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Show . . . " ; I Y J . : ' " I )?- ' X ' W ixx ' --x x j: - ' ''X'4,i ' r '' 'x' . FEET FLY as Utah's Stewart Richards, left, engages in a battle with Japan's Masao Kubo during the Utah AAU Wrestling Exchange Ex-change Meet between the Utah All Stars and the Japanese Na tional Team, December 30 at Uintah High School in Vernal. Richards downed Kubo, 11-1 but the Japanese crew won the meet by the score of 6-5. J(op(orDese (coDOimD Teomfi) The Japanese National Team nipped the Utah All-Star team 6 to 5 when 178 pounder Hisaharu Hayashi pinned Gary Coffman of Tooele in the final match of the evening during the Utah AAU Exchange Meet in Vernal Dec. 30 at Uintah High School, but the real key to triumph by the Japanese team was a two point exposure (back is exposed to the mat) by 121 pounder Toshihiko Ayai in his match with Uintah's Jeff Good in the final seconds. Ayai gained the two points to tie up the match at 7-7 and won the contest because he had more back points than Good. A win by Good would have given the Utah team a 6-5 win. Good jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first round due to two takedowns and a two-point exposure. Uintah's Good added two more takedowns in the second round, but Ayai netted a two-point two-point move and a one pointer to cut Good's lead to 6-3. Good acquired a takedown for a 7-3 lead, but Ayai scored four points to tie up the contest at 7-7. Ayai gained his final point at the buzzer. Uintah Ute graduate Josh Reynolds, 114, started the meet off on an exciting note as he pounded Hajime Kanemura to the mat for a pin after only 53 seconds of wrestling action. Reynolds grabbed a two point move and the pin gave Utah a 1-0 lead. The Ute rrpw broke the 1-1 tie when Stewart Richards, a Box Elder graduate, bombed Masao Kubo in a 121 pound match, 11 to 1. Richards pocketed two takedowns and two two-point two-point exposures for a 4-0 lead in the first round. Richards added another two point move in the second round for an 8-1 8-1 advantage and nabbed three points in the final round for a 11-1 win and a 2-1 Utah team lead. Yasharu Hayashi tied up the team score at 2-2 when he pinned Uintah's Torr McCurdy with 1:12 left in the second round. Hayashi had a 4-2 lead after one round of action. A 3-2 lead was acquired by the Utah team when Skyline's John Robbins dropped Kazumi Daigo, 138, to the canvas for a fall with 1:07 remaining in the second round. Daigo had a 3-1 lead at the end of the first round due to a takedown and a two-point exposure. Robbins cut Daigo's lead to 5-3 and then ended the match with a pin. The Utah team's Reynolds forced his Japanese opponent to suffer fall fallout with a lightning quick pin in the first round in the opening match and now it was the Japanese team's turn to burn an opponent with a hot blazing pin as 154 pounder Osamu Itokawa forced Skyline's Chad Gallagher to kiss the mat with 51 seconds left in the first round. A 4-3 advantage was pocketed by the Japanese team when Masaru Furuhashi, 160, edged Uintah's Pat Jenkins 7 to 6 in a match which was close all the way. Jenkins nabbed a two-point two-point exposure move in the first round for a 2-1 lead, but Furuhashi outscored Jenkins 4-3 to tie up the contest at 5-5 after two rounds of action. Furuhashi gained four points on back exposure moves and Jenkins netted a takedown and a two-point exposure. Furuhashi gained a two-point exposure for a 7-5 lead and Jenkins scored one point to make the final score 7-6. "1 hope I get out of this round alive." Prayers by 160 pounder Yoshinobu Hirayama weren't answered. Uintah's Randy Smuin pinned his Japanese opponent with two seconds left in the second round to tie up the contest at 4-4. . Smuin grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first round on a two-point exposure and a takedown. The wrestling news appeared to be good news for the Utah team as Jeff Allredge of Bingham had a 5-2 lead over Japanese tussler Hiroyuki Matsui, 165, in the first round due to three takedowns and a two-point exposure, but the good news turned into bad news for the Utah team as Matsui jolted the packed crowd in the Uintah gymnasium gym-nasium when he pinned Allredge with 26 seconds left in the second round which gave the Japanese team a 5 to 4 lead. Uintah's Jody Young hit the jackpot in takedowns as he bombed Hiroshi Yamada with seven takedowns and thumped his opponent 11 to 4 to tie up the contest at 5-5. Young grabbed three . takedowns in the first round for a 3-2 . lead and added a takedown and a two-point two-point exposure in the second round for a ? f 'if , - CTV " ' f r t ' c ' 1 I N - V UTAH MATMAN, Jeff Good, right, competes in a battle with Japan's Toshihiko Ayai in the second . 4 match in the Utah-Japanese National Team Meet, December 30. 6-2 advantage. Young nabbed a two-point two-point exposure and three takedowns in the third round. After ten matches of freestyle wrestling action the winning team wasn't decided yet and the final match between Utah's Coffman and Hayashi, 178, would determine the winner. The Japanese team became the victors as Hayashi gained a pin in the second round just before the buzzer. Hayashi had a 2-1 lead after one round due to a two-point exposure. Mike Smith, Vernal Junior High and J.J. Simon of Salt Lake City battled in an exhibition match and Smith, 105, emerged as the winner due to a fall with 1:11 left in the second round. Simon had a 2-1 lead after one round, but Smith didn't disappoint his fans as he treated them to a second round pin. Wrestling opponents for Ryan Sid-doway, Sid-doway, 95; David Gurr, 105 and Craig Funk, 112, failed to show up. Kenny Cobbs, a Uintah graduate, was originally scheduled to wrestle at 178 pounds, but Coffman was brought in from Tooele to wrestle at 178. |