St Paris Graham

[Ranger123 43]

Have you seen these guys before?  I got my first look at them (not including youtube) in person today at the GMVWA and words cannot describe them.  That is a beast of a tournament and they completely dominate.  This is a tournament where Ryle finished 11th and Campbell County finished 21st.  The entire Graham team lost a total of 3 matches throughout the tournament.  In their 12 finals matches I believe they only gave up 1 takedown.  Amazing.

[oldgrappler 9]

Jeff Jordan is one of the best coaches in the nation.  On top of that, he is a genuinely nice guy.  He teaches his kids more than wrestling.

[I-pinned-em-all 0]

I am still trying to figure out my emotions after watching St Paris Graham, humbled or astonished? This weekends tournament consisted of 38 Ohio teams and 2 Ky teams, Ryle and CC. To complete an entire tournament and only lose 3 total matches is utterly amazing. This is one tough tournament. The St Paris kids didn't just win, they teched their opponent in just about every match, including 90% of the finals. These are little robots programmed to destroy. I want to check and see if these kids are even human. They were all introduced in the finals as having GPAs greater than 3.5.

A side note, one of St Paris Grahams 2008 state champions could not even make the line up this year as he was beat in wrestle offs by a 9th grader. This 9th grader won the Iron Man last week and of course mopped up everyone this tournament. In Ohio 8th graders are not allowed to wrestle varsity, otherwise, coaches predicted he would have won state last year. 

[cougars_119 0]

dang. I wonder what there practices are like.

[pioneer_pride 1]

dang. I wonder what there practices are like.

If you really want to find out, go to a Jordan camp or go do a private session with coach Avery Zerkle.  He coached their middle school for a while and was an assistant at the high school as well. 

I have some Jordan videos and watching the way those guys drill in the videos is an eye opener.  I can see why they are that good.  I talked to 2 kids that were at the GMVWA this past weekend and I have seen Graham kids on youtube...but according to these 2 kids youtube does not do justice to how good they are.

IPEA - who was the state champ from Graham that can not make the varsity line up?

[eville dad 17]

Graham is an amazing team and Jordan is the real deal and a class act!

My son went to Jordan's camp 3 consecutive summers. He used to say "it was the best and worst week of the summer" best because you get such great instruction and worst because it was a killer workout in a room full of state champions!

Seeing David Taylor (135lbs) was probably worth the price of admission. One of the best high school wrestlers in the country and probably one of Jordan's best ever.

Is Graham ranked #1 nationally this year?

[Ranger123 43]

Armstrong (125 state champ last year) was beat out by Martinez for the 130 spot.  Niebert (last year's 119 state champ) is up at 125 and Taylor is at 135 so he has nowhere to go.

[RYLE RAIDERS 0]

Tucker Armstrong is the kid's name he is an outstanding wrestler. According to this article he has moved to "CALIFORNIA"  I remember him wrestling middle school for Moeller even though he was from the Columbus Area. Then wound up at Graham. St. Paris Graham has an awesome wrestling team but not all of them grew up in a small town near Urbana!!!  

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/high-schools/2008/12/26/sns122608spwrestlingside.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

[oldwrestler81 6]

St. Paris Graham is ranked 2nd behind Blair Academy out of New Jersey. Blair beat them at the Ironman

[Ranger123 43]

Good point Ryle Raiders, but that still doesn't take away from the awesome talent that Jeff Jordan has "assembled".  I say assembled because even though he is a great coach, many of these kids have moved to wrestle for him and were extreme talents before they arrived at Graham.

[Ranger123 43]

Some of the discussion on here about the Beast of the East and Super 32 got me thinking.  With the level of KY wrestling moving up every year, how would our best (top ranked) fare against Graham in a dual.  Those who saw them this weekend please chime in, but here is how I see a match going down:

103:  Fahy v. Brascetta - good match, but Brascetta is too much - Graham leads 4-0

112: Bradbury v. Jordan - another good one, but Jordan pulls it out - Graham leads 7-0

119: Osborne (or Zarth) v. Kegley - Kegley too much - Graham leads 11-0

125: Carr v. Niebert - no contest - Graham leads 15-0

130: Ervin v. Martinez - Martinez is young, but too good - Graham leads 19-0

135: Johnson v. Taylor - based on what I saw of Taylor, 3 minutes max, he really likes to tech quickly - Graham leads 24-0

140: Davis v. Stephens - Davis' quickness may keep him in this one for a while - Graham leads 27-0

145: Shotwell v. Stephens - Stephens is a beast of a 145 - Graham leads 32-0

152: Ervin v. Evans - Evans is a freshman, but still too good - Graham leads 36-0

160: Courtney v. Ryan - one of 2 Graham kids not to win GMVWA (got 3rd) and I like Courtney, so I give him the benefit - Graham leads 36-3 (yes, we get on the board)

171: Hitchings v. Mannier - I think this would be a great match, but give the edge to Mannier - Graham leads 39-3

189: Houchens v. Thomusseit - no match - Graham leads 44-3

215: Kelly v. White - Ilg got majored, no different for Kelly - Graham leads 48-3

285: Whiting v. Williams - Williams went 0-2 this weekend, I'll give us the pin because it is 285 - Grahams wins 48-9

I see no way that we could pull enought upsets to even make it close.

[I-pinned-em-all 0]

Grahams heavy weight is ranked 1 or 2 int he state. Their varsity heavy was not at GMV. He is a beast, he goes to Zerkles and wrestles with Zerkle. Give the pin to Graham. Courtney would be Ky's only victory.

[Ranger123 43]

Grahams heavy weight is ranked 1 or 2 int he state. Their varsity heavy was not at GMV. He is a beast, he goes to Zerkles and wrestles with Zerkle. Give the pin to Graham. Courtney would be Ky's only victory.

