By Tommy Messano

SAN ANTONIO – When the lights went off in the Freeman Coliseum, the New York Clash and the Los Angeles Stars were the two teams left celebrating in a storm of confetti. At the conclusion of the World Combat League regular season, if you would have reseeded all eight teams based on regular season performance: L.A would be number one and New York would come in at number eight. They took different paths to the finals but both teams deserve to be called conference champions and both will have a shot to be crowned world champions.

The show opened with the New York Clash taking on the New Jersey Tigers. Free agent pick-ups Abraham Han and Tom Grimmer did battle at 164 lbs.

Han scored quickly with his left hand, knocking down Grimmer on three occasions with one minute left to go. At the 20 second mark an overhand right followed by a left hook put Grimmer on the mat again forcing the TKO stoppage.

After New York’s Leo Valdivia eked out a 15-14 decision over newcomer Radji Bryson-Barrett, the 147 lbs. starters took center stage.

Muay Thai rivals Shennen Maceo of New Jersey and Rami Ibrahim of New York promised to add another chapter to their story. Maceo came out and controlled the opening minute of the fight until a lazy jab left him exposed for a split second. That second turned into a brutal head kick by Ibrahim. The 15-0 KO put New York in the driver seat with a 47-15.

An impressive debut by Patrick Barry at heavyweight widened New York’s advantage and through four contests New Jersey was still searching for their first W.

Throughout the season 23 year old Uriah Hall has become by default the Tiger’s go-to guy. Hall starts rallies and in this instance stopped a game from getting out of hand. With 90 seconds remaining in his fight with Jaime Fletcher, Hall ate a counter right to a chin. The shot woke him up and beautiful spinning back kick by the big man sent Fletcher to the canvas. Hall was awarded the judge’s decision 15-3 and it gave New Jersey a realistic chance of not getting blown out.

The first half closed out with a rematch between New York’s Jennifer Santiago and New Jersey’s Munah Holland. Three minutes of action didn’t solve a whole lot as both fighters showed respect for the other’s abilities. This is the type of fight that needed another round.

Santiago took this one 15-11 based on her effective striking display. Holland had a tough time landing any clean shots, but came close with a spinning back fist and a couple of knees.

	Abraham Han(Right) Thad Campbell(Left)

The second half opened like the first win with a KO win for New York’s Abraham Han. Thad Campbell was the victim, courtesy of a spinning back kick to the kidney.

“My team was telling me you have to start out strong. I tried to put down a good foot and set the tempo. It carried in that first half.” Han said.

The 15-0 win gave New York a sizable 96-49 lead and they would need ever last point as New Jersey was just about to begin a furious comeback.

New Jersey alternates Lyman Good, David Gonzalez, and Jarrell Miller won three straight fights, two coming against New York starters to give the Tigers a fighting chance.

Uriah Hall stepped to the plate and again he hit one out of the park, the “one” was New York alternate Brandon Banda. Banda was in control for much of the round, until Hall threw a straight left that caused Banda to drop his hands and hit his own face, which is the international gesture for “bring it on”.

Hall followed up with a heavy right hand moments later that sent Banda down for the count. With a 15-0 KO win the Tigers pulled within 17 points at 126-109, but with one match to go New Jersey did not have the time to climb back from their first half deficit.

Despite losing the last five fights of the night the New York Clash won the Eastern Conference 133-124.

From a 0-3 regular season to Eastern conference champions coach Conroy has done a masterful job during his team’s playoff run.

“We needed time to believe as a team. When somebody believes in you, you believe in yourself.” Conroy said. “This isn’t an individual sport. Everybody has to work together. People were down on the ground and they got up, saving us points.”

Out west the Los Angeles Stars were on the brink of elimination taking Oklahoma’s best shot before rallying to win.

Jason Bourelly vs. Anthony Njokuani kicked off the action with both fighters playing it a bit cautious. Njokuani employed his significant reach to keep Bourelly at bay. The razor thin decision was awarded to Bourelly 14-13 and this was the last lead L.A would have until match number 12 came around.

