Pallotti wrestlers close season on high note at postseason tournaments

After finishing fifth in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference dual-meet standings, the St. Vincent Pallotti wrestling team exacted some revenge on the rest of the teams ahead of them at the MIAA tournament.

The 17-team tournament, which includes A and B Conference teams, was won handily by A Conference power Mount St. Joseph, but Pallotti finished ninth overall with 44 points.

The Panthers were ahead of A Conference teams Boys’ Latin (12th, 35 points) and Calvert Hall (13th 32.5).

They were also on top of B Conference schools, including Friends (tie 10th, 38), Mount Carmel (tie 10th, 38), St. Mary’s (tie 14th, 24), Glenelg Country (tie 14th, 24), Severn (16th, 16) and Gerstell Academy (17th, 15).

St. Mary’s won the regular-season dual meet title and finished 6-0.

They were followed by Mt. Carmel (5-1), Friends (4-2), Severn (3-3) and Pallotti (2-4).

The Panthers improved at the MIAA tournament because of a couple of wrestlers who out-performed their seeds.

Senior Tyler Rhodes was seeded sixth, but finished fourth at 195 pounds.

Rhodes, who placed third in the Battle at the Bridge tournament Jan. 11-12, went 3-2, losing twice in first-period pins to Mount St. Joe’s Ethan Stern.

In the consolation round, