Alius DeLaRosa wins 4th state title for Post Falls

POCATELLO – Alius DeLaRosa ran his hands along the sides of his head and then hugged everyone in sight, seeking to bask in the enormity of his accomplishment. His father and assistant wrestling coach, Abe, let the tears freely flow.

The Post Falls senior had just defeated Centennial’s James Fisher 6-0 in Saturday’s 5A 145-pound state championship match, becoming the school’s first four-time state champion and avenging a loss to Fisher in their last matchup less than a month ago.

DeLaRosa is headed out on top, both individually and as a team: his match was the last that Post Falls wrestled this season, and it punctuated a dominant performance that led to a runaway defense of the Trojans’ team championship.

“I’m just so blessed, with this ability and love for wrestling,” said DeLaRosa. “I was a little nervous out there, but God is so good. I got lost in my own glory for a while this season, but when I was able to put everything back in perspective, I wrestled better.”

DeLaRosa and the Trojans dominated their 5A opponents, beating second-place Columbia by 82 points. They did it on the strength of four champions, seven finalists, and 12 placers.

Not bad for a team that didn’t know where it was going to land at the beginning of the season, having turned over a handful of key wrestlers from last season’s championship team.

But by the time state rolled around, Post Falls was as knit-together a team as they comes, through Bible study, prayer and punishing opponents on the mat.

“At the beginning of the season, I didn’t expect this. But when we got here, I knew it was doable if we wrestled well,” said Trojans 120-pounder Matt McLeod, who won his first state championship by a 3-1 decision over Highland’s Dekker Anderson. “We weren’t sure how it was going to happen, but we came together both as a team and as a family.”

It’s a family that won’t be totally broken up anytime soon, either, with nine underclassmen going deep enough into the 2016 tournament to place.

It’s anchored by the lower weights, including one guy who took the first step toward possibly joining DeLaRosa’s rarified air one day. Ridge Lovett, a freshman 98-pounder, capped a 40-0 season by winning the 5A individual title with a third-period pin of Hillcrest’s Derek Ramos.

“It’s every wrestler’s goal to win every match and to win four state titles (in high school),” said Lovett. “It feels really good (to go undefeated). I just tried to push the pace today, because I knew he wanted to slow it down, and it worked.”

Lovett got his job done right out of the gate. T.J. Wolf, on the other hand, had to wait longer than everyone to get involved in the action Saturday: his semifinal opponent was disqualified on Friday evening, giving him a bye straight into Saturday night’s finals.

He made the most of the wait, beating Columbia’s Kade Grigsby 2-0 on points at 138 pounds to repeat as a state champion.

Wolf and DeLaRosa were the two Post Falls seniors who competed for, and won, titles on Saturday. Also reaching the finals were Mathias DeLaRosa, Braydon Huber and Jordan Grimm. All lost Saturday evening, but each has at least two more shots at winning a title of his own.

Asked about his future plans, Alius DeLaRosa paused before saying he thinks this is it for him. He hopes to go to school at Washington and focus on his studies, leaving wrestling in the history books, where his name now lies in Post Falls lore.

“I’m going out on top,” he said.