By Mike Tupa

mtupa@examiner-enterprise.com

Victory came down to more than just strength, technique, experience, skill and mistakes in Thursday’s wrestling match at Bartlesville High School.

The final determining factor — and the biggest muscle of them all — was heart.

Plain, old-fashioned, deep-in-the-gut, refusal-to-lose, gritty, beyond-exhaustion determination heart.

The Bartlesville Bruins proved to have just a little more than the Owasso Rams.

Final score: Bartlesville 36, Owasso 35.

One can point to the final match — the 220-pound war between Bartlesville’s Lukas Hammack and Owasso’s Devin Harris — as the climax of a brutally-fought and thrilling competition, played about before hundreds spectators at the old Phillips Fieldhouse.

But, one has to dial back to a little earlier in the match to consider what might have been the blockbuster determiner of victory or defeat.

That took place in the 172-pound match, with Austin Manley battling for Bartlesville.

Manley — a senior gladiator — did not get off to a good start. His wily and talented Owasso foe racked up a takedown with 28 seconds left in the first period to go ahead, 2-0.

In the second period, Manley earned an escape point — and that was it. He spend most the rest of the period on his stomach or back trying to avoid a pin, as his opponent held on to a 2-1 lead.

But, at the start of the third period, Manley’s heart then went into overdrive.

He opened the period in the bottom position and quickly made a two-point move to go ahead, 3-2.

Manley then gutted it out the rest of the way — even adding two more points — to win, 5-2.

His victory lifted Bartlesville into the lead, 27-26, with four matches remaining.

At 182 pounds, Blake Buoy of Bartlesville fell, 6-3. But, he still contributed to the victory by not giving up any bonus points (major decision, tech fall or fall).

Buoy trailed by the end of the first period, 4-1, but narrowed the gap to 4-3 in the second period — aided by a one-point penalty on his foe for unnecessary roughness.

In the third period, the Owasso grappler picked up two points on a reverse to claim the three-point win and put Owasso back into the lead, 29-27.

The Bruins then forfeited at 195 pounds and Owasso increased its lead to eight points, 35-27.

That’s when the weight of triumph or loss fell on the shoulders of Hammack in the 220 pound showdown.

Bartlesville already was assured six more points because Owasso was going to forfeit at heavyweight (285) to Bartlesville’s Rylan Reynolds.

In effect, only a two-point gap — in favor of Owasso — existed when Hammack and Harris took the mat.

Harris could nail down the road win for the Rams by beating Hammack — a Hammack victory would give Bartlesville the nod.

Hammack and his Owasso challenger sparred and felt each other out through most the opening period. But, with six seconds left in the period, the Owasso grappler recorded a fall to go ahead, 2-0.

In the second period, Hammack turned the tables to go up, 4-2, with a 1:00 left. However, the Owasso wrestler got back one of the points before the period’s end and Hammack led, 4-3.

Just one period left.

Both wrestlers fought fiercely for supremacy, but Hammack displayed the upper hand through most the period and went ahead, 5-3.

A stalling call, with 10 seconds left, gave the Owasso matter one final chance for a takedown. But, Hammack refused to oblige and held on to win, 5-3, and push Bartlesville to the 36-35 win (after Reynolds received his forfeit).

The dual closed out Bartlesville’s home schedule.

The match started out with Bartlesville’s David Boucher awarded a forfeit at 106 pounds.

At 113 pounds, Corwin Strachan of Bartlesville pinned his Owasso opponent in the first round to put Bartlesville ahead, 12-0.

Bartlesville’s Ethan Gilkey fought valiantly at 120 pounds but came up on the short end in a 10-4 decision. Gilkey had trailed 6-0 through two periods to Owasso’s Zeke Washington before finishing strong in the third period.

At 126 pounds, Bartlesville’s Brayden Strachan registered a second-period pin — while leading 6-0 — to lift Bartlesville to an 18-3 lead.

But, in a high-scoring tussle at 132 pounds, the Owasso matter downed Bartlesville’s Kamron Parra with a technical fall, 19-4, with just seven seconds left in the third period.

Bartlesville’s Ashton Becker turned in a strong effort at 138 pounds, but suffered a second-period pin.

At this point, Bartlesville led, 18-14.

Owasso forfeited at 145 pounds, which widened the Bruin lead to 24-14.

But, Bartlesville then dropped back-to-back matches by pins to Brody Lawson (152) and Laken Clowdus (160), which bumped Owasso into the lead, 26-24.

Manley’s win at 172 flip-flopped the lead in favor of the Bruins, 27-26.

Buoy’s loss by decision at 182 kept the Bruins in contention, even though they forfeited at 195 to put Owasso ahead, 35-27.

Hammack then got it done at 220 — and the Bruins claimed one of the most significant dual victories in years.

Next up for the Bruins is the Will Rogers Conference tournament.