Though wrestling's championship season is nearly two months away, a District 17 preview broke out Saturday at Plano Senior as teams like the Wildcats, Plano East, Plano West and Lovejoy competed at the sixth annual Taylor Webb Classic.

Arlington won the event, but the Plano ISD teams equated themselves well.

West finished second in the 15-team field with Plano in third and East placing fifth. Fellow District 17 squad Lovejoy placed 13th.

"I thought we wrestled real well," said Shawn Smith, West head coach. "We had four guys in the finals, but we also won a lot on the back side of the bracket, so it was a total team effort."

As the scores would indicate, the Colts had the most persistent presence in the main bracket, advancing grapplers to the finals in eight of the 14 weight classes. The Wolves posted the next highest total by pushing four onto the championship mat.

Among that quartet was Dean Roudi, who was named Most Outstanding Wrestler for the lighter weight classes.

"I am very pleased for Dean," Smith said. "He has been working so hard for this and it really shows with his wrestling."

Roudi, who also won the Richardson Pearce Tournament, took the top spot at 138 pounds Saturday. Roudi's finals bout with Frisco Heritage's Spencer Shipman was tight throughout with Shipman leading after the first and second periods. Shipman maintained an advantage until Roudi picked up two points with 19 seconds remaining to go in front, 10-9.

At that point, Smith shouted for Roudi to, "stop looking at the clock."

"It was hard not to look because there wasn't much time left," Roudi said with a smile. "The kid kept going for shots and I knew I couldn't give up the takedown."

Roudi did not and secured the 10-9 victory.

"It's a big win," Roudi said. "There are a bunch of good teams here and hopefully this will lead to bigger and better things."

Also winning his weight class was West's Jacob Sandlin at 113.

Sandlin defeated Heritage's Matt Matellini in the finals thanks to a strong second period in which a late reversal and back points led to a 7-2 lead. Sandlin added two more points in the final frame for the 9-2 victory.

"Once I got those points (in the second), I knew I was in good shape, so I was able to ride him out," Sandlin said. "It got me my first varsity gold medal, so that's a good feeling."

The Wolves also sent Nathan Sadik (126) and Marck Sender (145) to the finals, but both suffered early takedowns and were pinned in the first period. The former lost to Pearce's Elie Allen while the latter was defeated by Arlington's JT Favara. Favara's win was the start of the Colts' run to the title as the team had grapplers in the finals of seven of the eight heaviest weight classes.

Not many of those competitors lost, but the two that faced Plano wrestlers did.

In the most dramatic match of the tournament, Danny McCaffrey (170) trailed for the majority of his bout against Riley Cumutt, 1-0, only to pull out the two points with 0.8 seconds remaining. McCaffrey was thwarted on a reversal attempt with 18 seconds remaining, but would not be right before the buzzer.

"I knew he was tired," McCaffrey said, "so I thought, 'I have to keep driving.'"

That strategy worked, much to the Arlington coaches' chagrin.

"They said he still had his leg in," McCaffrey said, "but I thought I had control."

The win was especially notable for McCaffrey given he had bronchitis that day and had been beaten by Cumutt before.

"I lost to him twice in freestyle during the spring," McCaffrey said, "so I didn't want that to happen again."

A similar background was in place for Michael Kubik (160) before his finals bout Saturday as he had placed second in the last two Taylor Webb Classics.

"I really wanted this one bad," he said.

Kubik would get what he wanted as he was in control for much of his match against Arlington's Mike Nolan before pulling ahead for good following a takedown with 1:19 remaining in the third. That gave Kubik a 4-2 victory.

"With my style, I have a pretty good tank and I am long, so I was able to keep him at bay," Kubik said. "I got the takedown, but I couldn't turn on him to finish. But I thought I did a good job on top and I was able to win."

Taking the mat after McCaffrey was Lovejoy's Garrett McAlister in the 182 finals.

McAlister didn't keep the District 17 winning streak going though as he was taken down in the first minute of the opening period and pinned shortly thereafter.

"He came in strong, dropped his hips, cranked it and caught me," McAlister said. "It was a tough match, but it was still a great day because I was able to pin three district opponents. I'll shoot for first next time."

That same sentiment could be shared by East's Leo Cervantes, who dropped the heavyweight finals to Arlington's CJ Stratton.

"It was a really hard-fought match," said Al Koebke, East head coach.

Cervantes fell behind in the second period, 1-0, and neither grappler scored again.

"I felt like I wasn't entirely prepared and warmed-up coming into the match and that might have affected me," Cervantes said. "But I was still able to win a couple of tough matches before this, so it was a pretty good day."

That sentiment was shared by several coaches Saturday.

"It was good to see a lot of other teams to gauge what they've got," Koebke said. "It's been going well for us so far, but we need to keep practicing because there is still plenty more to learn leading up to February."

Plano head coach Clay Goodloe concurred.

"Things went really well for us today, but there is a lot more to be done," he said. "We are still working kids down in weight and the guys know we expect more. We will continue to get better and after Christmas I think we will really turn it up."

Rounding out the top finishers in the Taylor Webb Classic were Plano's Erik Neithamer (106, third) and Tyler Worth (113, third); East's Isaih Jones (106, fourth), Scott Nolan (160, third), Garret Foster (170, third) and Frank Phillips (220, fourth); and West's Stephan Randall (heavyweight, fourth).

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