Milford Mill wrestling rides seven pins to victory over Lansdowne in Class 2A North dual quarterfinals

Lansdowne wrestling’s Glenn Lail won the first match of the night at 106 pounds, but Milford Mill erupted with seven pins and cruised to a 60-24 victory in the Class 2A North Region dual quarterfinals.

The Millers (11-4) got pins from Kendall Owens (113 pounds), Camari Gilliam (120), Kamauri Jones (132), Ethan Royster (160), Chris Bristow (171), Chase McNeil (195) and Michael Sydnor (220).

Milford also got a victory from Xavier Mackell (126) because of a dangerous move and forfeit victories from David Diggs (138) and Braylin Inabinet (182).

In addition to Lail, Lansdowne (6-7) got pins from Sean Lippman (145) and freshman Chase Swiger (152) and a forfeit win from Anthony Nguyen (285).

Swiger’s match against Santana McElveen was the most compelling of the evening. McElveen took a 4-1 lead in the first period and, after a Swiger escape, extended it to 6-2 in the second. With 20 seconds left in the period, Swiger’s escape made it 6-3.

McElveen chose bottom to start the third period was pinned 29 seconds later.

“He ran the bar with the half and stepped over and got him,” Lansdowne assistant coach Brian Lipscomb said.

“My kid is great on his feet, good on top and horrible on the bottom and we were going to go neutral and he was adamant he can prove that he can come up against good guys,” Milford Mill coach Daymon Royster said. “Anybody can come up against average, mediocre guys, but can you come up against good guys?”

Royster was familiar with Swiger, Lippman and Darius Simms because he had coached against them in junior league.

“This is the junior league guys against the other junior league guys,” Royster said. “I’m seeing six of their junior league coaches here, so we had to bring out our junior league coaches.”

One of the former junior leaguers was the coach’s son, Ethan, who pinned Simms in the third period while leading 13-4.

Royster, who improved to 10-5, recently returned from an ankle injury as he tries to get back to the state tournament after finishing second in the regionals last year as a freshman.

“I don’t really have a goal. I just want to get in and out,” he said.

Lipscomb was just glad to get some experience for some of his individual wrestlers as Lansdowne prepares for the Baltimore County tournament at Overlea on Feb. 17-18 and the regionals the following week.

The Vikings have only one senior, Scott Snyder, on the roster.

“I think within the next year or two we are going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Lipscomb said.

Royster, whose squad will face top-seeded and defending Baltimore County champions Sparrows Point in the semifinals, knows his team has a difficult task ahead.

“As individuals, we are not a good tournament team, but team-wise it’s a snowball effect,” he said. “One starts to pin, one starts to win, another one starts to win and we just keep it going and we got some matchups.”