By Terry Douglass
terry.douglass@theindependent.com

GISH senior Isaiah Aguilar reached the 112-pound title match in the Class A state wrestling championships with 4-3 last-second victory over Kearney's Tim Crocker. Later, Islander 215-pounder Jesse Janulewicz willed his way to the finals with a 12-5 victory over Omaha Bryan's Nicholas Ciurej.

Aguilar's win was the biggest surprise. He entered the match 0-8 against Crocker.

"To finally beat him my senior year when it mattered the most is just awesome," Aguilar said. "I just kept saying to myself, "I will. I can beat this kid. I can do it.'

"My coaches kept telling me that I had the talent and that I could beat him and I just went out there and left it all on the mat. I had nothing to lose."

Aguilar (34-5) appeared destined to suffer yet another setback against the Bearcat wrestler, but came through with a takedown with five seconds left in the match to produce the one-point win.

"Crocker is a tough kid, but he's a kid who we thought that Isaiah would be able to beat, but he had really never put a full match together against him, until tonight," GISH coach Mike Schadwinkel said. "It was a great accomplishment for Isaiah. We're really happy for him. He's a kid who has worked a lot of hard days and he deserves this."

Aguilar said the key to match for him was to never stop moving and to try and get Crocker into "scramble situations." This time, Aguilar said he had total belief in his plan.

"We've always gone out there to try and beat him every time, but this time there was just something different about it," Aguilar said. "I told myself that I was finally going to win today."

Aguilar, who will face Patrick Rollins (30-1) of Omaha Crieghton Prep in Saturday's 2 p.m. finals, said he has been motivated all season by last year's failure to medal at state. He has previously finished sixth at 103 in 2006, but was shut out last season.

"For me not to place last year and remember how much it hurt, and then to come back and be in the finals feels so great," said Aguilar, who lost to Rollins 17-8 in last week's Class A, District 3 championship match at Norfolk. "I can't even explain. I was just so determined to come back and make sure that I was going to be a state placer. It was just a matter of how far I could take it.

"Right now, I believe I can do anything."

Janulewicz (24-10) said he has clung to that belief in himself all season.

"It feels so good because I set this as a goal at the beginning of the year and I didn't want to fail it," Janulewicz said. "At first, I didn't think I could get this because I was in a slump at the beginning of the year, but after I started getting more confidence and getting in better shape, I started to realize that I could do this."

Schadwinkel said Janulewicz is a tough matchup for anyone.

"Jesse has really come on and he's such a difficult guy to wrestle because of his size," Schadwinkel said. "He's shorter, but he's a good athlete, he can move and he's a guy who can really cause some problems for people just the way he's built."

Because he's shorter than most of his opponents, Janulewicz said he always views himself in an underdog role.

"Before every match, I think of 'The Little Steam Engine Who Could' or David and Goliath or the movie 'Hoosiers,'" Janulewicz said. "I just play movie clips in my head and play them over and over and I get confidence out of that."

Grand Island heads into the final day of competition in fourth place with 98.5 points. Millard South leads Kearney 175-117, with Omaha North third with 104 points.

Grand Island's Mathew Rice (26-18 at 130), Riley Allen (34-9 at 140), Jason Brisbin (31-12 at 160) and Alan Taylor (28-10 at 171) all suffered semifinal losses. Those four wrestlers, as well as Tyler Glover (19-8 at 135) and Nate Westerby (33-7 at 189), have all clinched medals for the Islanders.

"Today and especially this evening was a little disappointing because we lost the bulk of the matches," Schadwinkel said. "That hurts us a little bit, but we've got to still feel good about where we're at. We've got eight medalists, which is more than we've had since I've been here, so that's exciting.

"I just hope we can put it together for one more day and really make a push in the team standings."

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