Warriors win eighth straight
Continuing a run of dominance that inched a year closer to a solid decade, the La Plata Warriors laid claim to an unprecedented eighth consecutive championship at the SMAC wrestling tournament on Saturday night at North Point High.
La Plata, which on Tuesday will compete in the 4A-3A state duals for the chance to win a third state dual championship in the past five years, placed all 14 of its wrestlers in the top five at the SMAC tournament. The Warriors boasted finalists in eight weight classes, with John Thomas (130 pounds), Daniel Brannon (135) and Connar Zimmerman (145) all emerging as champions.
Brannon, a junior, won his third conference title in three attempts, while Zimmerman provided one of the upsets of the tournament by holding off Leonardtown’s B.J. Frederick by an 11-8 decision. La Plata totaled 264 points to comfortably recapture the conference trophy over runner-up Leonardtown, which accumlulated 218.5 points. Northern finished in third place at 156.
Highlighted by Quentin Leadbeter’s fourth conference crown, Northern equalled La Plata’s three individual titles. Leadbeter defeated La Plata’s Jason Jennings by a 6-4 count in the 125-pound final. With the win he became just the fourth wrestler in conference history to become a four-time conference champ, joining Eric Miller (Northern), Matt Myers (McDonough) and Ryan Buff (Calvert). Fellow Patriots to earn top-of-the-podium finishes were Eric Stubblefield (112) and freshman Eric Hoffman (140).
Leonardtown, Chopticon and Huntingtown each claimed two individual crowns. Leonardtown heavyweight Mark Bohanon’s win at heavyweight put he and his father, John, in rarified air as just the second father-son duo to each claim SMAC titles. Teammate Sam Corey topped La Plata’s Dylan Dull 8-6 in overtime of the 119-pound final to account for the Raiders’ other championship.
Chopticon senior Stephen Cannon took a 10-5 decision from North Point’s Tyler Schirf for his first conference championship in the 152-pound final, while the Braves’ Alec Pence nipped La Plata’s Jaylen Jones 3-2 in the final at 171.
Former La Plata stalwart Alex Ingagliato was a repeat SMAC champion at 215, but this time delivering for Huntingtown. Ingagliato earned an 11-3 win over Westlake’s Kian Magruder, while at 160 Hunter Rowe slipped past La Plata’s Nick Houser by a 4-3 count.
Rounding out the champions, Patuxent’s Zack Pilkington defeated Northern’s Brant Leadbeter at 103, while Calvert earned a title by virtue of A.J. Armiger’s tightly-contested 5-4 decision over Lackey’s Jake Vahle at 189.
Team results: La Plata 264, Leonardtown 218.5, Northern 156, Chopticon 151, Huntingtown 142, North Point 139, Patuxent 123.5, Thomas Stone 92, Westlake 80, Lackey 71, Calvert 51, McDonough 45, Great Mills 23.5
Finals
285 Bohanon (Lt) 1-0 Murphy (H)
215 Ingagliato (H) 11-3 Magruder (W)
189 Armiger (Ca) 5-4 Vahle (La)
171 Pence (Ch) 3-2 Jones (LP)
160 Rowe (H) 4-3 Houser (LP)
152 Cannon (Ch) 10-5 Schirf (NP)
145 Zimermann (LP) 11-8 Frederick (Lt)
140 Hoffman (N) 13-1 Romero (LP)
135 Brannon (LP) pinned Sherman (Lt), 3:09
130 Thomas (LP) 4-0 Koncen (Ch)
125 Q. Leadbeter (N) 6-4 Jennings (LP)
119 Corey (Lt) 8-6 OT Dull (LP)
112 Stubblefield (N) 3-0 Truitt (Lt)
103 Pilkington (P) 5-0 B. Leadbeter (N)
**Check the Facebook fan page for more photos from the tournament
Related posts: