by Aaron Gray
agray@digitalsports.com
It was the classic battle of quantity versus quality.
The Stephen Decatur High School wrestling team had proven depth but it was the
eight wrestlers from Old Mill that shined at the Class 4A-3A East Region
wrestling championship Saturday at South River.
The first-place Patriots amassed 134 points and won their third region title in
four years. Stephen Decatur (106), a former 2A-1A state champion competing in
the region for the first time, edged out third-place Atholton (105), followed
by Annapolis (74), defending region champ Severna Park (72), Chesapeake (71)
and Broadneck (64).
The Seahawks rallied past host Old Mill, 31-28, on Feb. 14 to end the Patriots'
dual meet season.
"Dual meet championships and tournament meet championships are totally
different animals," said Old Mill coach Dan Youngblood, whose team
advanced all eight of its regional wrestlers to the state meet. "Stephen
Decatur has a lot of depth and they're solid all the way up and down. They
brought 13 kids here, we brought eight. Our eight were stronger today.
"I think our team is in a better position to win these kind of
tournaments."
The county- and region-champion Patriots will be aiming for their ninth state
title next Saturday at the University of Maryland. The top four wrestlers in
each weight class advance to the state finals.
Freshman Ron Vaughters (30-5) defended his county championship title against
Broadneck junior Houston Zemanski (36-2) in the 112-pound finals. Zemanski came
out on the offensive and grabbed an early 2-1 lead after the first period.
"I got an escape in the red zone with 20 seconds left and I think that
gave me all the momentum," said Vaughters, who blanked Zemanski, 9-0, in the
county championship last week, which was Zemanski's first loss of the season.
Vaughters scored two takedowns over the next two periods to pull out the 6-2
victory.
With the score tied 2-2 going into the third period, Hawkins (33-5) got a
one-point escape against Jared Planz (23-8) of Severna Park to open the third
and it made all the difference. Hawkins then scored another two points in the
waning seconds of match to seal the win.
"I tell you what, Anne Arundel County has some tough heavyweights and it's
an honor to come out on top today," said Hawkins, a county champion, who
edged South River's Eric Mauler in the region semifinals. "Eric and Jared
are tough kids. They work so hard. It's difficult to go against these guys
because we see each other all year long."
Annapolis senior Bubby Graham (32-0) secured his fourth region title with a pin
over North Harford's Tom Stewart in 3:02 at 160 pounds. Graham extended his win
streak to 96 straight matches with the victory.
"I think I wrestled better technically than in the recent past," said
Graham, who scored a takedown in the first 10 seconds and jumped to an 8-0 lead
after one period. "I felt good after this match. I was able to do some
things I don't normally do and it was good to work on some new moves that I'll
be able to use at states."
The Panthers also got a standout performance from senior John Graham -- no
relation to Bubby. John Graham (29-4) was not happy with his third-place finish
at the county championship and took it out on C.M. Wright junior Kevin O'Brien
(29-2).
Graham, a 130-pounder, scored a two-point reversal and took a 2-1 lead with 50
seconds left in the match. He stayed on top of O'Brien for the remainder and
held on for the one-point victory.
"I thought I had a single on offense earlier but when that didn't go my
way, I just waited and picked my moment," John Graham said.
Northeast senior Maurice Fleming (34-1) continued his tear through the
140-pound weight class. He opened a 6-2 lead after one on Broadneck's Stephen
Woody. Woody, a junior, is a first-year wrestler and placed fourth at the
county championship. Fleming was in control from the start and cruised to a
21-5 technical fall.
Severna Park had the most finalists (four) in the tournament and got an
individual title from Zach Shreve (31-2) at 145 pounds in the most entertaining
bout of the day. The scrappy senior scored a 2-point reversal with 4.5 seconds
left to pull out a 8-7 victory over Kyle Weaver (32-6) of Atholton.
"I knew that this was my time," said Shreve, who built a 4-1 lead in
the first but fell behind, 7-6, with 37 seconds left in the back-and-forth
match. "It's what I've trained for and I knew exactly where I wanted to
be."
At 171 pounds, Chesapeake senior Zach O'Keefe (38-2) needed overtime to hold
off Mark Massie (28-5) of Severna Park, 3-1. O'Keefe knotted it up, 1-1,
in the third and then pinned Massie with 12.6 seconds left in the extra period.
O'Keefe also won the county championship bout with Massie, 9-5.
"The four kids we brought to the finals wrestled tough," said Severna
Park coach Paul Joyce, whose team lost two-time state qualifier Marcus Monroe
to a concussion in the county championship. "This region is very strong.
Massie wrestled great, (Billy) Nichols was a little out of sync, Zach (Shreve)
is a scrapper and I thought Jared (Planz) did a great job."
Atholton senior Mike Massarelli (31-1) jumped to a 5-0 lead over Nichols (30-3)
after one period at 215 pounds. Massarelli was leading 13-0 before he scored a
technical fall in the third.
The Seahawks were led by junior Danny Miller (189 pounds) and senior Skyler
Snead (135), who each won individual titles.
Snead improved his record to a perfect 37-0 with his 17-2 technical fall over
Jordan Hernandez (32-2) of Arundel.
"At Arundel Duals, I didn't get to wrestle him so I really wanted to win
this one," Snead said. "There was a little talk there and that just
pumped me up even more."
Miller (39-2) topped Old Mill's Ethan Brown (29-6), a defending state champion
at 189 pounds. Miller was leading 7-3 in the third before he scored a pin in
5:53.
"This is my first region title so it feels great," Miller said.
"Moving up to 3A is really exciting. It was a huge challenge to go against
two state finalists (Brown and South River's Ian Graham) from last year."
Arundel junior Joe Kidwell (31-3) rode Howard senior Tyler Bulger to a 3-0 win
at 125 pounds and Atholton's Chris Hoffman held on for a 9-6 decision over Dan
LeRoy of Centennial at 119 pounds.
Bel Air senior Matt Cross (36-2) opened an 8-1 lead on Chesapeake senior Tyler
Lomax (37-3) at 152 pounds and stayed on top en route to a 10-3 win.
Atholton's Kevin Beck registered a pin against Stephen Decatur's Devin Bataille
in 5:32 at 103 pounds.
For final team standings, click here.
For place winners and a complete breakdown of each match, click here.
