BURDEN OF PROOF: FRANKLIN TOURNAMENT OFFERS THAT FOR CERTAIN TEAMS

by Lem Satterfield

This weekend's Franklin Invitational means a lot of things to different people.

For Archbishop Curley coach Gregg Kessler, it offers a chance to validate to his Friars -- some of whom have records scarcely above .500 -- their difficult schedule as well as an opportunity to compete against and alongside his former Owings Mills High coach, Guy Pritzker, whose Eagles are also in the 14-team event.

For Urbana coach Ben Arneson and Northeast coach Mark McCalpin, it will give them an appraisal of their teams are  worthy of their respective No. 10 and No. 18 rankings in the DigitalSports-Maryland State Wrestling Association Top 20, in which the Friars are fourth and North Carroll of Carroll County is 11th.

"This will tell us how good we are, top to bottom, against good, state tournament caliber competition. You know that each weight class has enough studs in it that all of the kids will be tested," said Arneson, whose No. 1 seeded third-place state finisher Adam Krop (112) and No. 2 seeded Peter Tatanish (130) were Franklin tournament champs at 103 and 112 pounds last season.

"For example, Steven Edmands is undefeated and he's the No. 2 seed behind [Owings Mills' state champion] Tony Mack. Last year at this tournament, we had a kid named Justin Krop who wrestled [Northeast's state champion] Maurice Fleming here, and he lost 4-2," said Arneson, referring to the graduated Krop and Fleming, this weekend's No. 1 seed at 145 pounds.

"I just want Steven and the rest of the guys on our team to go out and give it their best  -- no matter what happens. I want them to be able to come out of here and know that they've given it their all," said Arneson, whose assistant is Joe Hawkiins.

"What the individual tournaments are about for us, mainly, is to give my kids an idea of where they stand," Arneson said. "I want them to get a better idea of what they need to work on to get them ready for states. It'll tell them what they need to do to become state champions."

McCalpin's Eagles, off to a 13-0 start in dual meets, finished 10th in last year's event.

But in addition to Fleming, the Eagles boast No. 1 seed Jamie Claytor (119) and third-seeded Dusty Thursby (152) and Rob McCauley (189), who are 11-1, 7-0, and, 10-3, respectively.

"The past two, three years that we've been here, we haven't really been very successful. But 'm very anxious and looking forward to competing with some of the tougher teams in the state this weekend," McCalpin said.

"Win or lose, I want to see our kids attacking on the mat. I think we need to showcase ourselves every time that we wrestle. I think that we need to prove ourselves every time that we wrestle," McCalpin said. "We're having this good year, but people really don't know about us. I hope to come out of this tournament knowing that we wrestled hard, win or lose."

Kessler lone No. 1 seeds are state champ Tyler Scarinzi (125) and state runner-up Tony Powell (285), with Brett Przywara (103, 16-3 record) being No. 2, and others, such as Bubba Corbett (135) and Ali Saadulaev (140) being third seeds with respective records of 11-9, and, 10-9.

"It's a tough sell to say that, 'hey, look, you're going to be wrestling this great national competitition, and so your records are not going to be that great.' But now, they're starting to understand it. It's coming to fruition, absolutely," said Kessler, who vacated last month's Big 20 tournament at Perry Hall to participate in this year's more prestigious Beast of The East Tournament, where only Scarinzi placed in the top eight.

"I think they're all realizing that there is really good guys within our state, and the're ready for those guys. Right now, I think that we're really turning it on at this part of the season, which is really what I had hoped was going to happen," Kessler said. "They're figuring themselves out at this point in the season, which is big for us. I think our team is getting very good at knowing what's ahead of them and working toward that goal."

Kessler also will get to compete against his Pritzker, under whom he earned three state titles in the early 1990s.

"I love being at the same tournament with [Guy Pritzker.] We've been at the same tournaments since I was 7 years old," Kessler said. "That's one of the main reasons I wanted to wrestle in this tournament, along with the fact that we get to see some of the other teams that we don't get to see all year long."

Mack (15-0), Avi Friedman (103, 14-0), Kevin Dufour (112, 15-0) and Cody Rosen-Stone (140, 13-2)  are the No. 1 seeds for Pritzker's unranked Owings Mills, who are unbeaten in nine dual meets and among the favorites to challenge for the Class 2A-1A state title.

"We look at this tournament as a chance to get ready for the county, regions and states. It's a practice tournament for the big show," said Pritzker, in his 26th year.

"Every tournament we go to makes us better, which is why we're here," Pritzker said. "You want your team ranked because my teams wrestle better when they're ranked. My teams have always wrestled better than they are, and we've beaten teams that people don't think we can beat. Some of that is because my kids believe in themselves when I believe in them. It's like, 'I believe in you, so believe in yourself.' I'm interested in my kids winning as many as possible."


