HIGH ACHIEVERS: Dexter Bates caps perfect high school wrestling season with historic OFSAA gold

By Martin Cleary

Perfection in sport is a lofty and highly unachievable goal, but it does happen, when you least expect it.

In baseball, if a pitcher throws a no-hitter or, better still, a perfect game (27 batters up, 27 batters down), that’s perfection.

In bowling, if someone makes 12 strikes in a row in one game for a score of 450 in five-pin or 300 in 10-pin, that’s perfection.

In wrestling, perfection plays out in a totally different manner and Dexter Bates knows all about it.

The Grade 11 Holy Trinity Catholic High School student-athlete recently finished his third varsity wrestling season with the Tornadoes and his numbers were astonishing.

Here’s the breakdown on his immaculate high school season, which started with two dual matches and unfolded with the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association west conference championships, the NCSSAA city finals and the OFSAA provincial high school championships.

Bates competed in 15 meets in the boys’ 64-kilogram class and won all 15. Every one of his 15 matches was decided in the first of two rounds. Throughout his 15 matches, he didn’t allow a single point against him, which is extremely rare, especially at the OFSAA level.

“Not conceding a point at OFSAA wrestling is a feat that seldom occurs,” said NCSSAA wrestling convenor Jason Kirby in an email interview. “He has a bright future ahead of him and has certainly served notice he’s the one to beat next year as a senior at Holy Trinity.”

It also was the first time a Holy Trinity student-athlete had won a gold medal at the OFSAA wrestling championships.

His perfect season came on the heels of a difficult 2024 OFSAA championship, which was stymied by an injury. After losing his first match to eventual silver-medallist Luke Redmond-Jaworsk of Monsignor Doyle 19-9, he won his second match over Pascal Hunt of Theriault 11-0 to keep his medal hopes alive for the bronze.

But during his second match, he slammed his head into the mat, blacked out briefly, but finished with the win. After the match, he was checked out by the medical staff, which determined Bates had suffered a concussion. Bates sadly withdrew from the competition.

“I was obviously upset,” Bates said in a recent phone interview. A year earlier as a Grade 9 student, he placed seventh in his first OFSAA in the boys’ 61-kilogram division, which was held at The Arena at TD Place in Ottawa.

“This was my redemption year. I had been doing a lot more training and I was confident I could go all the way to the top three.”

Bates, 17, did better than that as he won five consecutive matches over two days in Kitchener and emerged as the undefeated boys’ 64-kilogram gold medallist without allowing a single point.

“The biggest thing is to be patient and trust the process,” Bates said, explaining his approach to posting shutout victories.

In his first two years as a wrestler, he would participate in many tournaments and come away with an array of wins and losses. He studied each loss and corrected his mistakes for future bouts. Over time, he has slowly improved to the point where he struck a hit note as an OFSAA champion.

“I can’t say I expected it (a perfect season). I expected more big struggles. I thought it would be a double-digit match versus my opponent in the final. Since I saw him last, I have improved drastically,” Bates said.

In the boys’ 64-kilogram final, Bates confronted Arden O’Neill of Nouvelle-Alliance in Barrie for the second time in about a month. Bates had defeated O’Neill 21-10 in the quarterfinals of the Ontario boys’ juvenile championship in Markham in early February.

But in the OFSAA final, Bates was unstoppable, scoring a 10-0 decision in only 40 seconds on the strength of a couple of takedown moves.

“He was my hardest match. Going in, I was very nervous. I knew he knew my strengths. I was going in hoping to do my best. Whoever wins, wins,” Bates reasoned.

When the final was finished in less than a minute, Bates was ecstatic with his first-ever OFSAA medal.

“I was thrilled,” he admitted. “I trained so hard. Last year was so disappointing. Finally, all my hard work paid off.”

During the medal presentation ceremony, Bates, like all the OFSAA winners, received the large draw sheet from the championship, which charted his progress through the brackets as well as the two-day journey of his wrestling peers.

“As soon as I had some time, I hung it up,” Bates added.

“It means a lot. It means my training is paying off, working hard to excel and winning more matches. It also meant more to my coaches and the team.”

Matthew MacDonald, who coaches the Tornadoes wrestling team with community coach Anthony Le’Count, was overwhelmed with Bates’ performance.

“The whole school and the whole city are proud of Dexter,” MacDonald wrote in an email. “The words of praise haven’t stopped coming in since yesterday (March 5) and deservingly so.”

Bates reached the final by taking down Zayd Abdelrazzaq of Sandwich 11-0 in the semifinals. He also posted three first-day wins, defeating Marcello Macchiarulo of Father Bressani 10-0, Cecil Carver of A.N. Myer 10-0 and Federico Ortencio of Neil McNeil 11-0.

When Bates is in a match, he prefers to put his opponent on the mat and go from there for the victory.

“I love the ground game. I find I excel at that part,” explained Bates, who entered wrestling two years ago, after training and competing in the self-defence martial art of jiu-jitsu for eight years.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bates was upset he had to pull back from training in jiu-jitsu. But when the restrictions eased and were lifted, his father suggested Bates try wrestling as Holy Trinity was resuming its program for the 2022-23 season.

Jiu-jitsu gave Bates a good base of strength and taught him a lot about the mental side of sport.

“I knew what it takes to get to the top,” said Bates, who entered numerous jiu-jitsu tournaments and once won one provincial title. “I knew … how to get my mind in the right tournament mentality.”

About a month before the OFSAA wrestling championships, Bates, who was representing the National Capital Wrestling Club, won four consecutive matches to capture the boys’ 65-kilogram class gold medal at the Ontario boys’ juvenile championship. In his final two matches, he defeated Koen Hurlbert of Kempenfelt Bay 10-0 in the semifinals and Philip Nelson of Matmen Wrestling 10-0 in the championship bout.

It was a precursor of things to come at OFSAA.

Bates’ gold medal at the Ontario juvenile championships puts him in the running for a berth on the Ontario team for the 2025 Canada Summer Games Aug. 8-25 in St. John’s, NL.

The top three in each weight class from provincials will compete at the Ontario Canada Games trials in May. The survivor of the match between the second- and third-place wrestlers from provincials in the 65-kilogram class will meet Bates in a best-of-three final for a berth on the Ontario team to the Games.