For the third successive weekend, No. 9 Clovis, California showed how truly deep they are as a team this year. Right before the New Year, Clovis placed fourth at the Cheesehead Invitational, which featured seven top 15 teams nationally. These last two weekends, they were convincing champions of the Doc Buchanan Invitational and now the Temecula Valley Invitational -- the two tournaments featuring the best fields in the Golden State outside the single class state tournament.
Even with just one champion -- No. 12 Zach Nevills (171) -- they used three other finalists and nine overall placers to turn back the rest of the field scoring 239 total points. The nine placers were three more than any other team had in the tournament. Finishing as runners-up for Clovis were Jonas (112) and Daniel (119) Gayton, along with Blake Thompson (160); Dakota Gordon (189) and Nick Nevills (285) finished in third place.
One of three teams to finish with six placers, Poway, California was second in the standings with 183 points. The Titans had only a single champion, Henry Donahue (160), but had another pair in the finals -- Jesse Taylor (135) and Porfi Sosa (215) -- along with wrestlers finishing fourth, seventh, and eight.
Even without the services of their two best wrestlers -- Coleman (145) and No. 4 (at 171) Bryce (160) Hammond -- No. 7 Bakersfield, California still had six of its wrestlers place as part of a 159-1/2 point effort, which saw the Drillers finish third as a team. Their sole champion was Natrelle Demison (130), who dominated his way through the bracket with three falls, a technical fall, and a major decision. Adam Fierro (152) finished in second place, while they also had two wrestlers take third, another in fifth, and another in sixth.
With five total placers, all between third and fifth, No. 23 Oakdale, California finished sixth in the standings with 127-1/2 points. Hurting their cause was an upset loss in the quarterfinals by No. 18 David Ferry (145) by a 7-2 score against Brady Bersano (Clovis), and then Ferry subsequently defaulting out of the competition.
The lone school with multiple champions in this event was Lemoore, California -- which ended up finishing fourth in the standings with 144-1/2 points and five total placers. Titles for Lemoore were won by No. 14 Isaiah Martinez (140) and Steven Wood (285). Martinez was named Outstanding Wrestler for lower weights with two technical falls, a pin, and a major decision prior to his pin in overtime against Nick Cano (St. Francis, California) in the championship final.
The two head-to-head finals placing Clovis and Clovis West wrestlers against one another went the opposite way of what they did last week at the Doc Buchanan. At 119 pounds, No. 15 Stevan Knoblach (Clovis West) secured an 8-3 victory over Daniel Gayton; while No. 12 Zach Nevills (Clovis) secured a 3-1 victory over No. 14 Nikko Reyes at 171 pounds.
Closing out the weight class champions were Emilio Saavedra (103) from Pittman, California; No. 10 (at 119) Nashon Garrett (112) from Chico, California; Fabian Garcia (125) from Turlock, California; Miguel Gallegos (135) from San Fernando, California; Damien Arredondo (145) from Buchanan, California; Joey Davis (152) from Santa Fe, California; No. 7 Lucas Sheridan (189) from De La Salle, California; and Jeff Vargas (215) from South Hills, California.
Vargas was named Outstanding Wrestler for the upper weights, and Garcia was selected as the overall Champion of Champions.
For full brackets and results: http://tmi.150m.com/Results2010-2011/11-1-14%20Temecula%20ValleyFINAL.pdf
Blue Knights three-peat at Mount Mat Madness
For the third year in a row, No. 8 Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania took home the team championship at Mount Mat Madness. The Blue Knights scored 226-1/2 points led by a pair of champions in Tyler Fraley (125) and No. 18 Terrace Jean-Jacques (285), along with Evan Botwin (112), No. 8 Dominick Malone (119), and AJ Vizcarrando (215) taking second place. Another pair of Wyoming Seminary wrestlers each took third and fourth place -- Cohl Fulk (140) and No. 19 Eric Morris (152) in third, RC Ramirez (135) and Adam Morris (160) in fourth.
