Jan. 10, 2007: The Salt Lake Tribune

Team 5-A Gets Boost from Layton
by Jay Drew

OREM -- Layton's Adam Fager of the 5-A team was trailing a defending state champion, Millard's TJ Robins of the 2-A/1-A team, 6-0 in a pivotal match at the Utah All-Star Wrestling Classic on Tuesday night when he decided he was downright scared.

But Robins had nothing to do with it.

"The honest truth is, I was more scared of my brother [Layton coach John Fager] than him," Adam Fager said. "I didn¹t want to get John mad."

Fager got a reversal in the second period and caught a surprised Robins on his back for a fall at the 2:52 mark.

The six points from Fager, who was second in the Arizona state tournament last year before joining his brother¹s team in Utah, in the eighth of 10 rounds essentially gave the win to Class 5-A, which finished with 37 points to edge runner-up 3-A, which had 33. Class 4-A was third with 30 and the 2-A/1-A team had 16.

Some 3,500 wrestling fans watched the proceedings at Utah Valley State College as organizers changed the format to 28 bouts, rather than 14, and utilized three mats to include 56 wrestlers.

Fager said he was happy his sudden turnaround kept the largest-school classification from getting upset, but more importantly it gave him confidence, after he lost to Robins 8-4 at the Viewmont Invitational last month.

"He thought he had it in the baggie," Fager said.

Speaking of confidence, that¹s something that Springville's two-time state champion, Jason Chamberlain, never lacks. Fresh off his win at the Reno Tournament of Champions, the junior beat Davis¹ three-time state champ Sean Porter 11-7 in the final, marquee match.

Chamberlain said he changed his strategy from last month¹s 2-1 win over Porter at the Layton Invitational "just to get into his head a little bit."

The two will likely meet again, in Saturday¹s Rocky Mountain Rumble.

"I knew when I wore him out I had him," Chamberlain said.

Other Highlights:

* Mountain Crest's Ethen Lofthouse won another match by more than eight points (16-1 over Bear River¹s Brayden Peterson), so his uncle, Rusty, will have to keep his beard for at least another few days
* Weber's Lew Woolsey trailed Altamont¹s Bryce Fisher 6-1 in the third, but rallied to tie the match and won in overtime to provide more valuable points for the 5-A team.