Emotions filled the arena.

From the floor where the wrestling action took place to the top row of Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the spectators were on tilt after each big move on the six mats below.

If there was a unit of measure zeroed in on the amount of voltage coming off emotional outbursts that followed winning a state title it would have powered the city of Phoenix Saturday night.

And no one might have brought more of an outburst than Canyon View’s 132-pound sophomore Breiden Ralls.

He overpowered Flowing Wells’ Seferino de la Rosa with a first period cradle and yelled “I’m him! I’m him!” as he pointed to his chest. Or maybe it was “I’m the one.” Possibly, “I’m the man.”

While it wasn’t clear exactly what was said, one thing that can’t be questioned is Ralls is on an elite path. Two seasons, two state titles.

It’s why he let the emotions rip.

“I do it for may family,” he said of his emotional outburst. “It’s about winning. Pride. Bragging rights. Wanting to be the best.”

There are team points kept, and a trophy award to the best team and he likes competing with his Jaguar teammates, but it’s a one-on-one combat sport.

They practice together but compete alone.

“You want your team to win, but you practice for yourself,” he said. “You’re the only one out there and you have to get it after it.”

He did just that and so did his teammates.

Ralls was one of five champions for Canyon View as it ran away with its third straight Division II team championship with 272.5 points, which was the eighth most in Arizona history, as all 13 wrestlers who qualfied placed with the sole exception was heavyweight.

Arizona College Prep was second with 159, while Marna Mountain View (139.5), Cienega (138.5) and Flowing Wells (109.5) rounded out the top five.

Canyon View’s other state champions were Chris Ramirez (120), Justyn Bamba (126), Matthew Krawczenko (138) and Steven Robles (157) with two runners-up in Levi Chicas (144) and Tavier Garcia (175).

Ramirez, whose personality and reaction was rather calm compared to Ralls, won his third and will go for number four next year.

"It means a lot to show pride in my community and school," Ramirez said. "It shows the power I have inside of me and how I can push myself to different levels when I need to.

"It also shows how much we work we do in practice. We don't take any days off. You can't." 

Other individual champions were Flowing Wells’ Alejandro de la Rosa (106), Campo Verde’s Trey Kessinger (113), Ironwood’s Julian Macias (144) and Anthony Lopez (150), Pueblo’s Jozeph Smith (165), Arizona College Prep’s Gabin Sisamout (175) and Sean Luedy (190), Cienega’s Adrian Berryhill (215) and Andrei Davis-Lopez (HVY).

One of the wrestlers who was able to repeat as champion was Campo Verde’s Kessinger, who was picked up by Coyotes coach Chris Bishop and twirled around.

He doesn’t have the typical wrestlers physique and it’s actually one of his advantages. Kessinger stands nearly 5-foot-10 at 115 pounds.

The lankiness and long limbs give him leverage and other advantages that equals two state titles for the Coyotes.

“He’s incredible, and he has the perfect body type for his weight class,” Campo Verde coach Chris Bishop said. “He can take shots and get extended and still finish it for points. When he is on top, it is so hard to get away from him.”

Kessinger came into the program technically sound and he had good mat awareness. The one thing the Campo Verde coaching staff helped with was the mental side.

“He had to work on himself a little bit,” Bishop said. “He used to get really nervous for matches. He had to work on his focus. We didn’t have to work his wrestling very much, but the mental side. We were more of manager than coach.”

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