Led by a repeat title from Kaleb Lemaire (112), and a first MMM title for Issah Meade (160), Caesar Rodney, Delaware earned a second place finish with 162 points despite having just two other placers in No. 7 Micah Hight (103) taking third, and Zach Blumenthal (135) who took sixth. Right behind in the standings was Robinson, Virginia with 155 points. The Rams had five place-winners including champion Brooks Martino (135); Jake Smith (119), Jack Bass (125), and Wes Jones (160) finishing in third place; and Dallas Smith (112) earning fourth place.
Despite a tournament high of three champions, Southern Garrett, Maryland finished in seventh place with 106 points. Winning championships were Coy (103) and Lex (152) Ozias, along with No. 17 Bubba Scheffel (171). Coy Ozias, a freshman, earned key a key 703 victory over No. 7 Micah Hight (Caesar Rodney) in the semifinal round; before defeating Cadet National freestyle champion Brent Fleetwood (Smyrna, Delaware) 7-6 in the championship match.
Older brother Lex -- ranked sixth at 145 pounds -- won the 152 pound weight class, earning a key 2-1 victory over No. 19 Eric Morris (Wyoming Seminary) in the semifinal round. Then, with an 8-4 victory over Devin Geoghegan (David Brearley, New Jersey), Ozias became a three-time tournament champion. That came after Geoghegan beat No. 8 Codey Combs (Sussex Central, Delaware) 13-8, which prevented Combs from having the chance to be the first-ever four-time champion at Mount Mat Madness. Scheffel joined his teammate with three titles at Mount Mat Madness with a 2-1 victory over defending champion Mat Miller (John Carroll, Maryland) in the championship match, a victory that avenged a December loss.
Other weight class champions were No. 15 (at 125) Nathan Kraisser (119) from Centennial, Maryland; Tanner Hough (130) from Westmont-Hilltop, Pennsylvania; Nick Lospinoso (140) from David Brearley, New Jersey; Brady Massaro (145) from Mt. St. Joseph’s, Maryland; Michael Mauk (189) from St. Mark’s, Delaware; and No. 15 Kyle Snyder (215) from Good Counsel, Maryland. Of note among those weight class titles, is that Kraisser earned a 3-1 victory over No. 8 Dominick Malone (Wyoming Seminary), and prevented Malone from becoming a three-time champion in as many years of high school.
For full brackets: http://www.kapwrestling.net/uploads/mmm_2011_full.pdf
No champions, but a tournament trophy for BECA at Escape the Rock
After a statement dual meet victory over No. 41 Nazareth, Pennsylvania on Thursday night, No. 17 Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania entered the 6th annual Escape the Rock Tournament at Council Rock South High School just outside of Philadelphia in search of another tournament title. However, after a 4-1 semifinal round, which gave the Hawks a tournament high four finalists, the championship round would not be kind.
Bethlehem Catholic went zero-for-four in gold medal matches, as No. 2 Darian Cruz (103), No. 13 Zeke Moisey (112), Randy Cruz (119), and Kyle Dehaut (152) all suffered defeats. Darian Cruz was upset 4-3 by Billy Rappo (Council Rock South, Pennsylvaia); Moisey suffered a 6-4 overtime loss against No. 20 (at 119) Zain Retherford (Line Mountain, Pennsylvania); Randy Cruz lost 7-3 against Dereck Enders (Big Spring, Pensylvania); while Dehaut lost by fall in 4:36 to Brian Brill (Central Mountain, Pennsylvania).
The Hawks did have two wrestlers finish in third place -- Ryan Todora (140) and Elliott Riddick (160) -- while Jaydon Rice (125) finished in seventh place. All of that was enough for Bethlehem Catholic to emerge with 172 points, and first place in the tournament standings.
With a tournament-high eight medalists, it was Parkland, Pennsylvania that took home second place. However, only Mike Ottinger (160) would rise to the top of the tournament podium. He did so with a fall, a technical fall, a 3-2 victory, and then two 3-1 overtime victories. Finishing in second place were Justin Heller (145) and Tarik Haddad (215), while Cory Bruder (189) finished in third. Other placers finished fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth.
Tied for third in the tournament standings with 133-1/2 points were Solanco, Pennsylvania and Central Mountain, Pennsylvania. Solanco was led by a trio of champions in Dan Neff (140), Connor Moran (171), and freshman Thomas Haines (215); while Central Mountain earned titles from Brian Brill (152) and Zach Corl (285). Neff earned a 4-3 victory in the finals over Matt Martoccio (Council Rock South, Pennsylvania); while Corl had four pins in as many matches during the tournament.
Other weight class champions were CJ Palmer (125) from Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania; Matt Sausman (130) and TJ Miller (135) of Camden Catholic, New Jersey; Travis Erdman (145) of Line Mountain, Pennsylvania; and David Reck (189) of Colonial Forge, Virginia.
For full brackets: http://www.crsd.org/5034011314232/lib/5034011314232/ETR_FINAL_Brackets.pdf
Team Scores: http://www.crsd.org/5034011314232/lib/5034011314232/ETR_FINAL_team_score.pdf
Fit to be tied in New Jersey
This past Saturday saw a battle of the defending Group 3 and 4 champions (decided on dual meets) in the Garden State as part of the GMC/Shore Conference Challenge at Jackson Memorial High School. No. 40 South Plainfield traveled to battle No. 30 Jackson Memorial in what was expected to be a classic dual, and it certainly did not disappoint as there were five lead changes and two ties during the course of the meet.
Jackson Memorial jumped out to a 9-0 advantage, as South Plainfield forfeited to Joe Nolan (285) in the opening match, and Alec Huxford (103) took home a 9-4 decision. However, consecutive pins from No. 1 Anthony Ashnault (112) and Troy Heilmann (119) gave South Plainfield a 12-9 lead. Brian Hamman (125) stemmed the South Plainfield tide to give Jackson Memorial a momentary 13-12 lead, before South Plainfield won four consecutive matches to take a 25-13 lead after 145 pounds.
Pins from Doug Hamman (152) and Robert Hennings (160) for Jackson Memorial tied the dual meet at 25-all with three matches remaining. An 8-3 South Plainfield decision at 171, followed by a Dallas Winston for Jackson Memorial set up the last match drama, as the Jaguars led 31-28. Will Whitefleet (215), who lost a critical match for South Plainfield in their third place dual at the Virginia Duals last week, came up heroic this week with a 5-1 victory in the last match to tie the score at 31-31. South Plainfield wins the dual meet on the criteria of most matches won.
No. 30 Jackson Memorial did come up with a 39-20 victory over Delbarton, New Jersey on Friday at Rutgers University winning nine of fourteen weight classes. Pins from Alex Huxford (103) and Doug Hamman (171), along with a forfeit win by Joe Nolan (285) helped spark the Jaguars victory. Both of Delbarton’s nationally-ranked wrestlers did leave the dual meet with victories -- No. 5 Jeff Canfora (135) with a decision and No. 11 Devon Gobbo (145) with a major decision wrestling up one weight class.
Guests with the statements at Marmion Quad
No. 12 Marmion Academy, Illinois hosted a trio of nationally-ranked teams on Saturday for dual meet action, and not much went right for the host Cadets. In the opening dual meet, No. 5 St. Edward, Ohio defeated Marmion 49-21. The Eagles won ten of fourteen matches, including a 5-4 victory for Edgar Bright (112) over No. 6 Jered Cortez and a 4-0 victory for No. 19 Dean Heil (119) over Cheesehead runner-up George Fisher. In the second dual meet, the Cadets lost 46-19 to No. 9 Iowa City West, Iowa; the Trojans took home nine of the fourteen matches. Two results of note include No. 10 Phillip Laux (Iowa City West) avenging a Dvorak finals loss to No. 17 Johnny Jimenez with a 4-2 victory at 103, and the disqualification of Fisher which would prove costly in their final dual meet.
