Marsico’s last-second win at 160 kick-starts Liberty wrestling’s comeback victory against Winters Mill
Liberty wrestling needed a win, and needed it badly.
After some early success, the Lions found themselves down following three straight losses in Wednesday night’s dual against Winters Mill. However, Dominic Marsico turned the tide and Liberty was able to complete the comeback and defeat Winters Mill 39-28.
“We had a lot of guys step up for us in some big moments,” coach Joseph Zaccagnini. “It speaks to how much work we’ve been putting in.”
The biggest moment of the night came in the 160-pound contest between Marsico and Winters Mill’s Jackson Richmond. Winters Mill held just a one-point lead with three matches left in the dual.
Tied at 2 and seemingly headed to overtime, Marsico slipped through a clinch for a reverse with just 10 seconds left in the final period. The move gave Marsico the points he needed to close the matchup with a 4-2 decision and give Liberty the late lead. The Lions held on, winning the last three matches of the dual for the narrow victory.
“It was really close at the end,” Zaccagnini said. “[Marsico] had the mindset to finish the match out on a high note.”
“I knew I had the better energy and the power to come out on top late.” Marsico said.
For Marsico, the big win couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I’ve been struggling recently,” he said. “It was nice to get one and get myself back on track.
The win included several individual victories from some younger wrestlers on the Lions squad. Forced to wrestle for almost the entire six minutes, the mental and physical battle provided valuable insight for some members of the team.
Zaccagnini credits his young guys for showing the strength and stamina during some of the night’s longer matches.
“We had a lot of freshmen step up for us tonight,” he said. “We had some lesser experienced guys come out there and wrestle six minutes for us, which is a tall task, but some were able to fight and get pins for us.”
Other wrestling scores:
South River coach John Klessinger warned his group not to take Crofton lightly.
As the coach expected, the Cardinals treated their budding rivals to a drawn-out, two-hour slugfest in which all but a handful of bouts resulted in three-period — or more — battles to the end. But No. 9 South River prevailed, 46-25.
Long matches that end in victory serve South River just as well as a dominating blowout. There are lessons still to be learned for a developing squad, much younger than the Seahawks that claimed the Class 4A state title last year, and that much was earned Wednesday night. Of the 14 matches, South River claimed just six by fall or forfeit.
“We just need to get better in some spots. We’re solid,”
South River 46, Crofton 25:
Klessinger said. “We’re still learning, but we have some weights that need to get better.
“But, such a weird match. They injury-defaulted, we injury-defaulted. Unusual, unusual match.”
The Seahawks slogged through their first matches, dragging out three periods to piece together decisions and majors.
But then there was Alex Szkotnicki, a girl new to South River but with national acclaim to her name already. She took the mat and twisted her opponent, Cody Fanzo, beneath her and earned a pin with 39 seconds left in the first period.
It wasn’t South River’s only pin in the lighter weights. At 126 pounds, John Titow’s fall came down a much longer road. He scored a pin in the third period bumping South River’s lead to 19-0.
“We’re constantly getting better,” South River 145-pounder Sam Ditmars said. “Practice, we’re not as technique-oriented, because we kind of know what we need to do. We just need to beat it into our heads how, to get to the places we want to be.”
As hard as Crofton grappled, its first points came when a Seahawk suffered a dislocated shoulder at 138.
Ditmars followed up, holding a thrashing Connor Duncan back, amassing eight points before ultimately reaching his pin. But his injured teammate, Ben Travis, was on his mind.
“When you go out wrestling for your teammates, it feels like it takes the pressure off your back,” Ditmars said. “I saw my teammate get hurt, I’m going to show up.”
Not until some of the heavier bouts did Crofton earn points on its own by merit, but even in the defeats, the Cardinals showed how tough they could be.
“They’re scrappy,” Klessinger said. “They’re up-and-coming. I’ve said that more than once to people, that Crofton’s going to be a program to reckon with very soon.”
Old Mill 4 1 , Annapolis 3 1 Patterson Mil 4 0 , North East 3 2 Patterson Mill 60, Joppatowne 19
Boys basketball Hereford 46, Pikesville 44:
The Hereford boys basketball team has been a consistent winner longer than upstart Pikesville, and that experience showed up in the final minute Wednesday.
Freshman guard Sam Nicholson hita3-pointerwith35secondstoplay and the host Bulls got vital defensive stops before and after his big shot to close out a 46-44 win over the Panthers in Baltimore County play.
Senior center Ryder Walter scored a game-high 18 points and controlled the boards as Hereford (9-3) improved to 3-2 in Baltimore County. Pikesville (10-2) had its five-game winning streak ended and is now 3-1 in league play.
After Nicholson provided the home team with the two-point lead, the Panthers had one 3-point try rim out and a second one fall short as the buzzer sounded. After consecutive losses to Parkville and Dulaney, the Bulls have answered with tight wins over Dundalk and Pikesville to get back on track.
“We thought it was going to be a really good game and, boy, was it,” Walter said. “The team played hard and made some huge baskets — shout out to Sam Nicholson with the big-time three that probably won us this game.”
Sparrows Point 5 4 ,
Carver A&T 5 1
Catonsville 7 5 , Towson 5 8 Glenelg Country 64, Boys’ Latin 47 Gerstell 4 9 , Friends 4 1
Linganore 5 2 , Westminster 4 7 St. Maria Goretti 7 2 ,
Loyola Blakefield 5 2
John Carroll 6 5 , Calvert Hall 4 6 Aberdeen 9 2 , Havre de Grace 7 7