Loyola wrestling cruises past Gilman, Friends in tri-meet

Loyola Blakefield wrestling took six of the first seven bouts to cruise to a 57-15 victory over host Gilman Friday in a Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference match.

The Dons got pins from Alex Feurer (113 pounds), Matt Callahan (120), Dominick Reyes (132), Jason Litvak (145), Greg Ameral (171) and Alex Caltrider (195) against Gilman to improve to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the league.

The match was part of a tri-meet as Loyola also blanked Friends of the B Conference, 78-0, behind nine pins.

“I’m pleased with how we have done in the league considering we didn’t have two of our starters not come out this year,” said Loyola wrestling coach Steve Truitt, referring to James Moses and Andrew Lala. “But we are pretty solid from top to bottom and our guys have stepped up.”

Truitt hopes a lot of his wrestlers step up for one of the biggest challenges of the season — the Mount Mat Madness tournament Dec. 29 and Dec. 30.

Loyola performed well in an early-season tournament, winning the 23-team Knightmare Invitational at Parkville High.

“The Parkville tournament was good for us, but the Mount Mat Madness will be a different animal,” Truitt said. “These guys need a wake-up call, and I think it will be it for them. We have to wrestle better. Some guys wrestled very well against Gilman, but some other guys have a lot of hard work ahead of them.”

Loyola’s Nick Moreno (160) opened the Gilman match by getting a forfeit to improve to 12-0.

Ameral followed by pinning Tabb Carneal in 4:59 to give the Dons a 12-0 lead.

After Gilman junior Aaron Cranston (182) scored a 9-4 decision over Danny Gilmore, Loyola took the next four bouts to boost its advantage to 33-3.

Feurer, a sophomore, capped that stretch by decking freshman T.J. Langston in 56 seconds.

Gilman prevailed in two of the next three matches to trim the margin to 39-12 as freshman Cole Brown (113) blanked freshman Ryan Thomas, 7-0, and sophomore Braedon Alevizatos (126, 15-1) pinned Cody Schumacher in 3:02.

Three bouts later in the closest of the night, freshman Ben Gushue (138, 11-2) edged Marcellus Brown, 5-4, in overtime.

Brown scored 20 seconds into the extra session on a takedown.

"I think his heart and determination allowed him to win that," said Gilman coach Bryn Holmes, whose team routed Friends, 58-18, earlier in the match. He just grinded it out. He really puts a lot of hard work in every single day.”

Loyola wrestling cruises past Gilman, Friends in tri-meet

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