The dual meet was virtually as close as the rankings indicated it should have been. No. 5 St. Edward, Ohio and No. 3 St. Paris Graham, Ohio each took seven of the fourteen weight classes on Saturday night. However, in an evening with close matches abound, and a multitude of twists and turns, the last one gave St. Edward the victory.
With two of the least heralded wrestlers on each team taking to the mat in the last match of the meet -- at 103 pounds -- St. Edward's Anthony Stanley overcame a 3-0 deficit in order to force overtime. When Stanley got the takedown, he earned a 5-3 victory over Chase Crabtree; and those points were enough to put St. Edward on top 27-25 at the end of the dual meet.
The evening opened with a lot of luster, as the premier match on the docket took to the mat, with No. 11 Ryan Taylor (112) giving the Graham Falcons an early 3-0 lead in the dual meet, as he beat No. 20 Edgar Bright 4-2 in overtime. No. 18 Dean Heil (119) turned things right around for the Eagles with a 5-0 decision over Micah Jordan to tie the dual meet at 3-3. Then, in another pair of matchups placing unheralded wrestlers against one another, St. Edward won both with major decisions, as Markus Scheidel (125) and Colin Heffernan (130) emerged with victories over their Falcon opposition.
Facing an 11-3 deficit, the Falcons had four nationally-ranked wrestlers in a row take to the mats. Even though there were some struggles along the way, all of those wrestlers won. No. 19 Case Garrison (135) earned an 11-4 decision; No. 7 Nick Brascetta (140) secured a pin; No. 5 Bo Jordan (145) scored a 17-7 major decision, though Matt Van Curen was able to briefly put Jordan onto his back; and No. 11 Matt Stephens (152) won a narrow 2-1 overtime decision against state runner-up Mark Martin.
Trailing 19-11 after 152 pounds, St. Edward sent out Cadet National freestyle All-American Domenic Abounader (160) to the mats. However, in what turned out to be one of the keys of the dual meet, Graham did not respond with state champion Isaac Jordan - as he was not yet fully recovered from the injury he suffered at the Walsh Ironman. As a result, Abounader scored a first period pin against Robert Mannier.
The next four matches went pretty much as expected to make the score 25-24 in favor of Graham, setting up that dramatic outcome at 103 pounds. Kyle Ryan (Graham) beat Jacob Davis 4-3 at 171 pounds, No. 5 Huston Evans (Graham) upended James Suvak 8-3 at 189, Ty Walz (St. Edward) earned a 7-4 victory over Mark Meyer at 215, and No. 10 Greg Kuhar (St. Edward) scored a 11-3 major decision over Darin Bovey at 285 pounds.
To view photos from the St. Edward-St. Paris Graham dual meet, visit http://www.buckeyewrestling.com/?q=image/tid/1753.
Blair, and upsets, rule the day at NHSCA Final Four
Anchored by a 5-0 performance from No. 7 Joey McKenna (103), No. 2 Blair Academy, New Jersey sizzled to a 5-0 Saturday at the NHSCA Final Four of High School Wrestling in Easton, Pennsylvania. The Buccaneers lost only nine matches during the day while integrating a number of reserves into the lineup at varying points of the day. For the day, McKenna had a pair of pins, a 16-1 technical fall, a 6-2 decision, and a 3-0 decision over No. 19 Billy Rappo (Council Rock South).
Blair Academy emerged from the four-match pool stage having only lost six individual matches, as they earned a 50-10 victory over Parkland, Pennsylvania; 45-12 victory over No. 32 Jackson Memorial, New Jersey; 53-5 victory over Council Rock South, Pennsylvania; and 70-0 victory over Lake Stevens, Washington.
In the other pool, No. 21 High Point, New Jersey emerged as the undefeated 4-0 squad. The Wildcats earned the following victories: 39-27 over Walsh Jesuit, Ohio; 41-29 over No. 16 Easton, Pennsylvania; 41-28 over No. 28 Collins Hill, Georgia; and 37-34 over Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. Something of interest is that in the two dual meets the Wildcats won over unranked opposition, each team took seven matches of High Point; while High Point won eight matches against Easton, and nine against Collins Hill.
