It was the lowest he felt all season. Not because of anything that happened on the wrestling mat, where three straight wins had Robinson senior Matt Jones on the cusp of another Group AAA state title. But because of the illness, he tried to fight off all weekend.
Jones vomited just moments after a tense, 1-0, semifinal win over Kellam senior Jimmy Webb on Saturday afternoon at Robinson and spent the next hour in the training room. He pulled himself together enough to climb into a car with older brother Brent, a redshirt freshman wrestler at Virginia, who himself won a state championship for the Rams in 2005.
“I was like a vegetable sitting in that car,” Matt Jones said. “I was exhausted, but not really in the frame of mind to go home and sleep. So we went to Olive Garden instead.”
Apparently a heaping plate of spaghetti was all it took to revive Matt Jones, who returned to Robinson around 5 p.m. in better shape. A few hours later he pinned Colonial Forge sophomore Max Huntley to win his second 171-pound state championship.
“I wasn’t going to lose,” Jones said. “I knew exactly what I had to do. The big crowd wasn’t going to bother me. You can’t ask for anything better than to end your high school career with a pin.”
It was over in a heartbeat. Jones got Huntley in a headlock — a move he rarely uses — and quickly forced him to the mat. It was a fitting ending, considering Brent Jones had won his 215-pound state championship in similar fashion, also pinning a Colonial Forge wrestler with a first-period headlock.
Matt Jones became frustrated this season as opponents spent much of their time against him on the defensive, trying to steal points and hold Jones off. That’s what almost happened in the semifinal vs. Webb. Maybe that was the smart thing to do. Huntley attacked Jones in the championship match and the result was predictable — a pin in 57 seconds.
“The one thing I wanted to do more than anything was to win a state title before my senior year and then have a chance to defend it,” Jones said. “I’m happy it’s over. But I can’t believe it all went by so fast.”
Battering Rams
» Robinson senior Matt Jones wasn’t the only Ram to win a state title before the home fans. Freshman Roman Perryman shook off two first-period takedownsin the 103-pound final and rallied for an 8-6 victory over Princess Anne’s Randy Chapman.
» In his two state championship seasons, Jones had a combined record of 105-8. He was also a four-time Northern Region champion.
» Jones has numerous wrestling scholarship offers, including one from Virginia. He says he could spend a year at prep school instead.