 
FRANKLIN TOURANMENT SEEDS
 


103

Avi Friedman, Owings Mills (14-0)
Brett Przywara, Archbishop Curley (16-3)
Travis Lowery, Urbana (10-1)
Robin Paguia, Perry Hall (11-2)
Channing Spriggs, Northeast (9-3)
Devin Brown, Western Tech (4-0)
Supan Patel, Franklin (5-6)
Zac Barnes, North Carroll (6-8)

112
 
Adam Krop, Urbana (11-0)
Jack Western, Centennial (9-6)
Kevin Dufour, Owings Mills (15-0)
Angelo Ambridge, Perry Hall (15-1)
Marcelius Fleming, Northeast (11-2)
Zachary Redding, Franklin (10-4)
Joe Nelson, Archbishop Curley (12-7)
Sheon Dredden, Eastern Tech (7-6)

119

Jamie Claytor, Northeast (11-1)
Nick Carberry, Urbana (7-0)
Mason Goretsas, North Carroll (12-4)
Britain Sannicolas, Dundalk (11-3)
Mike Micklos, Archbishop Curley (15-8)
Wavie Gibson, Western Tech (5-1)
Brian Farbman, Owings Mills (10-6)
Josh Millinix, Eastern Tech (3-2)

125

Tyler Scarinzi, Archbishop Curley (19-3)
Kyle Lemmon, North Carroll (12-3)
Billy Hering, Urbana (9-1)
Dan Leroy, Centennial (12-3)
Derek Weiman, Northeast (9-3)
Clinton Jenkins, Northwestern-PG (3-1)
Harris Hoffberg, Frankin (6-3)
Mike Shook, Eastern Tech (10-8)


130

Jeremy Seipp, North Carroll (11-3)
Peter Tatanish, Urbana (11-0)
Dustin Peddicord, Eastern Tech (13-1)
Brian Kraisser, Centennial (13-1)
Zach West, Northeast (11-1)
Brad Mutchnik, Owings Mills (13-4)
Ty Ramsey, Western Tech (7-3)
Matt Sikorski, Franklin (7-4)


135

Spencer Strube, Urbana (10-1)
Bryan Hoff, North Carroll (12-3)
Bubba Corbett, Archbishop Curley (11-9)
Eric Hill, Northwestern (4-0)
Paul Stronsky, Perry Hall (12-3)
Matt Morrow, Northeast (9-3)
Luke Harris, Owings Mills (11-5)
John Michael Yavorski, Centennial (9-6)



140

Cody Rosen-Stone, Owings Mills (13-2)
Lucas Pangburn, Urbana (11-0)
Ali Saadulaev, Archbishop Curley (10-9)
Brian Lucht, Centennial (11-2)
Tom Trcka, Franklin (13-2)
Jamar Hill, Western Tech (6-2)
Nick Gardner, Eastern Tech (7-5)
Ian Donovan, Towson (5-4)


145

Maurice Fleming, Northeast (13-0)
Ross Quillett, Archbishop Curley (16-9)
Mitch Barker, Owings Mills (10-6)
Bruce Leuthold, Centennial (13-2)
Tucker Lowery, Urbana (9-2)
Jesse Swain, Eastern Tech (7-2)
Ben Smearman, North Carroll (9-6)
La'Ron Robinson, Western Tech (4-3)


152

Chris Stout, North Carroll (13-5)
Trey Curry, Urbana (10-1)
Dusty Thursby, Northeast (7-0)
Hassan Edmondson, Owings Mills (9-4)
Johann Lilly, Centennnial (9-6)
Matt Bruno, North Harford (4-3)
Don Gorham, Eastern Tech (4-3)
Matt Durham, Perry Hall (7-7)


160

Tony Mack, Owings Mills (15-0)
Steven Edmands, Urbana (11-0)
Joe Foster, Archbishop Curley (6-4)
Tom Stewart, North Harford (7-0)
Jesse Coulby, North Carroll (10-6)
Zach Blueford, Northeast (10-2)
Nicholas Redding, Franklin (8-4)
Mike Chijioke, Perry Hall (10-8)


171

Orion Stephens, Western Tech (8-0)
Tim Wood, Archbishop Curley (10-9)
Mike Dailey, Urbana (8-1)
Ja'Twan Murdock, Owings Mills (9-3)
Dan Merrill, North Carroll (12-7)
Tim Huber, Perry Hall (12-6)
Chris Schmidt, Northeast (3-2)
Nick Wheeler, North Harford (4-3)

189

Ryan Pittillo, Perry Hall (16-2)
Kyle Forbes, North Carroll (9-4)
Rob McCauley, Northeast (10-3)
Stanley Hamilton, Northwestern (4-0)
Trent Carr, Owings Mills (9-6)
Andre Arthur, Archbishop Curley (12-11)
Andrew Swank, North Harford (2-1)
Joseph Gibson, Franklin (6-6)


215

Jason Thomen, North Carroll (12-2)
Zach Ulrich, Eastern Tech (6-3)
Leon Johnson, Archbishop Curley (11-8)
Mike Ramos, North Harford (6-1)
Dennis Campbell, Northwestern (2-1)
Jesse Wolford, Dundalk (5-3)
Devon Long, Owings Mills (4-3)
John Barrett, Centennial (7-7


285


Tony Powell, Archbishop Curley (8-2)
Nathan Shaffer, North Carroll (13-3)
Julio Truillo, Owings Mills (13-2)
Charles Walker, Eastern Tech (6-3)
Nick Barnett, Northeast (6-3)
Eric Hartka, Centennial (3-11)
Maik Ferrante, North Harford (1-6)
Ken Branamen, PerryHall (0-7)