The crowd stands up and cheers for the McLean wrestlers as they sprint out the door, ready to put on a show for senior night. Before the match, the seniors were walked up with their family to be congratulated for their contributions to the McLean varsity wrestling team. Billy Wakefield, Kyle Herbert, Ryan McMahon, Danny McMahon, Sooren Ghodshi and Justin Deghan were the names of these seniors who came out to compete against their rival. 

“We were pretty confident going into this match as we wrestled Langley last year and only lost by a slight margin,”  said  Ghodshi. The first match up was the 152 weight class making Brennan Sumida, who is a sophomore, to wrestle first.  The group of parents coming out to support their kids along with the JV team were screaming with encouragement for the team as soon as the match began.

As the bouts proceeded it was clear that every individual match was going to be a close and intense as both teams refused to give up points easily. Leading to the series of bouts being an absolute thriller to watch.

“When you’re on that mat it’s only you out there but you still get that team feel, you go to tournaments together, you have practice together but at the end of the day you’re the one out there wrestling,” said McMahon.

Nearing the end of the bouts the intensity was peaking as the score had remained a near stalemate between both teams leading to the very last few bouts. The two schools began to build up more and more energy in order to support their teammates wrestling and it was clear that the rivalry between the two schools played a part in the intensity.

“At the end of the day, we still talk to them but when we get on the mats there is a rivalry there,” McMahon describes the rivalry between the wrestlers. As wrestlers they have respect for one another but the hunger to win between the two teams proves to create an intense match between rivals.

The energy levels of the bench along with that of the crowd created an intense and competitive environment. Both teams were doing very well and in the final minutes, the match came up in a draw, 36-36. However McLean ended up winning the tie breaker and won the match.

“It feels pretty good to have beaten Langley,” Ghodshi said. “The game came down to a tie and ties are based on sportsmanship and since their coach got a sportsmanship misconduct we won the dual.”