Broken Arrow High School wrestling again reigns supreme in Oklahoma 6A wrestling after the Tiger grapplers captured the 2010 6A State Championship in come from behind fashion in Oklahoma City during the last weekend of Feb.

The Tigers of head coach Shawn Jones crowned three individual state champions to overcome an eight point first day deficit to win Broken Arrow’s first state wrestling tournament championship since 2002.

Zach Skates won his second straight individual state title, capturing the 160 category.  Cody Johnson won the 189 championship, and Terry Williamson joined Skates as a repeat state champion, taking top honors in the 285 or heavyweight division.

“Zach Skates is now a two-time State Champion and a Junior, Jones said.  His tournament went as expected as he dominated in his 3 matches. We knew Cody Johnson could win it, he wrestled a kid who had previously beaten him in the Semi's, but we felt good about the rematch.  He dominated the Choctaw kid in the finals Terry Williamson won his second title versus the same Stillwater kid he faced in the finals last year.  Always a tough match, Terry wrestled a very smart match, and got the win.

Other Tiger wrestlers also performed well in the clutch as Keithen Cast was runner-up at 171 and Chase Ferman (125) and Seth Calvert (152) picked up bronze medals.

“It was a great weekend,” Jones said. “In 4 of the 5 matches we wrestled and lost on Friday we were not favored in.  Chase Ferman was upset, and Seth Calvert had a big win against a Muskogee kid he had been beaten by 2 previous times.  We knew Chase had to come back and take 3rd, and he did, pinning 2 of his 3 opponents!  Seth went out and did what we thought he could do the entire year.  He had a great tournament, and in taking 3rd, helped to win the Championship.”

Jones said the team began thinking about the 2010 state tournament moments after falling just short in the team championship race in the 2009 state tournament.

“After we were eliminated from Dual State we got to focus on the fact that we were a better tournament team than dual.  We only lost 3 duals, but always felt the tournament format fit us better.  We knew last year with what we had returning, we could win it.  You still have to go and do it, but we were confident with the team we had.  From the day the State Championship 2009 was over, we went to work preparing for this weekend.  We repetitively talked to the kids about were working and doing these things to be State Champs next year.  If you read some of the quotes in the paper, the individuals were more excited about winning it as a team, than getting their individual medals.”

It’s another state championship for what many call the first coaching family of Oklahoma high school wrestling.  Head coach Shawn Jones, who is assisted by his brother Rodney Jones, now has a state championship as does his other brother Biff Jones, who won a crown at Glenpool in 2002.  Their father, the legendary Ernie Jones has eight state championships to his credit during stops at Booker T Washington, Tulsa Webster, and Cascia Hall.