “We anticipated getting into a position where we had to ride somebody for 30 seconds so we spent (time) breaking down hips and ankles and keeping the clock moving. We were one second away.”
Palser’s run-up to the title match included victories over Cincinnati Moeller’s Quinton Rosser in Thursday’s opening round and Massillon Perry’s Isaac Bast in the second round. Rosser was state runner-up at 182 pounds last year and finished fourth this year. Bast was eighth at 145 pounds last year and seventh at 132 in 2012. He finished third this year.
“I’m very happy with the season I had,” Palser said.
Palser was the only Richland County wrestler to vie for a championship Saturday night, but three others were in action Saturday in the consolation finals. Crestview’s Logan Campbell capped a remarkable weekend with a third-place finish at 182 pounds in Division III. Campbell (49-5) lost his first match of the weekend to Northwestern’s Kile Schaefer before reeling off five consecutive victories. Along the way he avenged his opening-round loss to Schaefer with a 6-3 win Saturday morning, then secured third place with a 9-6 victory over Defiance Tinora’s Devin Bouza.
“It was pretty difficult … to come back all the way,” Campbell said. “I definitely saved my best for last. It feels great.”
Campbell also lost to Schaefer in last year’s state meet, making Saturday’s victory that much more satisfying. He was eagerly anticipating the rematch.
“I woke up a few and the only thing that was running through my mind was Schaefer,” Campbell said. “That was the only name that was in my head.”
Lexington 195-pounder Bailey Faust (54-3) capped an up-and-down weekend with a comfortable 15-6 win over St. Paris Graham’s Josh Couchman in the fifth-place match. Faust won his opener then fell to Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy’s Tyler Maclellan in the championship quarterfinals. He won a pair of consolation bracket matches Friday before falling to Perry’s Kyle Kremiller in the consolation bracket semifinals Saturday morning.
“He destroyed (Maclellan) in the MIT finals over Christmas. It wasn’t even close and he ended up pinning him,” Lex coach Brent Rastetter said. “It was hard reeling him back in. The only person who can beat Bailey is Bailey and I think Bailey beat himself in the match early (Saturday) because he couldn’t regain his focus. Thankfully he decided he didn’t want to go out with a loss.
“The kid that we were hoping to see throughout this whole tournament showed up for this last match. So at least he went out on a positive.”
So did 285-pounder Nate Temple. The easy-going junior pinned Warsaw River Views Joshua Kempf on Saturday in the seventh-place match.
“It feels pretty good. I knew I was in a pretty tough district and to come down here and place feels pretty good,” Temple (38-15) said. “I think I’m pretty close to a lot of the heavyweights here.
“To get here my first time, it was really awesome.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
