Mat-ter of fact: Gaels prove why they’re standing at No. 1
If there was any doubt about who the best wrestling team in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference was, Mount Saint Joseph removed all doubt — and quickly.
The top-ranked Gaels (3-0) had pins in four of their first five matches and ran out to a 30-point lead before host and secondranked Gilman (5-1) scored a team point in a dominant 56-16 victory Wednesday night.
Mount Saint Joseph won 11 of the 14 matches, including six by fall.
The match began at heavyweight, where Gavin Bage wasted little time disposing of Wesley Seba with a pin in 54 seconds. In the next match at 106, the Gaels’ Joseph Cooper bested Bage’s achievement, pinning his opponent, Anders Martin, in just 29 seconds. At 113, Mount Saint Joseph’s Jake Tamai pinned Sawyer Enright just 1:17 into their match. It was that kind of night for the Greyhounds.
“Gilman had some really tough wrestlers, so you know you’ll always get a good match from them,” Gaels coach Harry Barnabae said. “I think the performance of our lowerclassmen really carried us tonight. People like Jalen Diggs [at 144 pounds], Joseph Cooper, Jake Tamai. We
have a lot of good freshmen and they did a good job.”
One of the best matches of the night was at 120 pounds between the Gaels’ Carter Nogle and Gilman’s Zach Glory. Both are ranked in the top five in the state.
The match was close through the first two periods before Nogle pulled away in the third period for a 7-2 win in a rematch of last year’s MIAA tournament final and Maryland Independent State tournament semifinal, both won by Carter via bonus points.
“It didn’t go exactly like I thought it would go,” Nogle said. “I came into this match with a little different approach and changed my style a little, and it worked out for me. Our team this year is one of the best teams we’ve ever had, and he’s a good wrestler.”
The Gaels also got a win at 132, with Max Conley facing another ranked opponent after John Jurkovic moved up from 126. The match was tied at 3 entering the final minute before Conley executed a reversal to take a 5-3 lead with just 36 seconds left.
“The first period I was sort of feeling him out,” Conley said. “My coach has been telling me all week that I’ve got to stay in matches and never give up. It was getting late, and I saw my chance and took it.”
Coleman Nogle (126 pounds), Jaden Diggs (144), Ben Smith (157), Nicholas Barnabae (165), Austin Lewis (175) and Bryce Phillips (215) also got wins for Mount Saint Joseph.
Gilman’s two wins came from
Tyson Sherlock (138) and Emmit Sherlock (150). The Greyhounds also received a forfeit at 190.
“They’re really good,” Gilman coach Bryn Holmes said. “They proved today that they are one of the best teams in the state by far. We tried to move things around in our lineup and I thought we could steal one or two [matches], but they’re just too good for that. They showed us where we want to be, and we’re going to have to work a lot harder if we want to be there.”