Overcoming adversity
Three late pins difference in match
With just a 10-wrestler roster, Westlake’s wrestling team gives up free points on forfeits but Tuesday night Westlake overcame that obstacle and went on to defeat host Great Mills 40-28.
The two teams com- bined to forfeit six matches — including a pair of double forfeits — but the Wolverines claimed the win by winning 4 of 8 con- tested matches, three of them on falls.
“It’s very difficult know- ing that even before we go out there we’re giving up four forfeits,” Westlake head coach Corey Munn said. “That’s 24 points [right off the bat] so in or- der to make up that defi- cit we have to get a lot of pins.”
Westlake (2-2, 2-2 SMAC) also conceded the 220-pound match when Demarco Thomas was forced to withdraw with a knee injury.
The win was the sec- ond straight for Westlake, which had previously pounded McDonough 57-6. The Wolverines had previously lost a 31-30 decision to St. Charles.
The Hornets (4-10, 2-1) have alternated wins and losses since the beginning of the season. Great Mills was 2-8 at the Rock- et Duals at Richard Mont- gomery High School last weekend, though two of its losses were by tiebreaker and another was an 18-point defeat to Chopticon.
“There were some bright ends to the match,” Great Mills head coach Carl Van Dunk said. “I think we could have wrestled a lot better, but we had a bunch of guys who had been out for a bit [with injuries]. There was some sloppy wrestling.”
Leading 22-16, the Wolverines pulled away for good when they won the next three matches on first-period falls by Connor Rowley (170), Lordell Johnson (182) and Rexford Edelen (195). The trio secured the falls in
a combined 2 minutes 29 sec- onds.
“Not really different, I just needed to still keep up the in- tensity up for the whole six minutes and wrestle every opponent the same,” Rowley said of being bumped up from 160. “I knew he was a bigger dude than I’m used to so I wanted to make him work as much as I could and keep taking shots and try and get him down on his back. I was able to get him in a half [Nelson] a couple times but he was good at defending it.”
Great Mills took the 220-pound weight class when Dylan Vogt was awarded the win by injury default when Demarco Thomas withdrew in the second period with a knee injury.
“His moves were good and once he got the guy on the ground he used a lot of ground technique,” Van Dunk said of Vogt, who led the match 4-1 in the second period when the in- jury occurred.
The Wolverines built up a 22-0 lead in the match — which started with the 106-pound weight class — on a fall by Maurice Scriber (132), a ma- jor decision by Jordan Bryant (138) and a pair of forfeits.
“I was hoping to use the other man’s momentum on himself,” said Bryant, who won 14-2 thanks to a 9-point second period.
Great Mills got on the board thanks to a forfeit win by Sean McCreer y at 145 pounds.
“We decided to bump up at 145 because we remembered [Great Mills’ Sean] McCreery had a strong showing last year at the SMAC tournament,” Munn said. ‘“That decision al- lowed us to get a few [later] pins where we might not have gotten six points.”
Great Mills pulled to within five points when Tyrik Brooks (152) secured a pin 71 seconds into the first period.
“I know he’s better than that,” Van Dunk said of Brooks, who was 8-2 at the Rocket Duals. “He was just slow and he even said it himself. He told me he was just tired.”
Surprise starter Nick Potts, who suffered a knee injury during the team’s challenge matches on Monday, pulled Great Mills to within five points when he blew open a 2-0 first period lead and went on to defeat Bryce Sewell 20-8 at 160 pounds.
“My game plan was to give it my all,” Potts said. “I knew what moves I was going to work and I came in on full offense. It was an even match until I started working him and he started getting tired.”
“He’s getting a lot of those quick moves off, he just has to work a little bit on working his weight,” Van Dunk said of Potts, who was 5-5 at the Rock- et Duals. “When he’s running the half or the cradle he gets too high and he just slips off. Overall, his technique is good he just has to work back on his weight.”
Munn said he was pleased how Sewell “fought off his back with three seconds left [in the