SMACSportsnet » Wrestling

Allen emerges as state champion

Andy States — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:52:56 +0000

Leonardtown’s Martez Allen emerged as a surprise of sorts in the 4A/3A state wrestling tournament this weekend at Cole Field House in College Park.

After placing third at the SMAC and 4A/3A South tournaments, Allen finally reached the finals when the stage got bigger and came away with a state championship by virtue of a 3-1 decision over Reservoir’s Mike Mullens in the 152-pound final. Allen goes down as the first Leonardtown wrestler to win a state championship.

Buoyed by a pair of state finalists, La Plata claimed the runner-up team trophy in the 4A/3A tournament, with its 80 points coming up well short of Reservoir’s 106. In the past five seasons, La Plata has two runner-up finishes to go along with two team championships.

On Saturday, Nick Romero and Connar Zimmerman led the Warriors’ effort. Zimmerman reached the 145-pound final but came up on the short end of a 5-3 decision with Reservoir’s Mark Colabucci. Wrestling in the 140-pound final, Romero lost and 8-3 decision to Old Mill’s Ron Vaughters, but distinguished himself as one of the classier competitors at the tournament.

At 103 pounds, Northern freshmen Brant Leadbeter reached the finals in his first attempt, but dropped an 11-6 decision to Alex Polosky of Wilde Lake. Teammate and fellow freshmen Eric Hoffman placed third at 140, while Brant’s older brother Quentin capped a stellar high school career with an impressive third-place showing at 125 — in what was perhaps the most competitive bracket in recent memory.

Rounding out the SMAC finalists, Patuxent sophomore Zach Pilkington earned a spot in the 103-pound final in the 2A/1A tournament. Southern-Garrett senior Davey Stewart defeated Pilkington 14-6 in the championship bout.

4A/3A team results: Reservoir 106, La Plata 80, Walt Whitman 78, Urbana 76, North County 67, 7. Leonardtown 63, 8. Northern 61

SMAC wrestlers placing in 4A/3A tournament
Chopticon
171 Alec Pence (6th)

Huntingtown
160 Hunter Rowe (3rd)

La Plata
125 Jason Jennings (5th)
130 John Thomas (5th)
140 Nick Romero (2nd)
145 Connar Zimmerman (2nd)

Leonardtown
119 Sam Corey (5th)
145 BJ Frederick (6th)
152 Martez Allen (1st)
285 Mark Bohanon (3rd)

Northern
103 Brant Leadbeter (2nd)
125 Quentin Leadbeter (3rd)
140 Eric Hoffman (3rd)

North Point
189 Anthony Zoscak (4th)

Westlake
215 Kian Magruder (5th)

SMAC wrestlers placing in 2A/1A touranment
103 Zach Pilkington (2nd)

Eight reach semis at state tourney

Andy States — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:42:03 +0000

It was a bit of a mixed bag for SMAC wrestlers on Friday at the first day of the state wrestling tournament at Cole Field House in College Park, but eight wrestlers from the conference advanced to wrestle in the semifinals between the 4A-3A and 2A-1A tournaments. Team-wise, La Plata, Northern and Leonardtown were hanging inside the top 10, while Howard County’s Reservoir Gators enjoyed a successful first day to jump out to an early lead. Reservoir ended the first day with 51 points, 10 ahead of second-place Urbana. La Plata will enter the final day of the tournament in third place with 39 points. With 26 points, Northern sits in seventh, while Leonardtown’s 23 points have the Raiders tied for 10th.

Semifinalists from SMAC include freshmen Brant Leadbeter (103 pounds) and Eric Hoffman (140) of Northern. Hoffman will wrestle Old Mill’s Ron Vaughters in a long-anticipated match in the semifinals. Also reaching the semifinals at 140 was Nick Romero of La Plata, runner-up to Hoffman the past two weeks at the SMAC and 4A-3A South tourneys.