In the last match of the day, the host Cadets would wrestle fellow Class AA rivals No. 46 Montini Catholic, Illinois. With the match starting at 160 pounds (the first two rounds started at 145 and 152), the Broncos would run out to a 21-0 lead, which included a match-opening victory for No. 6 Stephen Robertson by injury default, as Robertson bumped up one weight class. In the group of matches from 103-140, Marmion would win six of them, with only Kevon Powell earning a pin for Montini at 112 pounds. Without Fisher, the Cadets chose to bump Cortez up to 119 pounds (where he would secure a technical fall), and had reserve wrestler Johnny Field competing against Powell at 112.
Trying to hold onto a 27-26 lead, Frank Baer (Montini Catholic) earned a major decision at 145 to stretch the margin to 31-26 heading into the last match. Needing a pin from Eddie Breen, as a technical fall would only tie the match and Montini would have won it on criteria, he was only able to come up with a major decision. The Broncos emerged with a 31-30 victory after losing their first two matches of the day. Iowa City West took nine weights to beat Montini 40-19, while St. Edward took eleven weights to earn a 48-12 victory.
Also in round three, the two out of state teams met in a match placing the two 2-0 teams against one another. The key to this match ended up being the superiority of St. Edward in its upper-weights. After a match opening 2-1 victory by No. 19 Justin Koethe (Iowa City West) over Domenic Abounader in a battle of Fargo All-Americas at 160 pounds, the Eagles would respond with three pins and a technical fall in succession to take a 23-3 lead as the match turned over to 103 pounds. Phillip Laux, ranked tenth nationally was able to buffer the string with a pin, but Bright and Heil countered with victories to exted the St. Edward lead to 30-9.
Iowa City West did follow up with four victories in succession from Jack Hathaway (125), Dakota Bauer (130), Gradey Gambrall (135), and No. 19 Elijah Sullivan (140) -- two decisions, a medical forfeit, and a pin -- to reduce the deficit to 30-27. The Eagles were able to close out the dual meet with consecutive decision victories from Matt Van Curen (145), 8-4, and Mark Martin (152), 12-7 to seal an undefeated today in the Chicago area.
Guns blazing for Graham headed into big dual meets
With crucial dual meets the next three weekends against nationally-ranked teams, No. 3 Graham, Ohio viewed this as a weekend to get all their ducks in a row. The next three weekends include home dual meets against No. 5 St. Edward, Ohio and No. 47 Wadsworth, Ohio sandwiched by a trip to No. 2 Blair Academy, New Jersey. This past weekend, the Falcons traveled to Alliance, Ohio for the 25th annual Top Gun Wrestling Tournament.
Even without the services of state champion Isaac Jordan (160), Graham placed eight wrestlers -- all of them as finalists -- with seven winning championships. Those on top of the podium included No. 11 Ryan Taylor (112), Micah Jordan (119), No. 7 Nick Brascetta (140), No. 5 Bo Jordan (145), No. 11 Matt Stephens (152), Kyle Ryan (171), and No. 6 Huston Evans (189). The Falcons amassed 286-1/2 points.
Their lone runner-up finish came from Case Garrison (135), who lost a somewhat controversial championship match against No. 3 Nate Skonieczny (Walsh Jesuit, Ohio). Leading 3-2, and with the match’s only takedown, Garrison was called for a second stalling inside the last fifteen seconds to force the overtime. After a scoreless overtime, each wrestler earned an escape during the tiebreaker. Then, Skonieczny was able to choose the down position in ultimate tiebreaker, since he had scored the match’s initial point on a second period escape; Skonieczny earned the match-ending escape to win 5-4.That result gave Walsh Jesuit their second consecutive weight class champion, as No. 5 Johnni DiJulius (130) won the prior weight class with a 12-4 major decision in the championship, after pinning three prior opponents.
