By JONATHAN GUTH &
ASHLEY CHASE
MVI Sports
It’s a toss-up deciding which was the more impressive feat for Frazier’s Rune Lawrence: Winning a PIAA Class 2A championship or his five-point slam after the victory on head coach Buck Watkins.
While the toss was impressive, Lawrence (28-1) will surely take the gold, as he scored two late near-fall points for a 9-7 decision over Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall (16-3, 124-30) in the 172-pound final Friday evening at the Giant Center in Hershey. The Commodore freshman has three wins over DuVall, and all have been thrillers.
“I always mess with him (Watkins) and tell him I’m going to throw him, but I don’t think he knew it was coming,” Lawrence said. “He was very excited.”
Lawrence trailed DuVall early in the previous two encounters, but he was able to score the first takedown with 1:15 remaining in the first period, but DuVall quickly scored a reversal to tie the bout. Lawrence escaped for a 3-2 lead heading into the second.
“If I’m correct, we go to overtime if I don’t score that early takedown,” Lawrence said. “I was glad to get that takedown right off the bat.”
Lawrence increased his advantage to four when he escaped and recorded his second takedown with one-minute remaining in the period. Disaster nearly struck for Lawrence when DuVall scored a reversal and had a tight headlock on Lawrence and a 7-6 lead, but he was called for a penalty point.
“I got out of position a little bit and he had a super-tight headlock on me,” Lawrence said. “I was worried for a little bit, but I kind of got some wind and got a potentially dangerous call there.”
To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Saturday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.