by Lem Satterfield

Senior 215-pounder Colin Weber pinned Reservoir's Sam Quinn in two minutes, 14 seconds to clinch Thursday night's 37-27 Howard County League victory over the Gators for visiting Hammond before a screaming crowd.

Weber's victory came with his team holding a slim, 28-27 lead in a dual meet whose lead changed four times, but gave the Bears an insurmountable, 34-27, advantage when he was done.

"I just went out there calmly, tried to get whatever I could get," said Weber, who improved to 4-0 with his third pin. "You always look for the pin, if it's there, but mostly, I just went out to get the job done."

The Bears (1-1 overall, 1-1 league) were coming off of Tuesday's 36-30 loss to unbeaten Marriotts Ridge, which secured the victory with a pin in the night's last bout. The Gators (1-1, 1-1) were coming off of Tuesday's rout of Centennial.

The Gators led, 12-0, following victories in the first three bouts, starting with a 17-second pin by Josh Knox (103), and decisions by Ben O'Keefe (112) and Mark Collobucci (119) over Dylan Gillett and Brandon Campbell, respectively.

But the Bears swept three straight bouts to tie the overall match at 12-12, on decisions by Josh Halper (125) and Sam Henig (130), and a second-period pin by Zach Ganoe (135). Halper and Henig overcame first-period deficits of 2-0, and, 5-2, respectively, to win their bouts over Tim Schwarz and Zach Spearman.

"I think everyone around the league expected us to come out of this one at 0-2, but that's something we couldn't have happen," said Halper, who is coming off of a 26-win season during which he finished third in both the county and regional tournaments.

"It really stung for us to lose to Marriotts Ridge, but that's sort of been our motivation," said Halper, a returning state qualifier. "We're kind of out to prove that we're better than everyone thinks, and I think that's what helped everyone to step it up a notch."

From that point, the lead changed three times in as many bouts.

It was 15-12, Gators, after Sean O'Keefe (140) beat the buzzer with his reversal for a 4-3 victory over Nathan Bolton.

But the Bears were up, 18-12, when Robert Aleman (145) overcame a 4-0 deficit to deck Tony Johnson in 1:46.

"I had seen him wrestle last year, and I knew that he was all muscle, and that, if I could just wait him out, maybe he would lose some steam and get tired," said Aleman. "When I got some space, I took a shot and got a tight-waist on him and he couldn't turn."

The Gators, however, led, 27-18, after consecutive falls from Zach Ganoe (152) and Mike Mullens (160), the latter, at 4:33 with the scored tied at 2-2 against Sam Nuss.

The Bears came back, yet again, however, to win the next two bouts for a 28-27 lead with two matchups left as Nick Croninger (171) nailed his man to the mat in 40 seconds, and Danny Flannagan (189) followed with a 15-7 major decision.

The Bears graduated perhaps the school's best-ever senior class, including three-time state champion Vince Taweel and two-time state champion Devon Gillett.

But this year's team, in general, is not unlike Coach Pedro Barbosa was as an undersized Hammond senior in 1994 who won an unlikely title in the heavyweight division.

Since then, Barbosa, in his ninth season, has twice been named All-Metro Coach of The Year and crowned five individual state champions -- including one two-timer and another three-timer.

Barbosa has coached two Class 2A-1A state duals champions, two county tournament titlists and four Class 2A-1A regional championships in the tournament and dual formats.

"We're extremely young, but we're extremly hungry. And we're getting better and better in the room every day. But my expectations are to win, and I don't like the fact that we've lost," said Barbosa. "You know, Marriotts' Ridge was a setback. But there were a lot of good things that came out of that. These kids are going to develop, and develop, and develop, and that's what are goals are."


Hammond   37,    Reservoir  27    

103- Josh Knox (R) p. Matt Beck, 0:17 (6-0, R)
112- Ben O'Keefe (R) d. Dylan Gillett, 7-3 (9-0, R)
119- Mark Collobucci (R) d. Brandon Campbell, 6-0 (12-0, R)
125- Josh Halper (H) d. Tim Schwarz, 8-2 (12-3, R0
130- Sam Henig (H) d. Zach Spearman, 12-9 (12-6, R)
135- Zach Ganoe (H) p. Jason Giamonna, 3:38 (12-12)
140- Sean O'Keefe (R) d. Nathan Bolton, 4-3 (15-12, R)
145- Roberto Aleman (H) p. Tony Johnson, 1:46 (18-15, H)
152- Zach Ganoe (R) p. Ben Gille, 2:09 (21-18, R)
160- Mike Mullens (R) p. Sam Nuss, 4:33 (27-18, R)
171- Nick Croninger (H) p. Tyler Breitschwerdt, 0:40 (27-24, R)
189- Danny Flannagan (H) mj. Andy Kamali, 15-7 (28-27, H)
215- Colin Weber (H) p. Sean Quinn, 2:14 (34-27, H)
275-Mitch Cowger (H) d. Solomon Burk, 5-1  (37-27, H)