By Ed Piper
The cavernous, mostly-empty gym at Cathedral Catholic is quiet. One match in the varsity dual meet between La Jolla and the host Dons has resulted in a pin. The second is a forfeit.
Up steps the Vikings' Noah Pace without an echo in the gym. The 120-pounder, on referee Dale Hanover's opening whistle, suddenly launches into a takedown of opponent Kaan Misirloglu, then a series of near-falls, and the La Jolla junior leads 11-0.
It has all taken less than the full two minutes of the first period, and the only sounds besides thumps of bodies on the mat are the shouts of both coaches calling out instructions--not even a spectator (almost all parents and family of the wrestlers) making noise as Pace--"PAW-chay" if you pronounce it for his dad's Sicilian roots--aggressively and efficiently operates his magic on the mat.
A win comes partway into period two, as the long-blond-haired lower-weight grappler builds an insurmountable 18-0 lead over Kahn, a tech fall, in wrestling terminology.
Pace explained his methodology shortly after: "What I was trying to do was a takedown, then a series (or two) near-falls, then go for the pin."
A questioner asked him later, as Noah sat in his chair in a row of varsity wrestlers, to explain. "By going for the near-falls, I have a big advantage. That gives me a pad of safety as I go for the pin," he responded.
He didn't get the pin, but he came close with the near-falls, increasing his point total enough to win and stop the bout.
It's kind of a like a soccer team scoring more than two goals--a big lead in soccer. Or a 10-0 shutout in baseball; the other team is just not going to come back easily.
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