PPT Slide
Lake’s Miller edges Perry’s Schlatter in epic match of state champs
By JIM THOMAS Repository sports writer
LAKE TWP. — The 700 or so wrestling fans at Lake High School on Thursday night won’t remember that Perry defeated the Blue Streaks, 53-10.
They may never forget the Dustin Schlatter-Mike Miller match.
Schlatter, the Panthers’ three-time state champion, moved up two weight classes to take on Miller, Lake’s two-time champion, at 160 pounds in a grand finale that had the crowd in a frenzy.
In the end, Miller’s superior size proved too much for even Schlatter to contend with through three periods and two overtime periods. Working from the bottom in the second overtime, Miller broke Schlatter’s desperate hand-clasp with a Granby roll with nine seconds left to post a 5-4 triumph over arguably the country’s best prep wrestler.
“I love bottom, I was like ‘let’s go!’ ” said Miller, who threw part of his uniform into the student section after the victory. “He almost held me down. But I overcame it. It was a tough match. I loved wrestling him.”
“It was the way it should have been, I think,” Lake head coach Mike Mattingly said. “Two great wrestlers out there giving their all. You could tell they were both spent at the end and they can both hold their heads up high.”
The victory salvaged a match dominated by unbeaten Perry, which clinched a share of its eighth straight Federal League championship. For Miller, it avenged Schlatter’s 10-4 decision last year when the two wrestled at 152, Miller’s state championship weight.
Schlatter’s willingness to wrestle up said a lot about his character, Perry coach Brian Dolph said.
“That’s a warrior right there, going up two weight classes to wrestle someone like (Miller),” Dolph said of Schlatter. “He’s been bothered by injuries all year, and still went out to fight and win. He got a couple of bad breaks, but he put himself in those situations and that’s why he didn’t win.”
Questionable calls against both wrestlers only increased the intensity of the match as it progressed.
Referee Rick Crislip, one of the state’s best officials and a former head coach, was took quick to award Schlatter a first-period takedown, according to Lake fans. That was the first takedown of Miller this year.
After Miller posted this year’s first takedown of Schlatter in the third period, Crislip slapped Miller with a stalling point with 13.6 seconds left in regulation. That tied the match at 4-4, earning Crislip a chorus of boos from the Blue Streak faithful.
Schlatter looked to get a takedown in the first overtime, but Crislip said no to the Perry fans chanting for the 2 points. That set up the sudden death.
