The 285-pounder came up clutch with the match on the line.
Inside or outside, it didn't matter to Taylin Zafis.
Thursday night's Pin Cancer summer wrestling match between Zafis' Washington/Warren Hills team and Phillipsburg was supposed to be held outside at the Blue Streaks' football stadium.
And until 4 p.m. or so Thursday, it was. But a steady rainstorm forced the event inside, to Warren Hills' smaller, auxiliary gym as the main one was under renovation.
Fine with Zafis.
"It didn't matter where we wrestled, just so I got a chance to wrestle," said the Washington/Warren Hills senior.
He sure did - and did so in a way that won't be forgotten for a while in Washington parts.
Zafis' 3-2 win in the night's final at 285 bout gave the hosts a 28-24 win over Phillipsburg in what was, for an exhibition, a remarkably exciting and tense match wrestled in front an SRO crowd of 800-plus in the small gym.
Those fans may have sweated almost as much as the athletes did. The gym was absolutely sweltering - nothing to be done about it, of course, and no one minded given the good cause and the fine wrestling - but this was an occasion when "heated competition" would have been a quite literal interpretation.
"As long as we got to wrestle tonight, it was fine," said Zafis, who, drenched in perspiration, reconsidered slightly. "Well, maybe it was a little of a struggle with the heat."
It was especially tough for Zafis and P'burg's 285-pounder, Justin Caraballo, as they had to sit in the sauna of a gym and watch and realize it was going to come down to them. Washington sprinted out to a 25-6 lead in a match that started at 105 before the visitors roared back to within 25-24 before 285.
It is true, as Phillipsburg coach Dave Post noted, that so much happens in any dual meet that even when the 285-pound bout settles the decision it doesn't mean it "decides" the match, but, still, it was up to Zafis to record a rare blue-singlet win over the Stateliners; Warren Hills hasn't beaten P'burg in a high school dual since 1990 and Washington was 0-4 in the Pin Cancer series.
"I just wanted to go out and do my best for the team," Zafis said. "I have been working hard, training all summer, ran all summer, lifted all summer."
With the tension the gym rising with the temperature - as Post said, "it felt more like January than July," - Zafis and Caraballo traded escapes as the seconds ticked down in the third period tied at 1. Caraballo seemed to have a takedown with 40 seconds left, but referee Frank Leitner ruled the wrestlers out of bounds.
"Actually I kind of thought (Caraballo) had it for a split second," Zafis said with a smile. "Things happened to so fast. But then I knew I needed to get a takedown and win the match for the team."
Which he did, with 16 seconds left, taking advantage of an opening from Caraballo.
"We tell our kids to be aggressive all the time," Post said. "You can teach a lot of things, and Justin has a good snap-down and he stays in good positions, but you can't teach being that specific situation. You can only learn from that situation, and we'll win a dual meet in the winter because Justin was in that position and learned from that."
Zafis, meanwhile, had a strategy to close out the match.
"I wanted to hold him down until there was eight seconds left, and then let him up so there wasn't enough time for him to get a takedown," Zafis said.
Which is precisely what happened, and Zafis posted Warren Hills' fourth 1-point win of the night - freshman Logan Nauta (112), sophomore Pedro Cruz (135), and junior Cameron Nauta (140) all also prevailed by a single point.
Zafis may be ready for a big step forward this winter. He went from winning one match as a sophomore to 16-16 as a junior.
"I think this win gives me a big confidence boost, and will give our team a big confidence boost," he said.
Indoors or outdoors, doesn't matter.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.