COLLEGE PARK — South Carroll had six wrestlers competing at the state tournament, and the Cavaliers had some numbers in mind as to how they could defend their Class 2A-1A state championship.
The numbers were dependent on all six placing among the top six in their weight classes, which they did. Adding bonus points to their wins would also be huge.
So, too, would be going 3 for 3 in state finals.
The Cavs did all of that, and celebrated another team crown at University of Maryland's Cole Field House on Monday.
Led by individual champions Joey Thomas, Tim Null, and Jamar Williams, South Carroll totaled 123.5 points and held off Oakland Mills (114) for the victory.
Thomas won at 106 pounds, Null at 113, and Williams at 138 to lift the Cavaliers. Thomas capped an unbeaten season (48-0) with a win in the final sporting event ever at Cole, which is being reconfigured for other university purposes.
South Carroll also had senior Wade Slatniske (170) take third, junior Shane Conners (145) place fourth, and junior Tom Boldosser (120) place fifth.
Null edged Oakdale's Kyle McDonald 5-3 in his final bout and was all but overcome after leaping into coach Bryan Hamper's arms.
"I was just counting [the final seconds] down, so I could remember this moment the rest of my life," said Null, who finished the year 47-1.
Williams had one of more thrilling finals of the night in either classification. The sophomore clipped Oakdale's Logan McKoy 4-2 in a match that went into a seventh period.
Williams landed a takedown late in the final 30-second period and said he was tired, but knew what he had to do.
"I knew he couldn't really hold me down," Williams said. "We battled all the way through it. I had to fight through it."
And then there was Thomas, who didn't allow an offensive point all year and beat Oakland Mill's Kyle Farace 7-1.
Farace's point came from an escape, and it mattered little in the end.
"I'm pumped," Thomas said. "That was really my goal."
Slatniske's dream of an undefeated season ended in the semifinals Saturday, when he lost in overtime to Oakland Mills' Sidique Furet. But Slatniske tacked on a major-decision win later that night, then gutted out a 5-3 win over Easton's Nolan Muganda during which he injured his left knee.
He had to be carried off the mat, but with his right knee already heavily bandaged, Slatniske said his goal shifted from individual to team.
"I knew it was going to be a close team race, and I knew the team would need me," Slatniske said. "Or else that probably would have been a different decision. I had to just man up."
Slatniske (48-1) was just as shocked as a lot of wrestling fans when Furet outlasted him, but the Cavs senior said he used the loss as motivation.
"Of course I wanted to go undefeated, that's a hell of a goal," he said. "Coming in, I was pissed off. I wanted to end this, so the focus went from and individual to a team title, so I could still be a state champion."
He got his wish.
South Carroll labeled itself as a tournament team all year long. And the Cavaliers dotted their resume with county, regional, and state team crowns.
Hamper, a former two-time state champion for South Carroll, made sure to wear his customary black dress shirt and gold tie. And he was more than happy waiting and smiling for team pictures from anyone who wanted to snap a camera.
"We brought six, all six made the semifinal round," Hamper said. "All six placed. All six of them earned bonus points along the way, and bonus points was how a team with six wrestlers could beat a team with 10 wrestlers [Oakland Mills]. They wrestled great. When the pressure was on, we matched them stride for stride."
