Cody Thorn
For the past five years, Allen and Arlington James Martin have been battling for the state title in the 6A UIL wrestling finals.
Each of those five years the Eagles have taken home the top trophy — part of an unprecedented run of 14 state titles in a row.
The Eagles head into day two of the finals with 89 points, two back of Martin.
Both had big wins on Friday at the Berry Center, but also suffered some unexpected losses in the quarterfinals.
The semifinal round is the one where the points matter most — 9 — and each team has 7 in that round.
How those matches go could be the difference between Allen keeping the streak going or Martin finally moving away from the role of bridesmaid.
Last year, Allen won a close title chase with 201 1/2 points, while Martin finished with 186.
Maddux Tindal (106), Cayden Campbell (113), Jair Jackson-Bey (132), Austin Letsche (138), Javin Jackson-Bey (144), Joseph Liescheski (157) and Aiden Cooley (190) are in the semifinals for Allen.
Kelby Bernard, Gabe Roams and Carter Nekvapil all lost in the quarterfinals for the Eagles, but all three came back with wins in the consolation bracket Friday night to stay alive. Bernard was the only returning state champion for Allen but lost in the quarterfinals to El Paso Franklin’s Ian Abdallah — a rematch of last year’s 120-pound finals.
Martin has 7 in the semifinals and four more in the consolation bracket.
Isaak Arevalo (120) is a defending champion for the Warriors and went 2-0 with two pins on Friday.
“We talked as a team, we all need to do our part, keep everyone tunnel-visioned and keep everybody focused,” he said about the team title hunt. “Get pins and points on the backside.”
Ezequiel Valadez (132) and Nicholas Zamora (144) both had a pair of pins to move on. Robbie Rocha (150) survived a 4-2 overtime win in the opener and…
