By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Carrying a 27-1 record into the Wisconsin Valley Conference 140-pound championship match, the situation senior Ty Pope faced wasn't a familiar one.
Trailing Nick Bord of Wisconsin Rapids 4-2 entering the third period, the Stevens Point Area Senior High wrestler didn't worry and rallied for a 6-4 win and his first conference title.
"His desire to win is great," Pope's father and SPASH head coach Gee Pope said. "He's lost matches, but he'll never quit. Time just runs out on him. You have him down, but watch out, he's coming."
Bord probably wished he had heard Coach Pope's warning. In that decisive third period in Marshfield Saturday, Ty chose the down position and scored a reversal to tie the match at 4-4. Pope then put Bord on his back and received two near fall points with two seconds remaining to win the match.
"To win a conference championship is a big deal for anybody wrestling," Coach Pope said. "Especially the Wisconsin Valley Conference - it's a big deal."
Even after his gold medal at the conference meet, don't think that Ty's job is done just yet. The senior and his Panther teammates head to the WIAA Regional at Wisconsin Rapids Saturday. Pope is shooting for his first trip to the state meet in Madison in two weeks.
"I just wanted to win conference and hopefully be undefeated going into regionals," Ty said. "I have one loss so I'm doing pretty good. I'm hoping to make it to state and then go as far as I can go.
"It looks like, right now, I've got a good chance of getting pretty far."
Pope just missed making state a year ago, finishing the season with a 26-7 record. He was third at sectionals and only the top two finishers advance. He also qualified for sectionals as a sophomore, where his 19-11 campaign ended.
The senior didn't just start wrestling when he arrived in the SPASH halls. In fact, he was in first grade when he initially hit the wrestling mat in the elementary school programs. Pope said his dad would take him and his brothers to youth tournaments when they were growing up.
While his father took over for longtime coach Dave Amdahl this season, Ty said having dad as a coach isn't anything new to him. Gee was his coach through the elementary program and was a longtime assistant at SPASH before his promotion.
"It's a little different not having Coach Amdahl there," Ty said. "My dad had him as a coach so he runs it the same way."
Coach Pope said "it's nerve-wracking" coaching his sons. Ty's younger brother, Grey, wrestles at 152 pounds.
"You get the double whammy," Coach Pope said. "Every second of the match you're in agony. It's hard enough being the parent of a wrestler. It's such an intense personal sport."
Not that the father isn't enjoying coaching his sons though.
"They've always been a pure pleasure to coach. You never see a father/son act where the father yells at his son at practice and he yells back," he said.
"In fact, we rarely speak about wrestling at home. Not that we agreed to it. I think we have enough of it at practice and at meets."
Coach Pope has watched Ty improve over the years and said there's one quality that always stuck out.
"He kept at it and you could see he always had the desire. Now he has developed and turned into a decent athlete," Coach Pope said.
"I think that's why he won the conference tournament. He was down, but didn't quit."