Yokota's Yuki Sorci gets the upper hand on St. Mary's International's JP Kwak during Saturday's 129-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School, Japan. Sorci won a three-period decision, 0-4, 5-1, 6-4. (Leah Panasiewicz/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Yokota's Yuki Sorci gets the upper hand on St. Mary's International's JP Kwak during Saturday's 129-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School, Japan. Sorci won a three-period decision, 0-4, 5-1, 6-4. (Leah Panasiewicz/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Two-time Far East champion Marcus Boehler of Nile C. Kinnick gets the upper hand on St. Mary's International's Kelly Langley during Saturday's 122-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School, Japan. Boehler won a three-period decision, 0-6, 11-4, 6-0. (Leah Panasiewicz/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Zama American's Eric Otero seizes the advantage early against Kaimi Miyakawa of St. Mary's International during Saturday's 101-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School,, Japan. Otero pinned Miyakawa in 4 minutes, 23 seconds. (Leah Panasiewicz/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Jeffrey Koo of St. Mary's International, bottom, tries to fend off two-time Far East champion Michael Spencer of Zama American during Saturday's 168-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School, Japan. Spencer pinned Koo in 2 minutes, 31 seconds for his second Kanto gold in three years. (Jessika DesJardins/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Yokota's Yuki Sorci, left, ties up St. Mary's International's JP Kwak during Saturday's 129-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School, Japan. Sorci won a three-period decision, 0-4, 5-1, 6-4. (Jessika DesJardins/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Two-time Far East champion Marcus Boehler of Nile C. Kinnick and St. Mary's International's Kelly Langley find their world turned upside down during Saturday's 122-pound championship bout in the 38th Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament at Yokota High School, Japan. Boehler won a three-period decision, 0-6, 11-4, 6-0. (Jessika DesJardins/Special to Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – Marcus Boehler picked the perfect time to take the season series lead on Kelly Langley – the 122-pound gold-medal bout in Saturday’s Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools Wrestling Tournament.
Boehler, the Nile C. Kinnick junior and two-time Far East gold medalist, survived a three-period decision, his second straight victory over his St. Mary’s International senior rival in three bouts. It was Boehler’s second straight Kanto gold medal.
“When I work hard, it pays off,” Boehler said, adding that losing the first period to Langley made him think of last year’s Far East, when he fell behind Kubasaki’s Nick Barker in the gold-medal bout. “When I was down 4-0, I had to come back.”
“I kind of lost my focus and I was tired,” Langley said. “I couldn’t finish my moves right.”
The two will likely meet again later this month in the Far East Tournament at Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
“It’s going to give me a heart attack. I about had a heart attack just on that one,” Kinnick coach Richard Huffer said. “I can’t wait until the Far East. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest matches of the year.”
The other reigning two-time Far East champion, Zama American’s Michael Spencer, made quicker work of his Kanto final foe, using an underhook into a reverse cradle to pin St. Mary’s Jeffrey Koo at 168 pounds.
“It feels great to go out with a win,” Spencer, a senior, said of his last bout in Japan. Of aiming for his third straight Far East gold, he said: “That’s my next goal. That’s what I’m working for.”
Langley and Koo were two of seven finalists for St. Mary’s, which scored 51 points and finished second behind Yokota, which had 54 points and five gold medalists.
Among them was 215-pound sophomore Jake Jackson, who worked a half nelson into a chest press on St. Mary’s Kevin Miller for a 34-second pin – which clinched the team title for Yokota.
“Wow. That does a lot to lift my spirits,” Jackson said. “One of our goals was to take Kanto. Now that we’ve done that, I think Far East is more attainable.”
Yokota’s other champions were Yuki Sorci (129), two-time Kanto champion Devin Day (135), Mike Litman (141) and Stanley Speed. St. Mary’s got gold medals from Soma Yoshida (115) and Chidi Agbo (heavyweight).
Fourth-place Christian Academy Japan put Jon Bartsch (141) on the gold-medal podium. Besides Spencer, Eric Otero (101) and Mitchell Harrison (180) won gold for Zama, as did Callan Murphy (108) for ASIJ.
