By Ed Piper
La Jolla's Ben Kasendorf, a freshman at 160 pounds, lost a nail-biter to his opponent from Madison in the teams' dual meet at La Jolla High Wed., Jan. 29.
Kasendorf, making strides in a sport that is new to him, jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first period on a takedown and other maneuvers.
By the end of the second period, the match had tightened up, now 5-4. By the way, the Vikings led the meet at the time, 24-6.
With 20 seconds remaining in the third and final period, Kasendorf's foe still trailed 7-5. All the young wrestler had to do with stay in a neutral position, use up space on the mat to avoid being taken down, and the clock would run out with the decision in his favor.
But Ben allowed himself to be engaged, and with seven seconds left, teammates from both sides and fans screaming, Ben suffered a takedown for two points to tie the bout 7-7.
Time ran out, the two points were recorded on the gym scoreboard, and for a moment it looked like a tie that would take the two wrestlers into a sudden death.
Instead, with the referee signalling two more points to the scorer's table, the scoreboard changed, now 9-7 in favor of Madison. That was the final result, the two athletes reached down to peel off their Velcroed leg bands (red or green), and the official raised Kasendorf's opponent's hand for the victory.
"He (my opponent) got two back points," Ben explained to an observer. "In the last seconds he held my shoulders to the mat" long enough to win points, but not long enough for a pin.
"I'm proud of how I did in the match," said the ninth-grader, showing amazing poise and choice of words soon after the disappointing close of his match. "If I had the final 20 seconds to do over, I would keep my distance on the mat to run out the clock."
Ben agreed he would use this experience in the future to avoid losing a bout the same way in the final seconds.
Meanwhile, La Jolla as a team, after leading by 18 points, lost the meet to Madison, 37-36. Any one of the bouts the Vikings didn't win, or lost by pin, could have reversed the result. But the good point of this season is that the team has grown and developed to field nearly a full 14-weight division unit at dual meets, and several wrestlers are showing visible improvement.
"I told the guys that they were going to have to really step up, with us giving up forfeits in several weight classes," said second-year Madison head coach Xavier Placencia. "They really did well to win this meet."
Placencia, sporting a cast on his arm, said he suffered the injury at a water park on vacation in Cancun, Mexico. He got his cast off the day after the La Jolla meet, but at the Holtville tourney Jan. 31-Feb. 1 he said he had swelling in the recuperating arm, and was taking physical therapy to heal it.
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