Other dual meets in pool competition involving ranked teams facing one another, or being upset by an unranked team: No. 16 Easton, Pennsylvania over No. 28 Collins Hill, Georgia 42-15 and Council Rock South, Pennsylvania over No. 32 Jackson Memorial, New Jersey 39-32.
Even with a 2-1 upset victory for No. 17 William Smith (High Point) over No. 5 Brooks Black (Blair Academy) at 285 pounds, the Wildcats still had little to cheer about in the championship match. Blair Academy took it to them in a 54-10 victory, with the Buccaneers winning eleven of the fourteen weight classes. Third place went to Easton with a 44-23 victory over Council Rock South, while Collins Hill upended Jackson Memorial 35-33 for fifth place. Seventh place went to Parkland, with a 41-25 victory over Walsh Jesuit; while Pen Argyl upended Lake Stevens 64-12 to earn ninth place.
Outstanding Wrestler honors went to William Smith, as he had three pins, a 6-0 decision over Jalal Paige (Easton), and the previously mentioned 2-1 upset victory over Brooks Black in the final.
For full dual meet results: http://gimp.escapesports.on-rev.com/TeamDuals/NHSCAFinalFour2011_197.htm.
No. 2 over No. 4 at 130 pounds
Part of a double dual this past Friday at Nazareth High School, No. 2 Zach Horan (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) defeated No. 4 Johnni DiJulius (Walsh Jesuit, Ohio) 4-3 at 130 pounds. Horan scored his points with a first period takedown and third period reversal, while DiJulius had an escape in each period. No. 27 Nazareth won the dual meet 48-23.
Trojans trouble for rest of field at Ed Winger Invitational
In a field that featured many of the prominent team and individual figures in Iowa high school wrestling, it was No. 10 Iowa City West showing the other 19 teams who was boss at the Ed Winger Invitational hosted by Urbandale High School. Seven Trojan wrestlers reached the finals, five of them emerging with championship medals: No. 9 Phillip Laux (103), Jack Hathaway (125), No. 20 Elijah Sullivan (140), Britt Thompson (152), and No. 18 Justin Koethe (160). Finishing as runners-up were Kegan Wakefield (119) and Gradey Gambrall (135). With Hathaway's 3-2 victory over No. 19 Connor Ryan (Bettendorf) leading the way, Iowa City West scored 243-1/2 points.
Second place in the tournament went to Ryan's Bettendorf squad with 212 points. Joining Ryan as a runner-up was Dominic Chase (160), while Alex Hernandez (135) and Brodie Berrie (285) rose to the top of the podium in their respective weight classes. Southeast Polk was the other team to have multiple champions -- No. 6 Cory Clark (119) and Willie Miklus (171) -- and they finished third in the standings with 187-1/2 points.
This year's 171 pound championship match was one that would have happened in the practice room at Ballard Huxley last year. Miklus, a state runner-up, rallied back from a late deficit to defeat No. 5 Tanner Weatherman (Ballard Huxley) 7-6. The two-time state champion Weatherman had a 6-4 lead with about thirty seconds left in the match, when a second stalling penalty point and a takedown right before the buzzer propelled Miklus to victory.
Other weight class champions were No. 10 Dylan Peters (112) from Denver-Tripoli, No. 5 John Meeks (130) from Des Moines Roosevelt, No. 19 Tanner Hiatt (145) from Ballard Huxley, No. 14 Brendan Abernathy (189) from Indianola, and Jesse South (215) from Urbandale. Meeks remained undefeated for his high school career with an 8-5 victory over No. 18 Brandon Sorensen (Denver-Tripoli) in the championship match.
A Volunteer State-ment at Clinch Gear Prep Slam
The penultimate FloNationals Major of the 2010-11 season happened this past weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. The top two programs in the state of Tennessee came out on top of the 44-team field, which came from approximately ten states. Winning the Clinch Gear Prep Slam with eight placers (all finishing in the top three) was Baylor, Tennessee with 252 points. Bennett Reece (130), Alex Manley (135), and John Mackey (285) were champions; Brandon Brunner (119), Zach Watson (125), Stuart Doster (140), and Matthew Cate (152) finished second place; while Spencer Craig (160) took third place.