I actually do recall that now.  Walls, he was state runner-up last season.  Okay, so revised score, 54-3.  Not pretty at all.

[ryledad 0]

Lets face it Ryle and Campbell County are two of the top ten teams in Kentucky but when they venture across the river into Ohio it is a new ballgame.  We held our own this year.  Ryle took second last year (large school)  and fourth overall but this year with a very good team did not fair quite as well.  We are still very proud of our boys efforts.  The level of competition top to bottom is totally different than in Kentucky.  There are very few easy matches in this 44 team field. 

Graham is on another planet.  Jeff Jordan is a great coach and a great no nonsense person.  My son has gone to his camp the past few years and it has made a world of difference. 

I can't say for a lot of the different wrestlers but I don't think Brascetta could beat Fahy at 103.  As a matter of fact I don't think it would be close.  I watched his match against the number 1 seed at the beast and he held his own.  I am a believer. Fahy works hard and it shows on the mat. 

If you want to be the best you have to wrestle better competition.  This tournament will definitely make you a better wrestler.  

[oldwrestler81 6]

Ranger brings up an interesting point about the "assembled" team at Graham. Coach Jordan is following a model that all the elite teams follow.  This started in the 70s in Cleveland when a real estate mogul named Howard Ferguson transformed a  mediocre Lakewood St. Edwards team into Div I state champs & national elite status in just 4-5 years.  There are a whole lot of schools that now practice this model

[grapplehed 8]

I agree but these kids are coming in from all over the country.  Ferguson was little early for me but I wrestled with many of his kids in college and most of them were home grown in the Parma area even though it was a catholic school. 

I am not sure of his format but I doubt if there are any first year wrestlers in the room.  Those kids know how to drill and drill effectively.  I have known Jeff for many years and he and his team are a class act. 

[pioneer_pride 1]

it's interesting you bring up the "drilling effectively" point.  i bought the jeff jordan videos and all the moves on there are pretty much just your basic stuff.  but watching the guys on the videos drill the moves - mostly Ben Jordan and assistant coach Lang I think, you can see why they are so good.  they do not rest for a second. 

[Ranger123 43]

Lets face it Ryle and Campbell County are two of the top ten teams in Kentucky but when they venture across the river into Ohio it is a new ballgame.  We held our own this year.  Ryle took second last year (large school)  and fourth overall but this year with a very good team did not fair quite as well.  We are still very proud of our boys efforts.  The level of competition top to bottom is totally different than in Kentucky.  There are very few easy matches in this 44 team field. 

Graham is on another planet.  Jeff Jordan is a great coach and a great no nonsense person.  My son has gone to his camp the past few years and it has made a world of difference. 

I can't say for a lot of the different wrestlers but I don't think Brascetta could beat Fahy at 103.  As a matter of fact I don't think it would be close.  I watched his match against the number 1 seed at the beast and he held his own.  I am a believer. Fahy works hard and it shows on the mat. 

If you want to be the best you have to wrestle better competition.  This tournament will definitely make you a better wrestler.  

Fahy lost to Grey of Blair 9-3 at Beast of the East.  At the Ironman Brascetta beat Grey 6-3.  Doesn't sound like an easy win for Fahy to me.

[matrat 0]

at 112 we would stand a chance because i have wrestled little jordan and he beat me by one it was at one of the camps

[wrestlewatcher 3]

The Falcons are phenominal.  As I had mentioned to some of the folks sitting around me this weekend, I think it would almost be better to not make it to the finals, then to have to face one of these gentlemen in the finals with all eyes on you as you get "schooled" by them.  You have to see it to believe it.  

[ryledad 0]

I stand corrected Ranger.

[Buckeye 20]

Martinez finished 2nd @ Ironman

http://www.flowrestling.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234265-130-lbs-high-school-rankings/89529-130lbs-felipe-martinez-st-paris-graham-oh-vs-chris-villalonga-blair-nj

[CoachBrown 12]

Felipe Martinez,Graham's freshman 130lber made the finals of the Ironman by beating Iowa signee  senior Tony Ramos, but was beaten by junior Chris Villalonga from Blair in the finals 6-1.

Graham has an incredible team and they are ranked 2nd nationally.What does that say about Blair Academy?Pretty crazy.

I saw an article online the other day asking in it if Blair had the best high school team ever.

From what I've seen, Adam Walls, Grahams Hwt. last year, transferred to Beavercreek.

[newfan13 4]

at first I was impressed with Graham. then of course I find out there are a collection team.  How are they any different from Trinity in football.  They are nice to watch but are not a "school" team.  You want to find a coach that is worth their salt, find the one that wins with what he is dealt year in and year out.  To assemble a star studded team and win is easy.  The ones I pull for are the towns that excel with homegrown kids year after year  Highlands football, Harrison County baseball, etc....  Just look at Scott County basketball this year, can you even call them Scott County any more.  Teams like Graham are great to talk about but don't ever mistake them for a team!

[Two_Cents 0]

I know very little about the Graham program other than they are very good; however, I am willing to bet money that they don't do any recruiting.  People move to the area so their son can wrestle for that program because it gives them a better chance in life.  Although there are people that have done very well with just a high school education the norm is people with higher education do better.  At Graham kids get to work with other outstanding kids every day in practice and the best way to get better is to wrestle/drill with people better than you.  The other benefit Graham has to offer is the exposure.  I would find it hard to believe that there is any DI program out there that doesn't take an opportunity to watch Graham and Blair and other teams like that every year.  This is not to say that other kids don't get scholarships but the more exposure you get the better chance you have to get one.

I find it hard to blame a program for being a "collection team" that kids and families gravitate too, again assuming that there is no recruiting going on.