Ishani Morales felt the pain, then saw everyone’s eyes looking at her.
The Holyoke High School wrestler had only one thought during her injury timeout late in the second period of her championship match at the MIAA Girls State Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.
“Just finish what I started,” Morales said. “I had done too much, sacrificed too much, put in way too many hours to give anything up. At that point it became set in stone and I was meant to do this. I had to get up.”
Morales had a comfortable lead on Ludlow’s Alex Formejster in the 129-pound weight class, but hurt her knee late in the second period.
“She shook it off and at that moment when she walked back into the mat it was a same old Ishani,” Holyoke coach Vin Silano said. “She knew what she needed.”
Formejster opened the third period with a two-point takedown, but Morales sealed the win with a reversal with 16 seconds left to win 9-3 at Methuen High School.
“Honestly, I had that ‘it’s mine’ moment the whole time,” she said Sunday. “Just chasing every point I could get. I was right near the scoreboard when I hit that reversal and seeing how much I was up it was a feeling of ‘I can’t let her up, let this up.’”
The victory was the first state championship for Holyoke at the second-year event. Morales, who attended Holyoke her freshman year, placed second for Duggan Academy last season.
“It’s starting to set it now and it’s an amazing feeling,” Morales said.
Three straight pins sent her to the championship bout.
Morales opened with a pin in 1 minute of Litzy Ayala, of Excel Academy. She took down Brianna Headley, of Brockton, in 3:20 in the quarters. A pin in 1:30 of Leah Knipper-Davis, of Watertown, followed in the semifinals.
Morales wrestled Formejster last season, but did not face her this season.
“Going into this last match I wasn’t considering a pin,” Morales said. “I knew she was a tough opponent and I knew my angles I needed to get. We stuck to the plan and got what we could.”
Morales is scheduled to compete in an open high school girls tournament in Connecticut next weekend.
Hampshire Regional senior Michael Baldwin took an early lead but couldn’t hold on, falling to Russell Canova, of Danvers, 7-5 in the championship bout at 182 pounds at Saturday’s All-State championship at Methuen High School.
Baldwin scored a takedown late in the first period then opened with an escape in the second period to take a 3-0 lead on Canova.
Canova cut the deficit to 3-2 with a takedown at 1:23 of the second period. He tied it with an escape early in the third then scored another takedown at 1:30 to take a 5-3 lead.
Baldwin answered about a minute later with a reversal to tie the match at 5-5.
Canova won his second straight title with a takedown at 36 seconds in overtime. According to the Boston Herald, it was Canova’s 51st win on the season, while his career record is 166-22.
Baldwin advanced to the finals with a 7-5 win over Sean McCullough, of Lynnfield/North Reading.
Baldwin trailed 2-1 and 4-1 in the match, but an escape in the second period, followed by two technical violations by McCullough tied the match.
Baldwin made it 5-4 with an escape while a late third-period takedown made it 7-4.
Baldwin finished his career with a school-record 192 wins.