Cody Garcia - non-stop offense and the biggest gas tank i've ever seen. He never looked tired. Amazing. Who else has/had a big gas tank and goes non-stop on offense? I have seen some state champs that aren't much fun to watch because they don't score a lot. Garcia was not ONE of these.

Tristan DeShazer - so quick! And, the excitement of seeing when he'd headlock his opponent and toss him to his back and pin him.

Shawn Bunch - for his quickness and intensity. I enjoyed seeing his high school state championship against Thomas Rhodes. Quite a display. I also show his Metro Classic win.

Zach Roberson. When he got called for stalling in his HS state final. Then, he proceeded to take the kid down and let him back up again. He did that about 4 times in 30 seconds after that stall call. I guess it woke him up and made him mad! Wow. What quickness and level changes and intensity!

Jason Pyle (145) Sabetha

Speaking of Pyle, I remember the first time I saw big brother Matt wrestle. It was at the Junction City tourney when Pyle was a freshman. I had never heard of him. I checked the bracket. He was wrestling a senior STUD from JC (the kid took third in the state that year) that I knew well. I thought, "poor little freshman. Mike's going to kill this Pyle kid..."

Then the match started. Pyle threw Mike around like a rag doll and then pinned him. Matt calmly helped him up after the pin, shaked his hand and humbly walked off the mat. I was thinking, "man, that Pyle kid is something else!"

Was he an undefeated state champ his freshman year?

I don't think he was even a state champ his freshman year. I'm not sure if Sabetha was 4a or 3a that year, but I'm thinking he lost to one of these four:

1)Tillman-Pratt
2)Long-Santa Fe Trail
3)Jenkins-Saint Francis
4)Baker-Hoxie

Wouldn't be a shame to lose to any of them, though.

Dude- we get the point. You have talked about this match more than once. The kid was obviously out of shape. There were no level changes, it was the same shuck-by over and over again. Plus it was 10 years ago. Why you got to bring up bad memories?

I thought Luke Metzler was the most fun wrestler to watch in recent history, especially in freestyle. He was an intense ball of fire!

Dwelsh,
Did Shawn Bunch beat Thomas Rhodes (T-bone) or Micheal Bradely in a high school state championship? I could be wrong, but I thought T-bone won high school state as a freshman and then did not finish another season.

The most exciting match I have ever seen was at kids state between Shawn Bunch and Michael Bradley.

Shawn Bunch defeated Thomas Rhodes in 2001 in the 6A finals at 125 lbs. by a score of 14-7.

In 2000 Bunch won the 6A 119 lb. championship defeating Brian Malone in the finals with Michael Bradley placing third. I can not locate the 2000 bracket and I do not recall if Bunch or Malone defeated Bradley in the semi-finals.

Bighead-

Sorry the memo hurts you. That wasn't my intent. Many things are brought up on this board more than once. The kid who lost had/has nothing to be ashamed of. He was in the state finals against a wrestler who had never been beat and who later become a national champ. So, again - I mean/meant no offense to the gentleman that Roberson beat. I never made it to the finals of a state tourney so he was obviously a much better wrestler than me. Congrads to him for coming in second!

And, there were level changes. I was there, i saw it (as much as i assume you were there also). I guess to be technical, any takedown is a level change of one form or another.

Bunch beat Rhodes at HS state by playing the takedown game. Took him down, let him up. Took him down, let him up. It was fun to watch.

Matt Pyle was a State Champ as a Freshamn and a Sophmore, in 4a, but not as a Junior or Senior in 3a and I know he did not lose to Beau Tillman because I am from Pratt. Jason is fun to watch, even more so to coach, but I always enjoyed watching Temore Terry and Steve Mesa when I was in high school. Recently I really enjoyed watching Nathan Furches, check out youtube under nathan furches, and Danny Grater. Those kids that are good on their feet is always exciting to watch. Another of my wrestlers that is fun to watch is Jordan Meyer or Jayme Streit. But I am a bit biased!
Coach Brown

Coach, was Matt undefeated his freshman year? Thanks.

I think he lost one time to Brian Rankin from Clay Center. Don't know if he lost any more.

Joe Johnston - Great on his feet and he was always in amazing shape.

