Sherwood’s Beattie has periodic success

Montgomery County (Map, News) - Former Olympic gold medal winner Dan Gable is credited with perhaps wrestling’s most repeated adage: “The first period is won by the best technician. The second period is won by the kid in the best shape. The third period is won by the kid with the biggest heart.”

For validation of Gable’s words, Sherwood wrestling fans can point to senior Rhett Beattie.

Saturday night in the 3A/4A West Region championships, Beattie trailed Damascus senior Keith Obendorfer by two points with 19 seconds left. But fueled by an enthusiastic home crowd, Beattie summoned the strength to win the 135-pound title.

After Obendorfer surrendered a point for a false start, Beattie won a scramble. With fans yelling, “Two,” imploring the referee to award a reversal, Beattie had Obendorfer tipped on one shoulder, his legs in the air. Finally the ref shot his right arm up, two fingers extended. Four seconds later the buzzer sounded, Beattie leapt to his feet, pointed to his coach, and celebrated a 3-2 victory.

Late heroics are nothing new for Beattie. The previous week, he came from behind to beat Obendorfer, 7-3, to win his third straight Montgomery County championship. His first county title also came against Obendorfer, in overtime. Last year in the county final, Beattie needed a buzzer-beating takedown to edge Magruder’s Zach Tolbert, 4-2.

“If you don’t have great natural talent, there’s only one way to win - that’s by outworking people. That’s what Rhett does,” said coach (and uncle) Scott Beattie. “You’ll see him at school working out and ask him how he got there. He says, ‘I ran.’ It’s six or seven miles from his house.”

Beattie has a long list of dramatic victories, but it’s unlikely he ever shook as many hands as he did Saturday night. It was his final match at his home school and came on a night when his 9-year-old cousin, Callie, sang the national anthem.

Beattie’s bloodlines suggest good genes. Both his uncle and father, Duke Beattie, won Montgomery County titles in the 1970s.

“I started wrestling completely because of my dad,” said Rhett Beattie. “Every family reunion, every time my dad took me around to see his buddies, they’d all tell me, ‘Have you heard what a great wrestler your dad was?’ Every single person told me that. I wanted that. I wanted people one day to tell my kids how good I was.”

Now they’ll have some stories to tell.

Clutch stuff

» Rhett Beattie’s first region title came in his sophomore year, a 3-2 win over Magruder’s Brandon Wims.

» Beattie has beaten Obendorfer five times, all in narrow decisions.

» Beattie (34-3) has not lost a match to a Montgomery County wrestler since his sophomore year.