Son gets the better of dad as Sam Ziff ’s Severna Park wrestlers slip past Meade
Dave and Sam Ziff can’t talk wrestling in-season anymore. It’s an unusual change to their father-son dynamic.
Dave, the father, first coached Sam as he grew up. His son returned to Dave’s world as an assistant coach for seven years before they swapped roles for a season.
This season, however, the two split up, but one date was circled for a family gathering, but not Christmas or New Year’s. It was Jan. 4, the day Dave Ziff ’s Meade wrestling team faced Severna Park and its first-year coach, Sam Ziff.
When the last match was decided in the Falcons’ favor, giving Severna Park its first county win, 36-28, not only was Sam smiling as he posed with his father — their family shooting pictures from above — Dave Ziff smiled too.
“It was everything I thought it would be,” Dave said.
The Meade coach was thrilled the match came down to one bout; it wouldn’t have been as fun any other way. They both stock light teams, the coach said, but Dave was pleased to see the strength his son’s wrestlers displayed.
“He’s taught me as much, if not more, as I’ve taught him — the warmups, stuff we did together,” Dave said. “Both of us miss coaching together.”
The passion the younger Ziff displayed throughout the evening mirrored the other side of the floor, where Dave constantly shouted instructions to his Mustangs. Sam says his father is the reason he loves wrestling as much as he does, and this was just another bonding experience for them.
“The way he treats his athletes, the way he works with kids is probably the most important thing I’ve tried to carry on in my coaching career,” Sam said. “It’s about having a level of respect for the kids, making sure everyone’s on the same page. You can hear it — he gets the kids to buy in, have that culture shift.
“That’s what I want to emulate. When you have good culture, you have great teams.”
Other wrestling scores:
South Carroll wins tri-meet: For No. 4 South Carroll, every match is an opportunity for improvement.
Whether you are a returning state champion looking to extend your streak of dominance, a state finalist looking to make those one or two adjustments needed to finally get over the hump or even a first-time varsity wrestler trying to stand out in a room full of experience and talent, everyone is working to better themselves.
South Carroll has it all and the Cavaliers excelled Wednesday, going 2-0 in a tri-meet against rivals Liberty and Century. The victories not only saw the usual suspects pick up wins, but they featured victorious moments from some of the under-the-radar Cavaliers as well.
“I’ve got a pretty good team,” South Carroll coach Jay Braunstein said with a grin after reflecting on his team’s performance.
South Carroll started the night off with a strong showing against Liberty. Nine wrestlers earned pinfalls in the 60-18 victory: Grayson Barnhill (106 pounds), Evan Owen (120), Jojo Gigolotti (132), Angelo Marchany (138), Gage Owen (145), Michael Pizzuto (152), Anthony Rodrigues (160), AJ Rodrigues (170) and Rylan Moose (182).
The Cavaliers followed that up with a dominant 77-6 win in their second dual of the night against Century. They added 11 more pins from Barnhill (106), Bella Garity (113), Sean Hobbs (126), Gigolloti (132), Marchany (138), Owen (145), Anthony Rodrigues (160), AJ Rodrigues (170), Moose (182), Manny Rodrigues (195) and Decklen Logan (285).
“It’s fun beating two teams in one night,” Logan said.
Braunstein knows his team’s work ethic and commitment are the biggest reasons his program is so successful from top to bottom. He also understands the advantages he has, knowing a good portion of his kids are singularly focused on wrestling, ready to train and develop their skills instead.
Even the ones who do play a second sport, like returning state champions AJ Rodrigues and Pizzuto, put in the extra work to reach a championship level.
“A lot of my kids are year-round wrestlers,” Braunstein said “They go out to Fargo [North Dakota] and train in the summer. They put the time in.”
— Timothy Dashiell
Boys basketball
New Town 80, Catonsville 42: New Town was glad to quickly get back on its homecourt Wednesday after a rough loss the night before, onetheNo.7Titansdescribedasembarrassing.
Baltimore County rival Catonsville, which entered riding an early-season surge, was the unfortunate opponent.
The host Titans clamped down on defense early, scored the game’s first 17 points and had three players reach double figures in points by the half. The result was an 80-42 win for New Town, which showed resolve after an uncharacteristic95-43lossatNo.1MountSaintJoseph on Tuesday.
Led by Cam Sparrow’s 19 points and strong all-around performance, the Titans improved to 6-2, while the Comets fell to 6-2. Arrington Greenfieldadded16points,JaleelHawkinshad 15 and Jaden Brown scored 10 for New Town.
“Ithinkwebouncedbacktoday,”NewTown coach Derek Wise said. “I think guys understood what took place [Tuesday], understood this was a division game and we still have our goal in sight, so we needed to respond to stay the course.”
— Glenn Graham
Centennial 58, Hammond 52: Centennial blew a double-digit lead in its last game against Walter Johnson and was determined to not let that happen again. It didn’t, though things got much closer than any would’ve thought.
Despite the Eagles building a 20-point first-quarter lead, Hammond surged back in the second half. However, Centennial held off the charge for a 58-52 win.
“That’s been our Achilles’ heel,” Centennial coach Rob Slopek said. “We were 3-3 in games we either led or were tied the last four minutes of the game, so it’s the growth that we had.
“We didn’t panic. Tonight, we didn’t play afraid to lose. I think that’s where we were earlier in the year. I think tonight we said, ‘If you make a mistake, you make a mistake.’
“The game is predicated off of mistakes. It didn’t affect our guys at all. They just stuck to the game plan and did what we do.”
Harford Tech 75, Rising Sun 42
Dundalk 73, Carver A&T 34
Pikesville 56, Woodlawn 38
Oakdale 42, Manchester Valley 39
St. Mary’s 66, Gerstell 54
River Hill 60, Oakland Mills 58
Loyola Blakefield 75, Glenelg Country 60 Atholton 53, Glenelg 46
Long Reach 71, Mt. Hebron 31
Howard 58, Marriotts Ridge 48
Girls basketball
St. Frances 69, Mercy 32: Ande’a Cherisier suffered a black eye and broken nose during St. Frances’ arduous start to the season.
ThePanthersplayedninestraightgameson the road before getting to play Mercy in their home opener Wednesday night.
It was a statement game for St. Frances. Cherisier scored 14 points, freshman Mone’t Edwards added 11 and the Panthers ran away with a 69-32 victory.
“It was our first home game of the season and we wanted to come out with a high level of energy and focus and really get off to a good start,” longtime Panthers coach Jerome Shelton said. “We played in a lot of neutral sites and other homecourts, and I said after practice yesterday that we needed to be excited about playing at home.
“I think that emotion and energy level really carried us.”
Cherisier scored 10 points in the opening quarter and St. Frances (8-2 overall, 2-0 IAAM) raced out to a 25-8 lead and never looked back.
— Todd Karpovich, for The Baltimore Sun
Loch Raven 48, Sparrows Point 26 Eastern Tech 52, Kenwood 6
Annapolis 46, City 35
Indian Creek 54, Annapolis Area Christian School 23
St. Mary’s 75, Glenelg Country 18 Mt Hebron 36, Long Reach 33
Hammond 57, Centennial 15
Glenelg 57, Atholton 33
River Hill 56, Oakland Mills 50
Reservoir 35, Wilde Lake 21
McDonogh 76, Archbishop Spalding 37 Gerstell 44, St. Paul’s 28
Williamsport 69, Francis Scott Key 58 North Harford 50, Edgewood 24