Lighting it up
Eagles split tri-meet with Calvert, Northern
Knowing his team was looking at a fairly significant deficit after dropping the first two bouts of the night against the North Point Eagles, Northern’s Rex Fleming took it upon himself to shift the momentum when he first hit the mat for his 145-pound bout on Tuesday night at Calvert.
The Patriots, who were going to forfeit two matches at 220 and 285, dropped the dual’s opening two bouts by technical fall and fall, creating a vir- tual 23-point hole.
“We knew we were down [23] points because of the forfeits,” Fleming said. “We knew we had to come out strong and get tons of pins and light it up.”
Fleming got the Patriots’ pin parade started with a first-period fall, trigger- ing a run of six straight pins for Northern. The Patriots ended up winning eight bouts by fall in what ended a 5429 win over the Eagles. Northern later closed the night with a 39-33 win over the host Cavaliers, while North Point salvaged a win in the tri-meet with a 4330 win over Calvert.
In the Northern (4-0, 4-0 SMAC) win over North Point (3-8, 1-1), Fleming’s pin at 145 was followed by pins by Drew Fleming (152), Lance Adriani (160), Zach Hoffman (170), Seth Cranford (182) and Marvin Mitchell (195). Five of the six came in the first period, while Fynn Yankanich (106) and Alex Marquis (113) later contributed a pair of first-period pins of their own.
“We needed pin after pin and we obviously showed that,” Adriani said. “We had pins at 145, 152, 160 and 170. We did our jobs. Against Calvert, pretty much the same thing. We had to fill up spots. I went out there and did my part. Our whole team did well tonight.”
The Patriots only managed to win
three matches by fall against Calvert (1-10, 1-2), with Rex Fleming, Adriani and Hoffman again earn- ing the maximum, but won 8 of the 14 bouts over- all to earn the win over their county rivals. Picking up wins by decision were Drew Fleming, Cranford and Mitchell, while North- ern also took a couple of matches by forfeit.
“I struggled kind of in the first period trying to take him down, taking shots,” Mitchell said of his match against Calvert’s Andrew Jones, which ended an 8-5 decision for the Northern grappler. “At the end I was just working what was better for me. I was actually try- ing to work moves instead of pin him quickly.”
Northern’s next scheduled action comes this
weekend in the Keaser Classic at North Coun- ty High School in Anne Arundel County.
In the opening dual of the night, North Point won the final three matches — two coming via forfeit — to overcome a 30-25 deficit for a win over the Cavaliers. Isa- iah Edmond (138), Mi- chael Meade (145) and Caleb Blancaflor (120) all won by fall for the Ea- gles, while Jaden Mack (182) picked up a major decision. Ethan Walker (132), Elijah Griggs (195) and Kyle Batchelor (220) each contributed deci- sions to go along with the two forfeit victories.
Walker and Edmond both also won matches against Northern, while the Eagles claimed three matches by forfeit against the Patriots. All in all, it was a relatively solid night of work for North Point, which is scheduled
to see its next action at this weekend’s Warrior Duals at La Plata.
“They were looking good,” North Point head coach Willie Leonard said of the night. “We were wrestling guys coming down in weight, moving around and stuff. I think we’re going to get bet- ter as time goes on. We have a lot to work on. It’s a young team, just two seniors. We’re improving slowly, but we’re getting to where were want to be. It’s just going to take some time.”
The host Cavaliers won five bouts against North Point, all coming by fall. Doing the honors were Matthew Davis (126), Ja- cob Davis (152), Victor Brooks (160), Austin Libby (170) and Jesse Chick (285).
In the nightcap against Northern, Calvert won three matches by forfeit to go along with pins by Kross Canter (138) and Devin Jones (132) and a 4-1 decision from Matthew Davis at 126.
Calvert was scheduled to host Huntingtown on Thursday night, and then is slated to travel to DuVal in Prince George’s County on Dec. 21. Similar to North Point, Calvert head coach Mike Free is working with a relatively inexperienced group that is looking to improve throughout the course of the season.
“We’re battling,” Free said. “You can’t fall down 12 points with the forfeits. You try to work your way out of it. But in any sport if you try to come back from 12 points, it’s hard. But I have kids that are battling, coming to practice and working hard. We’re going to stay positive and keep working what we have and hopefully it will turn itself around.”