Decatur, Ala. | Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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Sartain, Fuqua win individual state wrestling championships
By Mike Easterling - TNValleyNow.com
Gary Cosby Jr./TimesDaily
Deshler's Juakeem Fuqua lifts his hands in victory after defeating Susan Moore's Sam Ingram for the 145 pound championship during the 2013 Wrestling State Championships at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville Saturday, February 16, 2013. Fuqua won with a 4-2 score.

HUNTSVILLE — It was an individual championship by the slimmest of margins, but Muscle Shoals senior Chandler Sartain will take it thank you very much.

And he plans on fattening up.

Sartain, who lost an earlier match to Class 5A, 152-pound final opponent Chase McClure of Scottsboro, vowed the rematch would be different and it was — barely.

Sartain scored a point in the second overtime after a scoreless three regulation periods, then held on to beat McClure Saturday at the Von Braun Center’s Propst Arena.

Along the way home he plans to deplete the area’s food stock.

Sartain, on a strict diet for months while trying to maintain wrestling weight, said his triumphant homecoming party would include “fried chicken, anything fried, anything sweet and a lot of Cokes. I’m going to eat everything in sight.’’

Arab (144 points), Scottsboro (130) and Southside-Gadsden (104.5) ran away from the rest of the 21-team field during the two-day tournament. Muscle Shoals finished 10th (34).

In 1A-4A, St. James (107.5) topped rival Tallassee (91) to win the championship. Deshler finished 14th (27).

Thompson won its third straight 6A championship.

McClure, the defending state champion at 152, defeated Sartain 3-0 the first time the two wrestled. But Sartain said a facial cut, which required him to wear a mask of sorts to cover the injury, hampered his chances.

Saturday, after the two went scoreless in the one-minute sudden death first overtime session, Sartain escaped for a point in the first 30-second period. Another 30 second OT period follows, and Sartain held off McClure for the 1-0 win.

“I just knew I had to work hard this week to beat him,’’ Sartain said. “When it came to today I had it in my mind I was going to beat him. I planned on taking it to him, going after him. I knew it would be hard, but I did it.’’

Meanwhile, Deshler senior Juakeem Fuqua brought the Tigers an individual championship at 145 when he took a 4-2 decision over Susan Moore’s Sam Ingram. Fuqua is Deshler’s first state champion since 2001.

“It feels great, real great,’’ Fuqua said after finishing his season. “I was confident because I had beaten him twice this season.’’

Fuqua continued to give credit to his teammates — Tyler Vinson and Michael Johnson — for helping him bring home the championship.

“Tyler is my size and Michael has more strength than anybody on the team,’’ Fuqua said. “Those two helped me a lot.’’

For Muscle Shoals, senior Raheem Harris (24-17) defeated Shelby County’s Chase Weeks 6-2 to place third at 160. Harris had never wrestled before joining the team shortly before this season began.

“My friends told me I should do it while we just wrestled around,’’ he said. “I was pretty rough when I started out. Pretty rough. But, I had good coaching and my teammates kept telling me I would do better.’’

Deshler freshman Taylor Shirley finished fourth at 126 as did Muscle Shoals’ Joseph Green at 106.

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