Jesse Lawrence came up huge for Oklahoma thoroughly dominating his opponent Sebastian Lopez. A wide variety of kicks and punches from Lawrence had Lopez reeling from the opening bell. A head kick put Lopez on his back early and Lawrence never gave him the chance to fully recover.

A right hand haymaker left Lopez out on his feet and defenseless forcing the referee to call the bout at the 1:09 mark.

Jesse Lawrence (Left); Sebastian Lopez (Right)	Jeri Sitzes (Left); Alicia Ashley (Right)

In another anticipated rematch from the season opener Jeri Sitzes took on Alicia Ashley. Both fighters spent the duration of the three minutes in the ring nearly missing with big shots. Good kicks by Sitzes complemented her hands while Ashley kept coming forward.

Ashley brings a unique style to the WCL and tonight she was just flat out hard to hit. The judge’s recognized Ashley’s performance with a close 13-12 win.

Heavyweights from different generations took center stage next as veteran Patrick Smith took on the talented Donald Vickers. Lots of power was thrown with each and every punch in this fight. Smith scored the first knockdown and Vickers appeared to hurt his leg in the process.

Vickers battled back and showed good heart landing a big left hand that shocked Smith and got a knockdown for Vickers. Both big men laid it all on the line and the 15-11 decision was given to Smith.

Oklahoma’s Thomas Longacre made quick work of L.A’s Dan Rawlings. One huge right hand dropped Rawlings like a bucket full of concrete off a 5 story building. The 15-0 KO gave the Destroyers a commanding 70-38 lead and L.A was on the ropes for the first time all season.

Raymond Daniels did what superstars do when his team is down: he stepped up his game and stole the momentum going into halftime. With the 18-6 win against an overmatched Chidi Njokuani, Daniels made the 76-56 deficit seem manageable following his performance.

In the second frame L.A needed every break to go their way and it turned out taking five out of six fights would be enough for the Stars.

Oklahoma played every card in their deck, sending out all six alternates in the second half. The strategy would prove to be brilliant or leave Coach Dale Cook open to second guessing.

Jason Bourelly stayed aggressive and outlasted David Taylor to continue the L.A comeback.

A back and forth fight between Oklahoma’s Randy Blake and L.A’s Adrian Bio saw Blake and the Destroyers win 16-9.

Throughout their comeback L.A remained calm and collective. No fighter represented this attitude more than Alicia Ashley. A casual observer couldn’t tell if her team was down by 20 or up by 20. Ashley went 2-0 against two different and tough female opponents.

Oklahoma’s Keri Taylor proved to be a game fighter as she attacked Ashley with everything in arsenal. A well timed left hand by Ashley got her a knockdown and a 16-6 win.

After a Chris Hawk win for L.A at heavyweight it was anybody's game with two fights remaining.

Travis McRoberts’ WCL debut came in the 11th fight of the conference finals and he took on Oklahoma’s Douglas Edwards a WCL vet.

The bout was a toss-up. The smaller McRoberts was repeatedly able to get inside long enough to land some effective strikes on Edwards. The 16-13 win for McRoberts tied it up 128-128 going into the final bout.

“It was a great experience. It was a little bit of pressure coming in right off the bat as an alternate with your team down. I’m just glad I could come in and help the team.” McRoberts said.

Not every team has the luxury of having a Raymond Daniels on their roster. Lucky for Coach Colin Van Deusen he was able to send out his best player in the most critical spot.

“I had faith in my team to comeback and put me in that spot.” Daniels said. “That’s why I’m the anchor of this team. It’s my job when were down or ahead to either comeback or keep the lead. My team believes in me to close the show and that’s what I do.”

Daniels put in a workman like effort in his win over Scott Clark. Clark played good defense in not allowing any of Daniels strikes to sneak through. On the offensive end Clark was unable to catch the quicker Daniels with very many punches or kicks of his own.

The 16-9 win sent the L.A Stars to the WCL league championship match where they will take on the New York Clash.

The win by Coach Van Deusen and the Stars held even greater meaning as the entire team dedicated their performance, win or lose, to Jesse Vasquez who was injured in L.A’s first round victory. Vasquez drew a round of cheers from the San Antonio crowd as he and his wife were in attendance for the conference finals.