Hicks finishes 48-0 season with 135-pound state title
| Sunday, Mar 08 2009 03:19 AM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 25 2009 06:16 PM
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Seth Hicks of Centennial celebrates his CIF wrestling title at 135 pounds Saturday night after he defeated Poway's Conrad Snell.
Centennial's Seth Hicks wrestles against Poway's Conrad Snell for the state title at 135 pounds. Hicks won the match to bring a state wrestling championship to the Golden Hawks.
Centennial's Seth Hicks lifts Poway's Conrad Snell during the 135-pound CIF championship match Saturday, which Hicks won.
Thirty minutes before the biggest wrestling match of his life, Centennial senior Seth Hicks sat in the depths of Rabobank Arena on Saturday night, praying.
It took until there were 30 seconds left in Hicks' 135-pound CIF state championship match, but those prayers were answered.
"I was sitting in the hallway, thinking about my match, praying that I would have a good opportunity to show what I've done this year," Hicks said.
Hicks got that opportunity because his opponent, Poway's Conrad Snell, led Hicks, who was ranked first in the state and undefeated, 4-3 late into the third period.
That's when Hicks changed his fortunes with the rarest of moves: A granby — a roll-through with an arm and a leg that's almost always done from bottom position — from a standing position. He rolled Snell to his back, earning two points for a takedown and two for nearfall with 25 seconds left.
"I get out there, and I'm down in that third period, and I'm like, 'Oh, man,'" Hicks said. "That's the border-line point where you can either say, 'I'm going to lose this match' or you can go harder.
"It just went through my head at that point: 'No one said it was gonna be easy.' And I'm like, 'All right, dude, I can do this.' And it fell into place, that move."
As time ticked away, Hicks reached 48-0 and ended his career with a state championship.
"Those last five seconds," Hicks said, "It's like, 'I'm holding on to his leg for my life."
A year ago, Hicks was unranked and sprung an early-round upset at state before having to pull out of the tournament with an injury caused by an inflammatory disease. In the offseason, he found the right medication for the disease and rededicated himself to running every morning. He dropped a weight class and dominated the state.
"I'm not just proud of that he won, but how he won," said Mike Hicks, Seth's dad and Centennial's coach. "The way he carried himself. He's been humble and classy the whole way. I told him, win or lose tonight, either way, the journey wouldn't have been diminished either way."
Hicks was one of three Kern County wrestlers to win his semifinal match Saturday morning, though he was the only one favored to do so. Unranked Ridgeview 140-pounder Javier Sanchez stunned state No. 2 Nicholas Sierra of Lemoore with a takedown in the final seconds to win 4-3, and Foothill heavyweight Angel Posadas beat Clovis-Buchanan's Kyle Papendorf 3-1.
Both Sanchez and Posadas ended their Cinderella runs in the final, succumbing to pins.
Meanwhile, the city's best-known and most prestigious wrestling school, Bakersfield High, didn't have a finalist and slipped to a tie for seventh in the team standings. Bryce Hammond, a 152-pound sophomore, was the Drillers' highest placer — BHS hasn't failed to produce a top-three finisher since 1998.
Poway won the team state title with 140 points in front of a three-session crowd of 18,459. That's the lowest crowd the state tournament has drawn since it came to Bakersfield in 2004.
Selma and Clovis-Buchanan tied for second with 125.5 points each. Clovis, the defending champion, was fourth with 124.
But none of that was on Seth Hicks' mind as he returned to his spot underneath the bleachers after coming back to beat Snell and win his state championship.
"It's a good way to end," Hicks said. "When you're done, you stand up there and you get those 10 seconds of fame, standing in front of that screaming crowd. Then you come back here and start to mull it over, and then you go back out to where your friends and family are, and there's another wave. It's a big process, but I love it."
