By Kim J. Harmon

 

Bob Pattison did not build his career in 12 seconds – but 12 seconds may have been all it took to raise that career into the pantheon of Newtown High School athletics.

Bobbo, as his teammates like to call him, has always been a running back and a linebacker and in an effort to better prepare himself for both of those vocations – through working out and weightlifting in the off season – he never had the time to wrestle.

Until this past winter.

And what a winter it was.

Sure, a 32-9 record is pretty impressive in itself but what stood out more than anything else was one particular bout with Ben Haddon of Brookfield on January 19. Bobby was not long on technique – wrestling on sheer strength and desire in what he called “a controlled street fight” – and the match with Haddon was one of those tests of wills.

Both wrestlers appeared immovable and the match was destined for overtime when Bobby was inexplicably taken down. So, with Bobby facing a 3-1 deficit with 12.3 seconds left everyone knew what he had to do – though everyone in the gym thought there was no possible way he could do it.

But he did.

“I didn’t have the arsenal to reverse him,” said Bobby, 17. “Everyone thought the match was over, but I was going to fight to the end. I knew what I had to do – escape and then take him down – and when the ref blew the whistle I exploded (off the mat).”

Bobby earned the escape in less than two seconds and then paused at the edge of the circle for a heartbeat before rushing Haddon like a linebacker going after a ball carrier. Bobby got the takedown and – incredibly – still had to hold Haddon in place for a couple of seconds before the final horn sounded.

The fans erupted.

“I just sprawled out,” said Bobby. “I was so tired and I wasn’t even sure I had won because I was working on so much adrenaline. Then I looked up at the scoreboard …”

And if the reaction of the fans didn’t tell the tale, the scoreboard certainly did.

“I definitely regret not going out (for wrestling) as a freshman,” said Bobby, who also played lacrosse for two years and became a formidable longstick defenseman. “I didn’t have a lot of technique, but if I had I feel like I could have beaten some of the best in the state.”

Who could doubt that? Toughness and determination has never been an issue with Bobby Pattison, a hard as nails football player who played a heck of a lot bigger and a heck of a lot heavier than he really was. And when he says he is going to walk on at Division I-AA Central Connecticut this coming fall, who could doubt that?

Determination – Bobby was brimming with it last September as a tri-captain with the football team. Having spent most of his junior year on the sidelines recovering from injuries, Bobby was determined to be productive and to make an impact on a team that had been suffering through some on- and off-the-field malaise the previous two years.

“We returned a lot of seniors,” he said, “a big transfer (Brennan Coakley – a Penn State recruit) and there was the overall commitment and the type of kids we had. We were tired of losing and we felt it was time for a little payback.”

But on opening day, on the turf at Danbury High, Pomperaug thoroughly and monumentally crushed the Nighthawks. Everything that could go wrong did and the destruction was so complete and so embarrassing that the players heard about it in the hallways of Newtown High School.

“We had been hyped up in the papers,” said Bobby, “but everything we worked for was in question. We weren’t sure if we were good or not.”

From that moment on, though, the Nighthawks went 7-1-1 and were just one play – an extra point in a 20-20 tie with Bunnell – from reaching the CIAC Class L state playoffs. Bobby rushed for a team-high 739 yards with a team-high eight touchdowns. And in a thrilling 27-21 win over rival Masuk on the eve of Thanksgiving, Bobby rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown.

So, except for that season-opening blowout everything worked out well.

“Yes – it was a great season,” said Bobby, “but we look back on it and think that it could have been so much greater.”

Outside of a 1,000-yard rushing season or a CIAC state wrestling title, the same could hardly be said about Bobby Pattison. His strength and determination – as well as one of the greatest wrestling moments many people are ever likely to see – made for one heck of a year anyway.