Punahou’s Legend Matautia got through the first round, pinning Kaimuki’s Harry Lloyd at 1:43 of their 220-pound match at the Texaco/HHSAA Wrestling State Championships on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Matautia remembers seeing Lloyd wrestle for Damien, when Lloyd was in the 285-pound division.
“I was pretty surprised when I saw that he (slimmed down),” Matautia said about Lloyd, who had some pretty big upsets when he was with the Monarchs before his transfer.
If he ends up making it to the final, Matautia said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Kamehameha’s Brock Ai there.
“I’ve been going against him for a long time,” he said. “He’s probably kind of angry at me.”
Matautia defeated Ai 5-2 in an ILH dual meet earlier this season.
“That was pretty close,” he said.
Last year, Matautia pinned Ai once and beat him 8-0.
Against Lloyd, he wasn’t fully ready.
“I gotta wrestler harder,” Matautia said. “I wasn’t warm during that match. I gotta get warmer so I can empty out the whole tank. I’ll be ready (for the next match)”
Two years ago, Lloyd beat then-No. 10 pound-for-pound wrestler Kayson Kekahuna of Saint Louis in the ILH semifinals.
Earlier that year, Lloyd knocked off top-seeded Chance Rodrigues of Maui in the Officials tournament semifinals.
COMMENTS