Jacob Lagoa isn’t your typical 11-year-old. You know the type, faces buried in their cells or staring blankly at the big-screen, high-definition television playing “Call of Duty,” mind wandering no further than the image staring back at him.
In fact, the son of Eladio and Allison Lagoa, has quite an attention span.
“He’s all out, all the time,” his dad said. “He’s very, very aggressive.”
Having advanced to the state championship match of the Ohio Youth Wrestling Championships 100-pound weight class at Akron Firestone, Jacob knew his opponent, a young man from Akron Buchtel, well.
Very well.
“I had wrestled him three years ago, when I was 8, at a tournament,” he said.
And the result?
“I beat him in that match,” he said.
Which paved the way for what happened in the rematch between the two young combatants three years later.
“He was scared,” Jacob, a standout for the Ashtabula Little Lizards, said. “I could see it all over his face.”
So his opponent, too, remembered their first meeting three years previous?
“Oh yeah,” Jacob said.
The conclusion, though reached in a different manner, was the same.
“Jacob pinned the kid in 48 seconds,” his dad said, pride almost bursting through his words. “He got on him right away.”
The state championship, the first for the Little Lizards program, who are coached by Jake Reihner, Richard Coup, Scott Blank and Eladio Lagoa, came with Jacob’s trademark move.
“Double-leg takedown, then a half (Nelson),” Jacob said. “It’s my best move.”
The sixth-grader at Superior Elementary School will be moving up to the junior high level next year, wrestling for Lakeside’s program that won the Premier Athletic Conference junior high championship this winter.
“Yeah, I’m excited,” Jacob said.
The progression up the wrestling ladder will be natural for Jacob, his dad said.
“He’s been wrestling since he was 6,” Eladio said of he and his wife’s oldest, who is joined by brother Lorenzo (8) and Nadia (3) in the Lagoa clan.
In wrestling-speak, Jacob’s best asset is well known, his dad said.
“People who know the sport say he has really good hips,” he said. “Everyone compliments his hips.”
Which leads to excellent balance, a huge advantage that allows a wrestler to stave off attacks and get to their feet quicker when taken down.
“It helps Jacob,” Eladio said. “He’s a very aggressive wrestler... 100 percent, all the time.”
Perhaps so, but both father and son admit to feeling cases of the butterflies when it came time for the championship match.
“I had to step back as a coach,” Eladio admitted with a laugh. “I even let Coach Reihner and Coach Coup sit in the coaches’ chairs. I sat matside, but I was very much being a dad, at that point.
“Oh, yeah, I was a little nervous,” Jacob said. “Because I know at anytime, I can get caught with a move by someone and it could be all over.”
The butterflies were netted quickly, though.
“Once I got ahold of him, I knew I had him,” Jacob said. “I remembered our first match. But this time, I was able to finish him.”
Attention to detail... not typical for an 11-year-old.
Nor is winning a state championship.
McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite224.net.
Sports
Related Photos
-
JACOB LAGOA, 11, of the Ashtabula Little Lizards earned the organization’s first state championship at 100 pounds at the Ohio Youth State Championships in Akron. Submitted photo
-
DON McCORMACK
Discussion
A Don McCormack column: Long memory, big results for Lagoa
- Sports
-
-
Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
The Geneva boys and Edgewood girls managed to amass just enough points to claim the team titles at the Falcon Night Relays on Friday at Falcon Pride Stadium.
-
Johnson: Browns will be better
Football fans of every age gathered Friday evening to converse with Cleveland Browns linebacker James-Michael Johnson.
-
Skleres finds good fit
There are two very different sides to Michealia Skleres and the Pymatuning Valley senior wasn’t ready to go one direction or the other just yet. She may never be ready to separate those two halves.
-
Lakers ousted by LaBrae
Though the LaBrae softball team fell short of one goal this season, another was achieved on Friday.
-
Scholastic Statistics:
BASEBALL
DIVISION I
SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Fitch 10, Lakeside 1
at Fitch -
Scholastic Schedule:
SATURDAY, MAY 18
Baseball
n No events scheduled -
Top to bottom
For a team to score a number of runs in a softball game, the bottom portion of a lineup has to string a couple of hits together at least once.
-
Falcons fly to sectional title
Lake Catholic softball coach Dale Colagross had the option of a potential battle with rival Notre-Dame Cathedral Latin, the top-seeded team in the Division II district tournament, or a potential matchup with third-seeded Jefferson in a sectional championship game in the other half of the bracket.
-
Area High School Baseball Statistical Leaders:
INDIVIDUAL BATTING (minimum 45 at-bats)
PLAYER SCHOOL AVG OB% SLG% AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Chase Thurber PV .548 .642 .790 62 24 34 10 1 1 25 13
Tim Cross PV .492 .528 .667 63 24 31 9 1 0 25 12
Louie Wisnyai Edgewood .492 .559 .763 59 17 29 8 1 2 26 8
Tony Magda Edgewood .483 .552 .603 58 14 28 5 1 0 19 6
Joey Piscsalko Jefferson .471 .548 .571 70 23 33 7 0 0 19 14
Scott Davidson Jefferson .464 .519 .623 69 20 32 7 2 0 10 8 -
Lakeside rolls past East
One of the great lessons in sports competitions is to play with the maximum effort in utilizing your own skills and talents. It’s a lot easier said than done, but the Lakeside Dragons got a full dose of it Thursday afternoon as they tangled with a youthful and inexperienced group of Panthers from Youngstown East in a Division I sectional semifinal ballgame. The Dragons came out on top, 12-0.
- More Sports Headlines
-
Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
