South Carroll wrestling crowned back-to-back regional champs
With a trip to Saturday’s state dual wrestling semifinals on the line, South Carroll picked up wins against two separate groups of Eagles, defeating fellow Carroll County foe Francis Scott Key and the Academy for College and Career Exploration (ACCE) to clinch its second straight Class 1A North Region championship.
After defeating FSK 77-0, the 76-6 regional final victory over ACCE was expected by many. Still, the Cavaliers got big wins from Bella Garrity and Logan Brightful, who both wrestled under some unexpected circumstances.
Their victories showed that, from top to bottom, South Carroll is stronger than ever as the Cavaliers are now two dual wins away from a repeat 1A state championship.
“Really happy with the way we wrestled today,” coach Anthony Winfield said. “They were very impressive in both duals.”
In the regional semifinals the Cavaliers won every match, securing 11 pins in 13 matches en route to a 77-0 victory over Francis Scott Key. It was in the regional finals against ACCE where, although there were similar results, the usual South Carroll standouts had some help.
In one of the first matches of the dual, heavyweight Brightful stepped up and defeated Briaun Coleman in a back-andforth match. In a classic stalemate, one in which the only scoring done was via escapes, Brightful hit the biggest move late, earning a pinfall victory with just 22.3 seconds left in the match. It all happened despite Brightful not knowing who his opponent would be.
“I thought I was wrestling 220, so I was expecting someone else.” Brightful said with a smile. “With the heavier weights it’s going to come down to who gets tired first and who can who can last the longest. Today, it was me.”
While Brightful knew that he was wrestling and just didn’t know who, Garrity didn’t know she was wrestling at all.
Garrity, the lone girl in the Cavaliers’ lineup, filled in for Grayson Barnhill at 113 pounds against ACCE and earned the loudest cheers of the night after she hit Emmanuel Beathea with a clean reversal/takedown combo. The sophomore earned the pin moments later.
“I wasn’t expecting to have a match today, but I went out there ready to wrestle,” Garrity said. “I’m happy my teammates and coaches have given me the opportunity to prove myself. I have all their support.”
For Winfield, it’s easy to support wrestlers like Garrity and Barnhill because they fit the mold of what a South Carroll wrestler should be.
“We have high expectations for everyone on our team and they live up to them every time,” he said. “We had faith that they would go out and wrestle great, and they did just that.”
For the Cavaliers, it’s on to the state tournament Saturday. Now back-to-back regional champions, Winfield and his program are on to their next goal on the season.
“It’s awesome to win another one,” he said. “Now it’s off to win a state title.”
Other wrestling scores
South River 46, Crofton 25: South River wrestling 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 South River prevailed 46-25.
Long matches that end in victory serve South River just as well as a dominant blowout. There are lessons still to be learned for a developing squad, much younger than the Seahawks who claimed a 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,” 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.”
— Katherine Fominykh
Middletown 47, Glenelg 23: It was everybody’s goal at Hammond on Thursday to dethrone the defending Class 2A West Region champions from Middletown.
It appears that goal will have to wait until next year.
The Knights from Frederick County used a balanced lineup in the upper half of the middleweights to first beat Manchester Valley 34-33 in their regional semifinal and then beat Glenelg 47-23 and retain the regional crown.
Middletown advances to the Class 2A
state dual semifinals at North Point High School in Charles County on Saturday. The Knights finished second to Stephen Decatur last year at states.
In the other semifinal Glenelg built a big lead and hung on to defeat host Hammond 37-30.
The Gladiators actually took an early lead in the match, getting wins from Ethan Sotka (170), Travis Goodwin (285), Phil Key (106) and Jonathan Sexton (113), whose 15-6 decision gave Glenelg a 17-14 advantage seven matches in.
Then the Knights showed their dominance. At 120 pounds, it took Middletown’s Dylan Hart just 20 seconds to pin Brandon Carbollo. It didn’t take much longer in the next match at 126, where Alex DeVrienet needed 1:05 to pin Glenelg’s Ben Schott.
Middletown’s Stephen Stottlemyer, at 132, recorded the third straight pin, disposing of Glenelg’s Travis McCoy in 1:34 and giving the Knights a 32-17 lead in team points.
— Mike Frainie, For The Baltimore Sun
Loch Raven 42, Western Tech 36: Heading into Thursday night’s Class 1A South Region semifinals, the Loch Raven and Western Tech wrestling coaches knew the first and last two matches would be forfeited. That made for plenty of drama.
Loch Raven trailed 36-24 when Raiders senior Eddie Somerville-Williams took the mat for his 220-pound bout against Elijah Smith with a chance to win it all.
Somerville-Williams was aggressive early and pinned Smith in 35 seconds, and two forfeit wins from Ahmad Robinson (285) and Noah Goocharin (106) clinched Loch Raven’s 42-36 victory. However, the Raiders lost to Lackey in the following regional championship match by the same 42-36 score.
But just getting to that point took several clutch performances.
“I was thinking win,” Somerville-Williams said. “I know it’s crunch time, I’ve got to go 100%.”
“Eddie has been a solid contributor for four years,” Loch Raven coach Anthony Menegatti said. “Eddie has been real tough out there. He’s wrestled heavyweights before so coming down to 220 was no problem.”
Girls basketball
Wilde Lake 48, Centennial 35: The Wildecats earned their first win of the season as Quinn Corkeron scored a team-high 20 points, 19 of which came in the second half.
Leila Boschutte had nine points for Wilde Lake, while Sophia Julian had eight.
Havre de Grace 57, Aberdeen 28: Carla Dunson led the host Warriors with 21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and six steals. Savannah Lawrence had 11 points, Natalie Burton had seven points and five rebounds and freshman Ryleigh Curry had six points, five assists and three steals for Havre de Grace.
Fallston 36, Patterson Mill 34: Ayla Galloway had her 19th straight double-double with 23 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Cougars past the host Huskies. Freshman Brooke Bolesta had six points, Renae Gent had 11 rebounds and Natalie Wirth had seven rebounds.
Liberty 45, Century 44: Dani Paulsen hit a shot in the paint with two seconds left to give the Lions the win over their rivals. She finished the game with six points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Jenna Liska scored 17 points with five rebounds and seven assists. Mia Graff led Century with 15 points and seven rebounds. Harli Hamlett added 14 points, five rebounds and three steals.
Francis Scott Key 51, Brunswick 41: Summer Brooks poured in 19 points and backed her scoring effort with seven rebounds and five steals as the Eagles picked up a nonconference win. Abby Rieger finished with 11 points, six steals and four assists, while Ally Mathias chipped in seven points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.
Boys basketball
Glen Burnie 83, North County 46: Bryce Blair led all scorers with 21 points, while John Mallory added 17 to help the Gophers (12-7) get the win. Lakee Pegram chipped in 11 points.
Westminster 52, Winters Mill 48: The Owls built a 12-point halftime lead and held on to win. Ashton Stewart led the Owls with 12 points. Chance Byrnes had eight points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Willy Anye provided a spark off the bench with eight points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. Winters Mill was led by Dallas Johnson with 11 points and Owen Case with nine.