MUSKEGON TWP. - Imagine a basketball team falling behind 20-0 in the first quarter, and basically allowing it to happen.
Then imagine that team rallying late to pull out a victory, and following that same formula over and over throughout the season.
That basically explains the wrestling strategy of Reeths-Puffer senior Owen Schab.
Schab has become something of a legend in R-P wrestling circles for his miraculous comebacks.
In numerous matches this season, he has allowed himself to be put on his back in the early minutes, has fallen far behind in the score, yet has found a way to rally and get a pin or at least a point victory.
R-P's Owen Schab
That was the scenario in two very important matches.
At the Adam Provencal Tournament at Grand Haven High School, Schab worked his way through his bracket and won the first individual weight class championship of his high school career, but it was not easy.
In the title match he trailed his opponent 5-0 before rallying to get a pin and capture first place.
In a crucial O-K Green conference dual match against powerful Holland, Reeths-Puffer lost the first three matches before Schab took the mat. He fell behind 10-1 and things looked pretty hopeless, then he suddenly sprang to life and pinned his opponent in the third and final round.
Schab’s victory inspired the Rockets, who rallied to beat the Dutch and keep their conference championship hopes alive.
“We lost the three matches in a row starting off, then it’s my turn to wrestle,” said Schab, who will join his R-P teammates at Saturday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament. “I figured, I can keep following that or change it. I could tell my opponent was starting to crack after the second round. I knew he was going to collapse eventually.”
Schab battles from the mat against a Coopersville wrestler.
R-P wrestling coach Jared Fleming said Schab is an unusual wrestler who often follows the same entertaining script.
Unlike most wrestlers, he gets taken down on his back right away - which is usually dangerous territory - and allows opponents to go for a quick pin, only to find that Schab is very difficult to pin.
Opponents pile up points, but after a while they get tired and frustrated, and in the best scenarios Schab takes advantage and pulls out a victory.
“He’s always exciting to watch,” Fleming said. “It’s kind of the Schab recipe. He gets taken down and falls behind 5-0. It’s almost like he has to do that to get comfortable before he can start really wrestling.”
Fleming said a big key for Schab is his great bridge – the arch he maintains in his back that keeps opponents from pressing his shoulders to the mat and pinning him.
Schab back on top after turning the tables on the Coopersville wrestler.
“He’s got the best bridge on the team and is very good at getting off his back,” Fleming said. “It’s really hard to pin him. Even when I wrestle him at practice it’s hard for me to pin him. He’s just not nervous when he gets on his back. He knows he will find a way.”
Schab said he doesn’t purposefully start each match on his back – not exactly, anyway. He simply knows his strengths and weaknesses and isn’t afraid to let opponents take early leads and become overconfident.
“It shouldn’t be, but sometimes it feels that way,” Schab said when asked if going straight to his back is strategic. “It really is a bad thing, but 90 percent of my wins come from me starting on my back, then I end up catching up.
“I know my standup is not so great and my groundwork is a lot better. I know my conditioning is a lot better than a lot of kids. Just the hard work we put in. Our team is in better shape than a lot of people we wrestle.
“It’s also just a mental thing. I just know going into matches that nobody can pin me. Nobody has more heart than I have. A lot of them get frustrated. I just get in their heads. They wonder, ‘Why is he still coming?’”
Schab competes against a Zeeland East opponent.
An interesting thing about Schab, who wrestles at 165 or 175 pounds, is that he doesn’t have a great record. Through Jan. 10 he was 13-11 after starting out 1-5, so he loses his share of matches.
But it’s how he wins and loses that makes him so valuable to the Rockets.
Of those 13 wins, nine were by pin. That’s very important in team dual matches, because a pin means six team points while a regular victory is only three. In the 11 losses, he was only pinned three times, which means he denies opponents a lot of team points.
Schab knows how important every team point can be and keeps that in mind on the mat.
“I think it comes from the motivation I get from my team, a bigger picture of the people around me who are counting on me,” he said. “An entire dual match can come down to one point. If I can maximize my wins and minimize my losses, it shows in the end.”