La Plata’s Connar Zimmerman and Leonardtown’s B.J. Frederick, who engaged in a decent rivalry during the season with Zimmerman earning narrow decisions the past two weeks, both qualified for the semifinals at 145.

Leonardtown’s Martez Allen put together a couple of solid matches to earn the conference’s long semifinal berth at 152 pounds, while Huntingtown’s Hunter Rowe hopes to become the second state champion in his school’s history and reached the semis at 160 where he will face Zeke Gammill of Damascus to open his day tomorrow.

Wrestling in the 2A-1A tourney, Patuxent’s Zach Pilkington reached the 103-pound semifinals.

Action tomorrow is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., with the semifinals pegged for an 11 a.m. start.

La Plata tops the region

Andy States — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:20:45 +0000

A week after claiming an eighth consecutive SMAC championship, the La Plata Warriors made it seven regional titles in a row with a balanced performance on Saturday night at the 4A/3A South tournament at Chopticon.

Connar Zimmerman, Daniel Brannon and John Thomas each won individual championships to headline a group of seven Warriors wrestling in their respective finals. La Plata accumulated 201 points to easily outdistance runner-up Leonardtown’s 134. Host Choption came in third with 126 points. Of the 14 individual champions crowned, 13 came from SMAC schools.

In the 145-pound final, Zimmerman backed up his SMAC-championship upset of Leonardtown’s B.J. Frederick with another win, this time by a 3-2 decision. Later, Brannon and Thomas pitched identical 3-0 shutouts in their respective finals at 135 and 130.

Northern was a perfect 4 for 4 in championship matches and finished in fourth place overall. Freshmen Eric Hoffman and Brant Leadbeter each won a first regional crown, Leadbeter’s coming by a 1-0 count in the 103 final, while Hoffman topped La Plata’s Nick Romero 9-2 in a finals rematch from last week’s SMAC tourney.

Four-time SMAC champ Quentin Leadbeter made his final regional tournament a successful one in another SMAC-tourney rematch, besting La Plata’s Jason Jennings 8-2. Eric Stubblefield also duplicated last week’s result, again getting the better of Leonardtown’s Alex Truitt with a second-period pin.

The host Braves and Huntingtown each boasted a pair of regional champs. For Chopticon, Stephen Cannon and Alec Pence each repeated as regional champs. Cannon, a 7-0 winner at 152, while Pence slipped by Bowie’s Caleb Jackson 2-1.

Alex Ingagliato won the 215-pound final by fall in the second period, while Hunter Rowe defeated La Plata’s Nick Houser by injury default in the championship match at 160 — another SMAC final rematch.

Mark Bohanon followed up his SMAC title last week by snagging a 5-2 decision from C.H. Flowers’ Isaiah Shelton in the heavyweight final, while North Point’s Anthony Zoscak decisioned La Plata’s Mitch Keith 5-3 in the tussle for the 189-pound crown.

The wrestling season concludes next weekend with the state tournament in College Park.

Top Five Team Results: La Plata 201, Leonardtown 134, Chopticon 126, Northern 97, Huntingtown 88.5

285 Bohanon (Lt) 5-3 Shelton (CHF)
215 Ingagliato (Ht) pinned Obi (HP), 3:41
189 Zoscak (NP) 5-3 Keith (LP)
171 Pence (Ch) 2-1 Jackson (Bo)
160 Rowe (Ht) def. Houser (LP), injury default
152 Cannon (Ch) 7-0 Allen (Lt)
145 Zimmerman (LP) 3-2 Frederick (Lt)
140 Hoffman (No) 9-2 Romero (LP)
135 Brannon (LP) 3-0 Yirenkyi (Pkd)
130 Thomas (LP) 3-0 Rutledge (Wl)
125 Q. Leadbeter (N) 8-2 Jennings (LP)
119 Fagbuyi (ER) 6-0 Corey (Lt)
112 Stubblefield (No) pinned Truitt (Lt), 3:13
103 B. Leadbeter (No) 1-0 Reiter (Ch)

astates@smacsportsnet.com

Stalled out

Andy States — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:44:46 +0000

GLEN BURNIE — Generally speaking, in a wrestling dual meet a stall call is a penalty to the offending wrestler and, subsequently, the wrestler’s team. But in the 4A/3A state dual finals on Tuesday night at North County High, that wasn’t the case.

