Eric Halsall won the match that mattered the most Saturday - a provincial high school wrestling title.
Halsall, a Grade 12 D.P. Todd student, rallied from a 10-2 deficit to take down Justin Gill from Abbotsford's Rick Hansen secondary to win the 74-kilogram class at the B.C. High School provincial championship in front his hometown crowd at the Northern Sport Centre.
Gill was a worthy opponent. He won the high school provincial 70kg class as a Grade 11 student last year, and the 2013 FILA (International Federation of Associated Wrestling styles) national cadet and juvenile championship.
Saturday, Gill had control of the match with a 10-0 lead until Halsall turned things around in the final minute and got the pin for the win with 20 seconds left in the bout.
The hometown fans went wild.
Halsall's coach Louie Van Grootel picked his wrestler up off the mat and hugged him.
"I don't remember too much when [Justin] was holding me down, when I got him, I got him into a position and held on for the pin," said Halsall after receiving his gold medal. "I've wrestled Justin three times and he's beat me all three times. It feels great to have all the support here. I can't describe it, it's unreal."
Van Grootel didn't say too much to the 17-year-old Halsall prior to the championship bout. He just gave him his routine and what the expectation was going in.
Halsall, the underdog, simply took a drink of water and stepped onto the mat to begin the match.
Trailing 10-0, Halsall performed what Van Grootel described as a "double elbows on back" move on Gill to regain control.
"You can't get closer to defeat than that [down 10-0]," said Van Grootel. "Pulling a victory out like that... that's exactly the situation that provided the opportunity to come back.
"To pull it off in front of his hometown crowd at B.C. provincials, I couldn't ask for anything more."
Halsall, along with a core group of 15 Prince George high school athletes, were among the 438 grapplers from B.C. high schools who stepped onto the six mats Friday at the NSC to begin the provincial tournament.
Colton Illingworth, a Grade 9 student from College Heights, finished with a 3-2 record in the 63kg class. Dan Gillis, a PGSS senior, finished out of the top-six in the 84kg class.
All three train with a large group of athletes at PGSS, guided by Van Grootel, who also served as the tournament director for the provincial high school championship.
It was the fourth time Prince George hosted the provincial tourney. The other years were 1983, 1992, and 2006.
Van Grootel hopes the success of provincials will spark more interest in the sport.
"Eric's title is a big win," said Van Grootel. "We're happy to have the event here.
"It's an inclusive sport and has every body type for guys and girls and it's how people wrestle to those strengths," he said Friday.
Twenty-eight championship finals were featured on the mats Saturday afternoon, with weight classes ranging from boys 38kg and girls 43kg, all the way up to boys 130kg and girls 90kg.
