The spotlight rains down onto the mat.  The crowd’s cheers grow louder and louder as the two teams stand across from each other.  The anticipation is through the roof as the finals of team state approach.  

As the duel starts I sit on the bench not knowing if I would get the opportunity to wrestle or not.  The duel would begin as the thought of not wrestling flowed through my head.  

After the first few matches I began warming up in case I got called up.  As my weight class got announced my coach put my teammate in, so I sat back down looking to cheer on my team.  After this match however I hear my coach yelling at me, “Ray what are you doing we need you right now.”  I rushed to get into my uniform and run to the mat. I was being bumped up a weight class to wrestle in the biggest match of my life to that point.  The last thing I heard before I walked onto the mat was my teammates yelling, “We need you right now.”

This match came like a blur and throughout the first period all I could think was, I cannot believe I am getting this opportunity.  After the nerves wore off and the first period came to an uneventful end I knew I needed to lock in.  As the second period began my opponent chose bottom and quickly escaped to gain a 1 point lead.  I responded with a take down to take my own 1 point lead before he escaped again to tie the match up.  As the clock approached zero I took a last second shot and scored a quick take down to go up by two points entering the third.  I chose bottom to start and even though my opponent was quite heavier than me I was able to reverse him and put him on his back.  At this point everything faded for me, but I know the crowd began screaming as I held him on his back.  Soon after, the referee would call my opponent pinned.  As the undersized freshman I came up with the pin and the crowd roared knowing this match was a game changer.  

This match opened the floodgates for my high school wrestling career as it showed I belong on the big stage.  My team would win this dual in part to my match and the trust I gained from the coaches and teammates helped me fall even more in love with the sport of wrestling.  We cemented our place in history as CIF Champions.