Padgett Plays It Physical : Wrestling: Century League champion at 160 pounds is favorite in the Southern Section 4-A tournament.

The subject: Matt Padgett, a junior wrestler at Canyon High School. The appraiser: Gary Bowden, in his 18th season as Canyon coach.

“He’s the most devastating, physical wrestler I’ve ever seen. I would never would want to wrestle this guy. If I saw my name next to his at a tournament, my elbow would start to hurt.

“He leaves other wrestlers a blithering pile of flesh. Some guys are so tired, they crawl off the mat.”

For the record, Padgett can’t recall anyone actually crawling off after a match, but said Bowden must have meant they merely looked so exhausted they might have wanted to crawl.

OK, so coaches know a thing or five million about hyperbole, but in this case Bowden might not be far off the mark.

Flash back to the Canyon tournament earlier this season, when Josh Gale of Esperanza, No. 1 ranked in Orange County at 171 pounds, dropped down to face Padgett at Padgett’s preferred weight of 160.

Padgett won, 19-4, in a match that was painful to watch, even for Bowden.

“It was the worst beating I’ve ever seen a good wrestler take,” Bowden said.

Flash back further now, to the 1989-90 season. It was then that Padgett earned his reputation as one of the state’s most physical wrestlers.

It also was about the time that his Canyon teammates refused to wrestle Padgett in practice (“I kept injuring them,” he said) and began calling him “Buffalo” for his squatty, 5-foot-7, 160-pound frame.

He finished that season with a school-record 35 pins.

Is that a big deal?

In the past 18 seasons, Canyon has had one national champion (Zach Cooper), three state champions (Cooper twice and Rocky Flint) and 88 league champions, including 10 this season.

But never before had a Canyon wrestler recorded 35 pins in a season.

This season, Padgett has pinned 29 of 38 opponents and has been beaten just twice.

He won the Century League championship in the 160-pound weight class last Thursday and figures to be the favorite in the Southern Section 4-A tournament, which begins Friday at Rio Hondo College in Whittier.

But he’s not sure he can top his mark of 35 pins this season, mainly because he’s become a better wrestler.

Padgett has won more and wrestled less. This season, he’s not wrestling in consolation matches for fifth place like he was last season, he’s wrestling for the championship in most tournaments.

And although he set a school record last season, he was disappointed when an injury stopped him short of the state meet. After finishing fourth at 154 pounds at the section meet, he popped a blood vessel in his knee in the first round of the Masters Meet, the state qualifying meet.

That might account for Padgett’s aggressive style, but he’s not sure. He said he’s always wrestled the same way, even as a 5-year-old.

“I’m not a boring wrestler,” Padgett said. “I beat ‘em up. I haven’t seen any wrestlers like me in California. I have a different style.”

The key, Padgett has discovered, is to bide your time until the third and final period, then pounce.

“He wrestles better when he’s (tired),” Bowden said.

Said Padgett: “That’s usually how it is. I don’t know how I do it.”

On the only occasion Padgett was overmatched this season, he came up with a frantic rally in the third period to make it close.

Trailing Jason Hendricks of San Diego Valhalla, 9-1, entering the third period, Padgett rallied to within 9-7 at the buzzer.

“I had him on his back as time ran out,” Padgett said.

It seems even in a rare defeat, Padgett has the opposition right where he wants them.

“Other coaches tell me they hate to have their guys wrestle against him,” Bowden said. “He’s absolutely incredible.”