Early tone just right for Hammond
Bears turn aside Glenelg in Howard County wrestling dual
Hammond knew it would have to come ready to wrestle when it visited Glenelg on Thursday night, so that’s exactly what it did.
The Bears used a forfeit and three wins in the first four matches to take an 18-0 lead and never trailed en route to a 39-27 win over No. 12 Glenelg (5-1) in a Howard County League match.
The fifteenth-ranked Bears (19-4) managed four pins in their eight wins, and that set the tone for the night.
“We’ve been in a lot close matches with Glenelg, and it’s been since 2007 or 2008 since we’ve beaten them,” Hammond coach William Yeo said. “It is nice to see the team come out and get a marquee win like this. Dual meets like this often come down to a coin toss, and we won the coin toss. That was a big help to us.”
Hammond got off on the right foot when Wayne Low rallied in the third period to defeat Glenelg’s Max Dial in the first match at 220 pounds.
Trailing by one at 2-1, Low got an escape and a takedown in the final period to outlast Dial, 4-2. Hammond also took the next match when heavyweight Jermaine Osomiha got an escape with 1:52 left and hung on for a 3-2 win against the Gladiators’ Travis Goodwin.
The teams split the two most exciting matches of the evening. At 138 pounds, Hammond’s Asher Staley used a quick start to get two points right at the beginning of the third period to take a 3-2 lead, then hung on to defeat Glenelg’s Collin Szczepanski in a very competitive match.
“I reversed him,” Staley said. “I honestly didn’t know the score, but I knew I needed to get points because I knew we needed to win the county. This was a big step in that direction for us.”
Glenelg’s best win of the night came at 182 pounds. With the match tied at 8 late in the third period, the Gladiators’ Leo Conti went down by two points, then got three in the final 36 seconds to hold off the Bears’ Jinan Kahn, 11-10.
“I tried to stick to the fundamentals and just keep going at it,” Conti said. “He took me down and he was up 10-8. I got an escape, then I got him on his back for back points for the other two points. I knew we needed the
win, and I was able to get it done.”
Conti’s win cut Hammond’s lead to 39-21, and Glenelg’s Peter Danko pinned Hammond’s Desmond Baker in the final match to make the final mark 39-27.
Glenelg coach Matt Bichner said the match will be a learning experience for the Gladiators.
“We didn’t really wrestle that well today,” he said. “They’re a tough team and they work very hard. We lost by 12 points, and our 106-pounder was sick. If we win that match, then the outcome could have been different. This won’t define our season. We’ll just learn from it and move on.”