I always liked watching Kyle Davis from Rose Hill wrestle. He was pretty cheap, but man did he beat some people up on that mat.

No, we have never had a undefeated wrestler at Sabetha

I liked watching Lance Roe on his feet. The guy was amazing.

DITTO!!!

Brian Miller from Oberlin was always fun to watch. Matt Pyle put a whoopin' on him at State though.

Coach Brown,

No disrespect to you because we're obviously from the same era. Mesa and I used to go rounds, Terry and I were in the same bracket at kids state one year but never met. (I broke my collar bone and had to default out.) I wrestled with Mesa on the Kansas National Team in Pittsburgh, PA and Terry skipped out I believe because of Freestyle Nationals.

Anyway, I have been doing radio and tv coverage of wrestling since graduating and when I read dwelsh's post I could've sworn that I had covered Matt Pyle winning a state championship at 3,2,1a one year. The more I thought about it the more I thought it was his senior year, so I looked up some info before I made that last post. I've covered a lot of wrestling since then and I like beer so I've been known to get my facts/scores/wrestlers mixed up, and I began to wonder if I wasn't thinking of the Lawrenz bros from Herington instead. But here is what I found in the annals of THIS site (notice the classifications.)

2000 - (4A) Pelz, Michael [Clearwater] (103 lb. dec. 3-2)
2000 - (4A) Devoe, Austin [Columbus] (112 lb. dec. 4-3)
2000 - (4A) Tovar, Dustin [Abilene] (119 lb. dec. 7-6)
2000 - (4A) Murray, Matt [Colby] (125 lb. dec. 9-1)
2000 - (4A) Long, Jeremy [Santa Fe Trail] (130 lb. dec. 7-2)
2000 - (4A) Pyle, Matt [Sabetha] (135 lb. dec. 8-0)
2000 - (4A) Alt, Chris [Abilene] (140 lb. dec. 2-1)
2000 - (4A) Reynolds, Wes [El Dorado] (145 lb. dec. 6-3)
2000 - (4A) Schields, Aaron [Goodland] (152 lb. dec. 11-7)
2000 - (4A) Corcoran, Joe [Perry Lecompton] (160 lb. dec. 14-4)
2000 - (4A) Silvis, Shaun [Augusta] (171 lb. dec. 5-3)
2000 - (4A) Bancroft, Justin [Chanute] (189 lb. dec. 3-2)
2000 - (4A) Speer, Gerrad [Scott City] (215 lb. Fall 4:36)
2000 - (4A) Collins, Robert [Eudora] (275 lb. dec. 12-3)

2001 - (3-2-1A) Patton, [Wellsville] (103 lb. dec. 6-2)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Greenmeyer, [Herington] (112 lb. dec. 7-5)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Gilliland, Mat [Hoxie] (119 lb. dec. 4-0)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Johnson, [Minneapolis] (125 lb. dec. 8-2)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Johnson, [Norton] (130 lb. dec. 5-3)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Pyle, Matt [Sabetha] (135 lb. dec. 10-6)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Baker, Trent [Hoxie] (140 lb. dec. 7-2)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Campbell, [Oakley] (145 lb. dec. 11-3)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Pilkington, [Oakley] (152 lb. dec. 5-4)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Bottorff, [Atchison County] (160 lb. dec. 7-0)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Faught, [Atchison County] (171 lb. dec. 18-6)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Clouse, [Atchison County] (189 lb. dec. 6-3)
2001 - (3-2-1A) Clouse, [Atchison County] (215 lb. dec. 9-7 (OT))
2001 - (3-2-1A) Ubben, Andrew [Phillipsburg] (275 lb. dec. 8-5)

I do not know what year Matt was a senior, but my curiosity is killing me on this subject. Please clarify if you can, because I would like to know for trivial information sake... not to mention my own sanity!! Thank you.

His junior year was 2002 and he got 3rd in 321a 140. Then the next year he was in 145 when it was loaded and finished 4th.

Thanks Ricky...

I looked backed at the brackets and recall now. I don't remember exactly what happened in the '02 match against Drennan(MN), but I bet he wished he could've avenged it in '03. That was a LOADED bracket that year. Thanks for the info, seemed like it had been longer than that since he graduated.

Was it Matt or Lawrenz that went on to Northern Iowa?