Needing a pin in the final match to clinch La Plata’s third state dual championship in the past five seasons, La Plata 135-pounder Daniel Brannon did all he could, and three times turned Reservoir’s David Kuper to his back. But after an early third-period takedown put Brannon’s lead at 13-0, Kuper was called for multiple stalls resulting in a pair of points awarded to Brannon which stopped the match at the five-minute mark due to a technical fall and thus, clinched the state championship for Reservoir.

The scoreboard showed Reservoir and La Plata tied at 31, but the Gators clinched the title on tiebreaker criteria. The teams split the matches down the middle, but Reservoir won three by fall to the Warriors’ two, thus leaving the Warriors runners-up for the second consecutive year.

La Plata won four of the first six matches to take an early 20-7 lead. Nick Romero (140) and Nick Houser (160) each secured falls, while Jaylen Jones (171) won by tech fall Mitch Keith took a 3-1 decision at 189.

But the Gators followed with a four-match run highlighted by pins by Sean Quinn (215), Josh Hamilton (285) and Josh Knox (112) to surge to a 28-20 lead.

Dylan Dull stopped the bleeding for the Warriors with a hard-fought 8-6 decision at 119, but Reservoir’s Danny Poore bounced back with a late takedown for a 6-4 win at 125. La Plata’s John Thomas then delivered an 8-2 win over James Mullens at 130, leaving the score at 31-26 in the Gators’ favor and setting up the final showdown.

The state championship was the first for Reservoir. La Plata, which won back-to-back duals titles in 2006 and 2007, has reached the state duals five consecutive years. Including Tuesday night’s loss, over the past five seasons the Warriors have suffered just three losses to Maryland teams coming by a combined total of less than 10 points.

Reservoir defeated Walt Whitman 34-28 in Tuesday’s semfinals, while La Plata upended Urbana 35-24.

Reservoir 31*, La Plata 31
140 Romero (L) pinned Greer, 1:03
145 Colabucci (R) 6-2 Zimmerman
152 M. Mullens (R) 14-4 Higgs
160 Houser (L) pinned Sims, 3:08
171 Jones (L) 19-4 Sheehy
189 Keith (L) 3-1 Zester
215 Quinn (R) pinned Keeve, 4:57
285 Hamilton (R) pinned Boarman, 3:31
103 Clinton (R) 4-0 Papanicolas
112 Knox (R) pinned Patterson, :43
119 Dull (L) 8-6 Rowell
125 Poore (R) 6-4 Jennings
130 Thomas (L) 8-2 J. Mullens
135 Brannon (L) 15-0 Kuper
*Reservoir wins by tiebreaker criteria most falls

La Plata 35, Urbana 24
135 A. Krop (U) 8-4 Brannon
140 Tatanish (U) 8-1 Romero
145 Zimmerman (L) 3-0 Abreski
152 Higgs (L) 6-3 Azat
160 Houser (L)pinned Virnelson, 1:51
171 Jones (L) 14-4 Silva
189 Keith (L) 9-7 OT Semelsburger
215 Dailey (U) pinned Keeve, 2:43
285 Boarman (LP) 12-4 Fitzgerald
103 Frank (U) 11-5 Papanicolas
112 Steinheimer (U) pinned Patterson, 2:17
119 B. Krop (U) 6-5 4OT Dull
125 Jennings (L) pinned Groveston, 1:25
130 Thomas (L) pinned Carberry, 4:45

E-mail Andy States at astates@smacsportsnet.com

Warriors win eighth straight

Andy States — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:37:11 +0000

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