COLUMBIA, Mo – AJ Rallo was already a three-time state champion when he bought into changing his wrestling style.
As a scrambler who wrestled primarily in attack mode, Rallo would win matches by the sheer volume of points scored despite surrendering a few takedowns and reversals along the way.
He won three state titles (106, 113, 126), but when he moved up to wrestle at 138-pounds this season, his style was not nearly as effective.
“Early in the season he suffered some setbacks because he was trying the style he was accustomed to scoring with and it wasn’t always working,” Whitfield coach Charlie Sherertz said. “People would score off him being overaggressive, so we modified a lot of those behaviors, with strong results.”
Rallo (44-5) yielded no points for the duration of the state tournament, capped off by a 6-0 decision over Hannibal junior Cody Culp to claim his fourth consecutive state title at the Class 3 MSHSAA wrestling state championships Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
Early in the season, Rallo lost a 6-1 decision to Buford (GA) 7A state champion Drew Gorman in the Kansas City Stampede title match and a 9-2 decision to Illinois 2A state champion Santino Robinson in the Red Schmitt Invitational title match in Granite City.
“AJ was a really big 106, a really big 113, a pretty big 126, but he’s an average-sized 138-pounder,” Sherertz said. “In years past, he would overwhelm his opponents, but he had to become more technical.”
At the Geary Invitational in Oklahoma, Rallo lost twice but only by 2-1 and 1-0 scores and the conversion from scrambler to technician was almost complete.
“I worked on being patient, going from one move to the next, keeping my wrestling simpler instead of all sporadic and crazy,” Rallo said.
When Rallo reached the District 2 tournament, the changes he made in his style were validated with a 1-0 decision over Culp to win the district title.
And as the state tournament approached, the feeling of being a 4-time state champion became palpable.
“When I got here, I was thinking, ‘I’ve got four more matches in my high school career, let’s end it on a perfect note,’” Rallo said.
He won his first two matches by pin and technical fall before gutting out a 3-0 decision against McDonald County senior Blaine Ortiz to reach the state final.
“After the semis, I was a little nervous, but I started thinking that (Culp) is the one trying to take my fourth state title from me and it made me angry,” Rallo said. “It kept me on the gas pedal.”
A gas pedal with less acceleration than in year’s past.
“I would describe him as an impatient kid by nature who had to learn patience, and it paid off,” Sherertz said.
Rallo began dreaming about the possibility of being a four-time state champion after his Class 1 title in 2020.
“Thinking back to three years ago, I thought that this might be possible, but thinking about how many pits and valleys I’d have to go through to get there was kind of daunting, but every year I got a little bit closer,” Rallo said.
He added, “I’m just so grateful I got this opportunity to become a four-timer, and the fact that I am is so surreal.”
Rallo finished his career with a 156-17 record.
Matecki claims third state title by winning rematch with Alexander.
Whitfield junior Porter Matecki had to defeat a familiar competitor to claim his third state title.
Matecki (41-2) defeated Gavin Alexander of Hillsboro 4-1 to win the 126-pound state title one year after outlasting Alexander 3-2 to win the 120-pound championship.
Prior to the state tournament, the two wrestled a classic match in the semifinals of the Kyle Thrasher Invitational in the final regular season tournament for both teams.
Matecki, who is usually very stingy in giving up takedowns, surrendered two late takedowns to Alexander and trailed 4-3 before coming from behind to win 5-4.
“I think it was a moral victory for (Alexander),” Sherertz said. “We knew that this match could happen again and it was going to be very difficult.”
On Saturday, Matecki grabbed another 3-0 lead and thought of the Thrasher match.
“In the third period, I thought, ‘I’m not going to let him score on me at all,’” Matecki said.
Matecki was knocked with a penalty point, but Alexander was dinged for unnecessary roughness soon after, and Matecki kept the attacking Alexander from scoring the rest of the way.
“Porter is like glue that you get on one hand, and you peel it off, and it gets stuck to this hand. You just can’t shake him off,” Sherertz said. “That’s how he was in this match. It looked like (Alexander) was about to score, about to score, about to score, and then didn’t score.”
Matecki, who wrestled most of the season with a high ankle sprain, feels his abilities on top and bottom are his strengths but credits his improvement on his feet for how he was able to earn a third state title.
“I feel like I’ve improved this year, especially on offense with getting takedowns,” said Matecki, who is 126-8 in his career.
In Matecki’s quest to be a four-time state champion, Rallo offers this advice:
“Don’t look too far forward, just take it one match at a time and improve as much as you can.”
Rallo added, “Focus on the adventure instead of the destination.”
Bourke wins 150-pound title
Senior Noah Bourke (43-6) also won a state title for Whitfield by squeaking out a 3-2 victory in the final seconds over Smithville junior Alexander Hutchcraft in the 150-pound title match. Bourke won his quarterfinal match in overtime and showed an uncanny knack for finding ways to win in desperate moments.
“He’s a coach’s dream. I’m so proud of him,” Sherertz said.
Whitfield placed second overall in team points to Hillsboro, the first time the Warriors did not take home a first-place trophy since 2016. Despite losing talented seniors like Rallo and Bourke, Sherertz is excited for the promise of the years to come.
“Our freshman and sophomores are going to continue to develop and they’re going to be stars,” Sherertz said.