Second place in the standings with seven placers, three in the finals, was McCallie, Tennessee with 223 points. Champions for McCallie were Adam Connell (103) and Michael Hooker (145), while TJ Duncan (160) was a runner-up. Two others finished third, another in fourth, and another in fifth place.
Joining Baylor with a tournament-high three champions were Bishop Lynch, Texas and Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania. Winning titles for Bishop Lynch were Judson Preskitt (112), Jake Goodwin (119), and Trey Adamson (171). Champions for Kiski Prep were No. 8 Evan Henderson (140) and No. 11 (at 145) Robet Henderson (152).
Also with multiple champions at the Prep Slam was Calvary Chapel, whose pair of upper-weight dynamos absolutely dominated their competition. No. 1 Morgan McIntosh (189) had four pins in as many matches, while No. 5 Tank Knowles (215) pinned his first three opponents before securing a major decision and technical fall in his last two matches. Rounding out the weight class champions was Chris Caton (125) from Northside Christian, North Carolina.
Tulsa Union takes home OCU Duals
No. 20 Tulsa Union, Oklahoma dominated its way to a 7-0 weekend in taking home the Oklahoma City University Duals championship. Their closest margin of victory was 29 points in a dual meet. Twenty teams competed in the event and were split into pools of five for the first day of competition, each team getting four matches. On the second day, the top eight advanced to a championship bracket, while the rest advanced to a consolation bracket for ninth place.
Second day victories for Tulsa Union were 51-22 over Arkansas City, Kansas; 54-19 over Collinsville, Oklahoma; and 45-16 over Altus, Oklahoma. Also present in the field was No. 50 Claremore, Oklahoma -- and they fell to defeat twice in Saturday's championship bracket, losing 31-27 to Altus in the semifinal and 33-28 to Claremore in the third place match. Key in the second Claremore loss was a 9-5 Gary Wayne Harding victory at 112 pounds over No. 19 Calib Freeman, which reversed their match result at the Mid-American Nationals in December.
Blue Springs rules roost at Winnetonka Invitational
With many of the top wrestlers and programs in the Show Me State in attendance this past Saturday at Winnetonka High School just outside of Kansas City, it was Blue Springs that emerged as the top team with a four-for-six finals performance. Championship wins from Daniel Lewis (103), Greg Hegarty (135), Kennan Hegarty (140), and Louis Foutz (189); while Derek Lapaglia (130) and Donnie Horner (215) finished second propelling the Wildcats to 320 points.
Four championships won by Park Hill were enough for them to earn second place with 260-1/2 points. Champions for the Trojans were Michael Olsen (112), No. 9 Bricker Dixon (125), Preston Crouse (145), and Noland Smith (285). Francis Howell Central finished third with 248-1/2 points with five finalists, but only getting championships from Ben Henson (119) and Matt Greene (171); finishing second were John Wood (135), No. 5 Terrell Wilbourn (140), and Wyatt Miller (189).
Rounding out the weight class champions were No. 8 Cody Brewer (130) and Hashem Omari (215) from Oak Park, Gage Shaddox (152) from Liberty, and Brock St. Louis (171) from North Kansas City. Three of the more notable finals matches involved a ranked wrestler doing battle against an unranked wrestler. Lewis upset No. 15 Noah Teaney (Oak Park) 3-2 at 103 pounds, Brewer outlasted Lapaglia 3-1 at 130, and Kennan Hegarty upset No. 5 Wilbourn 4-3 at 140.
Other dual meet victories over ranked teams
Northampton, Pennsylvania defeats No. 18 Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania 32-32 (criteria)
Franklin Regional, Pennsylvania defeats No. 23 Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania 36-33
Kiski Area, Pennsylvania defeats No. 23 Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania 36-33
No. 26 Glenbard North, Illinois defeats No. 24 Crystal Lake Central, Illiois 34-34 (criteria)
Cincinnati Moeller, Ohio defeats No. 37 Detroit Catholic Central, Michigan 30-28
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