Feb.
16, 2008: Provo Daily Herald
Chamberlain Caps Off Stellar Career
with a Rare Fourth State Championship
by Russ Lyman
Their names were Casey Smith and Phil
Boyer. Those were the two wrestlers Jason Chamberlain lost
to during his high school wrestling career. The list of
the Springville senior's victories is significantly
longer.
On Friday night in the 4A state
championship finals at UVSC, Chamberlain culminated one of
the greatest wrestling careers in Utah high school history
with a dominating 23-8 win over Pine View's Matt McDonald
for his fourth state championship, a feat accomplished by
only a handful of wrestlers in state history.
Chamberlain was named as 4A's outstanding
wrestler in the lower weights following his state-record
191st win, a win that he savored a little longer than most
of the previous 190. Instead of quickly pinning his
opponent, Chamberlain took his time in taking McDonald
down, letting him up, then repeating. Although he didn't
get the pin, there was never any doubt as to what the
result would be.
"It was about like our other match we had
early on this year," Chamberlain said after beating the
40-3 McDonald for the second time this year. "He wrestled
more physical, but I stuck to my game plan and wrestled
how I always wrestle."
And by wrestling how he always wrestles,
he won like he always wins and accomplished a dream that
he and almost every other wrestler has had of becoming a
four-time champion.
"I remember long ago my dad was talking to
another coach while watching another kid (Ohio's David
Taylor) and I drill and said 'right there are two
four-time state champs,' " Chamberlain said. "My dad told
me that and I've been working on it ever since then. It's
been really fun."
As is the case with most four-time state
champs, Chamberlain's toughest and most meaningful test
came his freshman year when he beat Caleb Isom, who was a
returning state runner-up.
Looking back on the journey he started
four years ago, the humble Chamberlain can now boast of
beating every person he ever wrestled. After losing to
Smith in the first tournament of his career, Chamberlain
defeated the Wasatch alum twice the next year. Chamberlain
also avenged his loss to Boyer later on during the same
tournament in Reno.
Although he acknowledges he's among the
state's best wrestlers of all time, Chamberlain refuses to
put himself at the top of the list.
"I don't know. I don't judge from other
wrestlers, they're all good in different ways,"
Chamberlain said. "I wouldn't say I'm the best ever, but I
consider myself one of the best, I guess."
His coach, Justin Judkins, doesn't
hesitate to call his 140-pounder the best.
"To be honest with you, I think he's
probably the best wrestler to ever come through the
state," Judkins said. "He has the high school state record
(for the best record). I don't think I'm being too biased
in saying that and I think a lot of other coaches would
agree with me."
Although the night belonged to
Chamberlain, Utah Valley was able to boast another 4A
state champion in Payson's McCade Ford, who defeated
Springville's defending state champion, Hayden Petersen,
3-2 to win the 135-pound state championship.
After a scoreless first period, Ford
allowed Petersen to escape early in the second period. The
pair battled on their feet until Ford got a double-leg
takedown to take a 2-1. Petersen tied it with an escape
late in the second. Tied 2-2 going into the third, Ford
started in the down position and got a quick escape to
take a 3-2 lead that he held onto the rest of the way.
"Greatest feeling in my life, nothing
better than that," Ford said after his second win over
Petersen in the past week. "I've dreamt about it since I
was a little kid. It just feels good to finally get it
done after a lot of years of wrestling."
Ford, who wrestled much of the year at 140
pounds, moved down to 135 late in the season so that he
could realize his goal of a state title.
"I thought it was the right weight for me
to go," Ford said. "I thought I'd have a lot better chance
against Hayden Petersen than I would Jason Chamberlain."
While he may have avoided Chamberlain to
some extent, Ford was quick to acknowledge that he still
had his work cut out for him to defeat Petersen.
"He's as tough as there is in the state,"
Ford said. "He's a defending champ, so it just makes it
that much better to beat him."
Ford was Payson's only state champion in
the tournament as the other four Lions in the finals lost.
Brock Brown wrestled tough, but fell to
Highland's Mike Phetvitay 10-9. Brown trailed by three
points late, and got the takedown he needed and began to
turn Phetvitay onto his back when the final whistle
sounded.
Colton Cannon lost to the state's top
145-pounder in Matt Brown from Cyprus. 171-pounder Hesston
Parkin and 189-pounder Norman Adams each showed a lot of
heart, but eventually lost to Dixie's Tanner Torres and
Nate Carter, respectively.
As a team, Payson finished in third place
behind state champion Mountain Crest and runner-up Box
Elder.
"We were hoping for a little better than
third place. We were hoping for a trophy but nothing to
hang our heads about," said Payson coach Chris Loveless.
"In a tough tournament, we placed nine kids and put five
in the finals, so we did a good job."
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