Second place in the team standings went to No. 18 Massillon Perry, Ohio with 235 points. The Panthers only placed three in the finals, but that was second most in the tournament. Doug Mayes (285) was the lone champion, as David Bavery (103) and Tanner Lemon (145) lost championship matches to highly ranked competition. They also had seven other wrestlers earning medals to make it a tournament high ten -- three in third, one fourth, two in fifth, and one seventh. None of those coming from No. 19 Mitch Newhouse (119), who blew a second period lead in losing an 11-7 quarterfinal match to eventual champion Micah Jordan (Graham), and subsequently defaulted out of the tournament.
With a pair of nationally-ranked wrestlers appearing in the finals, CVCA, Ohio finished third in the standings with 152-1/2 points. Nathan Tomasello, the nation’s top-ranked 103 pound wrestler, dominated his finals match to earn a 12-4 major decision; while No. 8 Alex Utley (189) lost an action packed final against No. 6 Huston Evans (Graham) 7-6. Five other Royals earned placement honors, three in fifth and two in sixth.
Rounding out the weight class champions were John Dillon (125) from Boardman, Ohio; Ryan Teis (160) from North Canton Hoover, Ohio; and Travis McIntosh (215) from Miami Trace, Ohio. McIntosh earned a 3-2 ultimate tiebreak victory over No. 9 Logan Erb (Wapakoneta, Ohio), a match in which all points came on escapes -- the key being that McIntosh had the initial escape in the second period and was able to have choice in the ultimate tiebreaker.
For complete results: http://old.flyers.stark.k12.oh.us/Top%20Gun/tgt2011/TopGun11home.htm
Rough week for Blue Eagles
No. 41 Nazareth, Pennsylvania had a tough three-day stretch with a Thursday night home date against No. 17 Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania and a road trip on Saturday night against No. 16 Easton, Pennsylvania. Both of the dual meets ended up being close with multiple swings in the team standing, but Nazareth fell short on both occasions.
The Thursday night dual meet started at 189 pounds, with both teams weighing in their normal 160 pounder at 171, and each moving them up to 189 for the opening match. In that opening match, Elliott Riddick set the tone for the Hawks, as he scored what would be considered by most an upset -- in earning a 2-1 victory over Ryan Krecker. When No. 2 Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic) responded to a Nazareth decision and pin at 215 and 285 with a pin of his own at 103 pounds, the score was tied at 9-9, and the Hawks were on their way to a four-match winning streak which would give them a 21-9 lead.
This included a 4-2 upset victory for Jayden Rice over Franco Ferraina at 125 pounds. Nazareth would respond to tie the dual meet up at 21-21 with a forfeit win from No. 2 Zach Horan (130), 6-0 decision from Greg Noll (135), and 1-0 decision from Ian Stout (140). Ryan Todora (145) for Bethlehem Catholic would give Bethlehem Catholic the lead, which would stand through the end of the dual meet, with a 4-1 decision over Wyatt Miller. The dual meet ended up with a 33-25 victory for the Hawks, as they won eight of fourteen weight classes.
Saturday night’s dual meet was even more dramatic, as there were three ties and five lead changes, including one in the evening’s last match when No. 13 Mitch Minotti moved up one weight, from 145 to 152, to earn a match ending 25-8 technical fall over Hunter Wiedner to give the Red Rovers a 27-24 dual meet victory.
After Evan DiSora (119) scored a 15-5 major decision for Easton to go ahead 15-12 in the dual meet, three consecutive victories for Nazareth set up the match ending drama. A pair of decisions from Ferraina and Noll, sandwiched around by a Horan pin, gave the Blue Eagles the 24-15 lead with three matches remaining. Joey Rizzolino (140) scored a 15-5 major decision over Ian Stout, and Anthony Minotti (145) earned a 9-6 decision over Wyatt Miller, to set up Mitch Minotti’s last match drama.
Other head-to-head dual meets involving ranked teams
No. 48 Carl Sandburg, Illinois 37, No. 24 Crystal Lake Central, Illinois 24
No. 24 Crystal Lake Central, Illinois 35, No. 43 Minooka, Illinois 27
No. 10 Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin 38, No. 35 Glenbard North, Illinois 28
No. 14 St. John’s, Michigan 29, No. 38 Detroit Catholic Central, Michigan 25
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