Plano East junior Bilal Habib, left, earned fifth place at 106 pounds at the Class 6A state wrestling tournament in Cypress. Photo by Jerry Winfrey / C&S Media
By David Wolman
After missing the cut for the state tournament by one win during his freshman and sophomore seasons, Plano East’s Bilal Habib found himself on the medal stand last Saturday after earning fifth place at 106 pounds in the Class 6A state tournament at the Berry Center in Cypress.
Habib, fresh off winning the Region II-6A title in his weight class, entered the state tournament as the No. 3 seed at 106 pounds.
The Plano East junior needed just one match to earn his first-ever win at the state tournament, posting a 6-3 sudden-victory win over Schertz Clemens’ Rykardo Villafuente in the opening round. Habib led by one point going into the third period, but a penalty with 20 seconds left tied the score at 3-3. However, Habib regrouped and notched a takedown 37 seconds into overtime to win the match.
In the quarterfinals, Habib lost by an 11-3 major decision to Bridgeland’s Sebastian Garcia, pushing him to the consolation side of the 106-pound bracket.
Habib didn’t let the setback affect the remainder of his performance at the state tournament. He got back to his winning ways with a victory over Little Elm’s Tristan Parks in his next match, then made it two straight wins with a pin of Houston Westside’s Andrew Rodriguez in the consolation third round. Habib fought back from a 7-0 deficit against Rodriguez before recording a pin at the 4:07 mark.
Habib’s win over Rodriguez guaranteed him a top-six finish.
In the consolation semifinals, Habib lost by a 14-4 major decision to Houston Clear Lake’s Felix Morales.
In the fifth-place match, Habib earned a measure of revenge against Garcia, recording a pin in the third period. Garcia led 5-3 with less than one minute left in the second period, but a two-point reversal and a three-point near fall during the final 38 seconds put Habib back in the lead before he finished off Garcia in the third period.
Habib finished his junior season with a 30-5 record and won both the District 6-6A and Region II-6A titles at 106 pounds before capping off a breakout season with a podium finish at the state tournament.
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