South River gets late pin to tie, share title
Senior Woody uses ‘tempo’ to earn split with Glenelg
As South River trailed Glenelg by six points after all four of the Gladiators’ finalists won at Saturday’s Class 4A-3A East regional tournament, Seahawks coach John Klessinger had a decision to make. Should he tell his heavyweight Brendan Woody that he needed to pin his opponent for the Seahawks to share the regional title, or should he let him focus on simply wrestling his match?
“My assistant coach told me I had to tell him,” Klessinger said. “He’s a senior, he’s been here before and he responded.”
Woody pinned Reservoir’s Tyler Ecker in 3 minutes, 12 seconds to secure the fall and give South River a share of its first regional tournament title with defending champion Glenelg with 131 points.
“I heard it from at least eight people — pin to tie and be co-champions with Glenelg,” said Woody, who improved to 41-1 this season with his second straight regional title. “Usually I don’t go that much tempo so early on in the match, but I’m glad I did this time to pull out the win and the pin for my team.”
Trenton Puccinelli also won for the Seahawks and earned crucial bonus points in a 12-3 victory over North Harford’s Will Sadowski in the 132-pound championship.
The Gladiators, meanwhile, trailed entering the championship round and needed to win all four of their finals matches to even have a shot. Jared Thomas (126 pounds), Max Sotka (160), Garrett Murray (170) and Sam Alsheimer (182) were all victorious, and Thomas and Murray both earned bonus points.
Alsheimer broke a tie at 2 with a takedown in the final 10 seconds to edge Bel Air’s Tom Gomez and put the pressure on Woody to pull through with a fall.
“We only had seven guys in the tournament, so with half our lineup to finish tied for first is pretty impressive,” Glenelg coach Matt Bichner said. “A couple guys didn’t wrestle as well as they could have and maybe we could have gotten a couple extra bonus points, but I’m happy. Our guys in the finals wrestled really tough.”
Old Mill (101 points), Atholton (85) and Broadneck (81) rounded out the top five teams, while Bel Air (72.5), North County (69), Mount Hebron (66), Centennial (62.5) and C. Milton Wright (43) finished in the top 10.
Bel Air’s Brent Lorin (113 pounds), Arundel’s Nathan Gainey (120), Centennial’s Jason Kraisser (138) and Old Mill’s Chase Pennell (152) won their second consecutive regional titles.
Lorin improved his career record to 86-0 with a first-period pin of South River’s Calvin Brumfield. He picked up a quick takedown and followed with a cement mixer for the fall in 1:47.
Lorin said he’s not focusing on keeping his undefeated streak intact. Instead, he just wants to get better one day at a time.
“There’s always that opponent out there that’s going to be better than you,” he said. “That’s why I’m constantly training to get better and better, so when I do meet that guy I can beat him . ... I think [winning regionals] is crucial. Getting that top seed matters a whole lot.”
Gainey (32-4) dominated North County’s Casey Payne in a 14-3 major decision victory but was disappointed with his performance. He said he needs to sharpen his game to win his second straight state title at next week’s Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association state tournament at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
“It wasn’t one of my best matches,” Gainey said. “I mean, I still performed but I think I got a little too relaxed . ... He got a takedown in the second period and it didn’t tear down my confidence, but it upset me a little bit. I know that’s not the type of wrestler I am and I got a little too complacent. Overall, I still dominated, but I could do better.”
Kraisser (36-1), meanwhile, got off to a slow start against Reservoir junior and defending regional champion Todd Del Tufo before turning it on in the second period. He built a 7-0 lead before getting the pin in 3:13.
“I just started doing my moves,” Kraisser said. “Once I got to mat wrestling — I like mat wrestling a little bit more — and I started opening up the match a little bit.”
Unlike Kraisser, Pennell (38-2) scored early and often, picking up a takedown in the first few seconds of his finals match against Mount Hebron’s Ali Pender before getting the fall in 1:47.
He said Saturday’s title feels much better than the first.
“Last year I got a pin in the regional championship too, and it just feels great. There’s no feeling like it,” Pennell said.