Breakthrough win

Andy Scheidler

sports@thefranklinpress.com

Branden Berger lifts his hair to reveal a bloody forehead. It matches the rest of his face, which features blood marks near his left temple and below his right eye.
His nose was also bleeding from his latest wrestling match. 

Berger didn’t know what all of the cuts were from, but he knew the forehead bleeding came from the Velcro head gear after locking horns with Smoky Mountain’s Will Frady. 

“It happens all the time when I wrestle him because we go so hard,” Berger said. 

The Franklin junior certainly went hard in Thursday’s home match. He came into it 0-7 against Frady, which included going 0-4 last year. All four matches were excruciatingly close, decided by a total of seven points. 

But Berger’s persistence paid off and he got a breakthrough victory in the eighth meeting. Tied 2-2 going into overtime, Berger got multiple takedowns and won 8-2. 

As the crowd roared, Berger raised his arms in triumph. He then leapt into the arms of assistant coach Bill Barrington, and celebrated along with head coach Kyle Barrington.

“All I can say is it’s about time,” Berger said. 

“I had pushed myself harder than him this week and the weeks before. I had been preparing for this match for about a month and a half now. I focused everything I had into what the team needed. I just went out there and wrestled.”

It was an intense match, which featured multiple blood timeouts while athletic trainer Lynette Mount attended to Berger. 

Most of the six minutes of regulation time were spent standing up. The grapplers locked arms and leaned head to head, each seeking an opening to make a move. 

Berger fell behind after being called for a stalling penalty when he backed out of the circle, giving Frady a 2-1 lead. However, Frady was called for the exact same thing, coming with just seconds left in regulation. 

The first overtime is 60 seconds of
 sudden death. Beginning neutral, neither wrestler managed to get a takedown to end it. 

Up next is a pair of 30-second periods where each wrestler gets the choice to begin on the bottom or top. 

Berger got a reversal and back points in the first 30 seconds, and he celebrated with a determined look when getting up off the math. He then finished off the win and spent the rest of the evening with a grin on his face. 

Constant drilling in practice – not to mention countless up downs – ensured Berger was in great shape. 

“I knew I was gonna be OK,” he said, “because my conditioning was much better than his. I was ready.”
Berger is 18-4 this year. Three of his losses have come in the finals of tournaments, including one against Frady at the Maroon Devils Invitational (Frady won it 7-5). 

The coaches worked with Berger on his mental approach to the match. Specifically, they wanted Berger to be the aggressor. 

“We wanted him to wrestle the way he would in a typical match,” Kyle Barrington said. 

“Making sure for three periods he wrestled with the same aggressiveness. We’ve seen in the past those matches where he started off ultra aggressive, but then backed his foot off the gas.”

Berger’s match drew the biggest cheers against the Mustangs. Smoky won five matches via pin and three because of forfeits, resulting in a 54-21 victory. 

Zack Gibson (138 pounds) and Bryan Rodriguez (145) both earned third-period pins for the Panthers. 

Gibson wrestled a good match, Barrington said. 

Rodriguez trailed in his match before flipping it. 

“It was a match where it was gonna come down to the first person to quit, basically,” Barrington said. “Both were tired and didn’t have a whole lot left. I’m proud of him for coming through and finishing that match in the manner he did.”

Braden Cody (170) also earned a win for FHS, coming via forfeit at 170. 

The Panthers are filling 11 of the 14 weight classes. Of those 11, three are freshmen, four are sophomores and four are juniors. 

Not having any seniors, Barrington said the Panthers are building toward the future. 

“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “It’s not an overnight fix.”

Up next is the Mountain Six Conference tournament, slated for Friday in Brevard. 

Barrington expects several FHS wrestlers will have a chance to finish in the top two or three spots. 

For Berger, it could be another match with Frady. Also in their weight class is Brevard’s Jon Pickford, who has handed Berger two defeats this year. One came when Berger tweaked his back and had to quit mid-match on Jan. 3. 

Facing off again eight days later in the final of the Mill Town Invitational, Pickford pinned Berger. It was the first time Berger had ever been pinned in three seasons at FHS. 

However, following his thrilling win, Berger is beaming with confidence. He welcomes another match with Frady in the MSC tournament, saying he needs to catch up with the Smoky senior. 

“I’m even more ready now,” he said. “I’m ready to go.”