ST. GEORGE -- The opening ceremony for the Class 3-A state wrestling finals was colorful and entertaining. But for Delta, the end of the evening will be the most memorable.
The Rabbits were celebrating Saturday night at Dixie State College after turning back two-time defending champ Wasatch, 235-192.
Delta's victory was its 26th overall, but its first as a 3-A school. The school's last wrestling title came in 1993.
"It's nice to get over the hump," said coach Rick Porter. "We've been second five or six times during that stretch but couldn't ever get enough third-through-sixth places to go along with the state champions.
"It was nice for me to have it clinched going into the finals and not have to worry about anything."
Wasatch's Wade Discher said, "I thought we'd be right in the thick of it. But I knew we'd have to wrestle at a higher level than we had all year and we didn't."
Seven wrestlers repeated as state champions: Andrew Hockstrasser (Tooele) at 112 pounds, Cameron Dansie (Carbon) at 135, Chris Peterson (Delta) at 140, Zach Elliott (Bear River) at 152, Matt Casperson (Pine View) at 160, Gerard Habibian (Dixie) at 189 and Tyrell Curtis (Delta) at 275.
Hockstrasser (lower weights) and Elliott (upper division) were named the outstanding wrestlers by the coaches' association and Porter took coach-of-the-year honors.
Habibian finished the tournament with his longest match lasting 73 seconds. Dansie was matched against another defending champ, Chris Abbott of Delta, and won 6-4 on a takedown with 10 seconds left in the second period.
In one of the night's best matches (140), Wasatch sophomore Colton Salazar pushed Chris Peterson (Delta)into overtime before losing 6-4 on a takedown with 11 seconds remaining.
And it took Elliott until the final five seconds of the match to defeat Delta's Jake Abbott, 10-9. In the only controversial match of the finals, Casperson benefited from a point awarded for a technical violation with 31 seconds left against Bear River's Morgan Jeppeson for a 4-3 victory. The official claimed Jeppeson grabbed Casperson's headgear. I don't think anyone in the arena saw it except the referee. This came after Casperson was awarded a point in the first period when the official felt Jeppeson was being too aggressive with his head taps while in the neutral position. This was not a pretty way to decide a state title.
At 171, Hurricane's Colton Holmstead overcame nose bleeds and a shoulder injury with a reversal and near fall with four seconds left to win, 8-5.
Curtis gave Delta a split in its six championship matches with a strong third period, breaking a 2-2 tie to win 7-4 over Tyler Lee of North Sanpete.
And, finally, Delta had a 3-A trophy.
"It felt great," Curtis said on behalf of the entire community. "We go hard all the time. We were close last year and had enough guys back to get the job done."
CLASS 3-A STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Scores
1, Delta 235.
2, Wasatch 192.
3, Bear River 154.
4, Pine View 135.
5, Tooele 133.5.
6, North Sanpete 120.
7, Hurricane 99.5.
8. Carbon 99.
9, Uintah 91.
10, Dixie 88.
11, Lehi 86.
12, Union 68.
13, Morgan 64.5.
14, Ben Lomond 43.
15, Snow Canyon 37.5.
16, Canyon View 33.
17, Cedar City 30.
18, Ogden 10.
19, Grantsville 9.5.
20, Park City 7.
21, Emery 6.
Individual Results
103 -- 1. Keaton Romero, Tooele 2. Kaden King, North Sanpete 3. Zack Burdick, Carbon 4. Justin Griffiths, Pine View 5. Bryce Jensen, Tooele 6. Michael Robbins, Lehi.
112 -- 1. Andrew Hockstrasser, Tooele 2. Cory Hacking, Uintah 3. Carson Goodwin, Dixie 4. Travis Pehrson, Delta 5. Brandon Silltoe, Canyon View 6. Cade Christensen, Uintah.
119 -- 1. Peter Rose, Wasatch 2. Tyler Whitehead, Snow Canyon 3. Chad Young, Uintah 4. Adam Lovell, Delta 5. Jed Hansen, Tooele 6. Slade Hughes, Dixie.
125 -- 1. Cody Sweat, Wasatch 2. Chad Clawson, Dixie 3. Simon Pence, Bear River 4. Adam Garling, Morgan 5. Matt Morley, Pive View 6. Cody Bunderson, Carbon.
130 -- 1. Kory Klotz, Pine View 2, Mike Evans, Delta 3. Jordan Smith, Wasatch 4. Randy Callicoat, Tooele 5. Landon Roseman, Lehi 6. Hutch Haslam, Morgan.
135 -- 1. Cameron Dansie, Carbon 2. Chris Abbott, Delta 3. Bret Braegger, Bear River 4. Troy Oswald, Cedar City 5. Cody Bowden, Union 6. Matt Ure, Pine View.
140 -- 1. Chris Peterson, Delta 2. Colton Salazar, Wasatch 3. Cade Neumann, Pine View 4. Jared Rose, Morgan 5. Jake Larson, Bear River 6. Matt Hirschi, Hurricane.
145 -- 1. Shea Timothy, Carbon 2. Skyler Distefano, Wasatch 3. Jared Palmer, Morgan 4. Dan Lake, Delta 5. Chris Boden, Ben Lomond 6. Travis Buhl, Tooele.
152 -- 1. Zack Elliott, Bear River 2. Jake Abbott, Delta 3. Adam Ledingham, North Sanpete 4. Wayne Duncan, Uintah 5. Ross Brancis, Wasatch 6. Levi Richman, Union.
160 -- 1. Matt Casperson, Pine View 2. Morgan Jeppeson, Bear River 3. Tosh Mackinstosh, Lehi 4. Danny Thomas, Tooele 5. Ryan Cloward, Union 6. Ben Nielson, Delta.
171 -- 1. Colton Holmstead, Hurricane 2. Chase Cooper, Lehi 3. Joel Harris, Bear River 4. Chris Nelson, Ben Lomond 5. Ryan Malin, Pine View 6. Anthony Turchetta, Lehi.
189 -- 1. Gerard Habibian, Dixie 2. Cody Ballard, Hurricane 3. Sheldon Holgreen, North Sanpete 4. Zane Lee, Bear River 5. Zach Bryan, Delta 6. Josh Farnsworth, Union.
215 -- 1. Storm Singleton, Delta 2. Warrin Richins, Hurricane 3. Jim Cheney, North Sanpete 4. Jon McNaughton, Wasatch 5. Alex Garcia, Bear River 6. Morgan Wisener, Union.
275 -- 1. Tyrell Curtis, Delta 2. Tyler Lee, North Sanpete 3. Dallin Norton, Wasatch 4. Tyson O'Niel, Carbon 5. Bart Lovell, Snow Canyon 6. Nate Baptist, Ben Lomond.