Mar 7, 2015 3 min read

HERSHEY – With one sweet 30-second overtime performance, A.C. Headlee of Waynesburg wiped away four years of frustration and near-misses to become a PIAA wrestling champion.

In a bout that displayed his outstanding ability, Headlee won a 7-2 decision over Luke Pletcher of Latrobe to capture the 132-pound weight class in the state Class AAA tournament in Hershey.

Don’t be fooled by the score.

It was a tense, nail-biting affair that had the large crowd in the Giant Center roaring.

And it wasn’t won until Headlee escaped in the final 30-second period and put Pletcher on his back for three nearfall points before the buzzer sounded.

Overcome with joy, Headlee had his hand raised, then jumped into the arms of the Waynesburg coaches before running into the stands to find his family members.

“I loved it, every minute of it,” said Headlee, who became the first Waynesburg state champion since Corbin Semple won the 171-pound title in 2005. “We were going out there to beat each other up. It was not personal. It was just wrestling.”

After a scoreless first period, Headlee won the flip and escaped 23 seconds into the second period. Pletcher reversed him in the third and Headlee quickly escaped to make it 2-2.

Near the end of the third period, Headlee got in on Pletcher and only a superior effort from the Latrobe junior saved the bout. Pletcher used a funk move and nearly took Headlee down.

“There I thought, ‘I’m in. I’m in,'” Headlee said. “He funked through and put me in a bad position.”

That set up the overtime and Headlee’s dramatic win.

Interestingly, the two wrestlers met in last week’s WPIAL championship final and Headlee won a 2-1 decision by riding Pletcher in the ultimate tiebreaker.

“I’m sure there will be some bad blood between us,” Headlee said. “You don’t lose a state championship match and not have that happen.”

The battle for the mental edge began right before the match. Both set up in their start positions at the middle of the mat and simply stared at each other for about 20 seconds before the match began.

“That’s what it’s all about when you have the stare-down,” said Waynesburg head coach Joe Throckmorton. “Wrestling is like a legalized war. There are no punches thrown but you have to win the mental battle.”

The bout got chippy with both slapping each other on the head a tad harder than is usually allowed.

Headlee said he looked to his coaches to decide on what position to take for the final overtime period.

“Periods like that 30-second one is all about heart,” said Headlee, the only local medalist in Triple-A. “The last 30 seconds is do-or-die and you can’t be afraid to choose a position.”

Headlee reached the finals by disposing of Bryce Reddington of Methacton by fall in 5:56 of the first round and followed it with a 9-0 decision of Brock Port of Bellefonte in the quarterfinals. Headlee then won by technical fall, 21-6, over Jake Hinkson of North Allegheny in the semifinals.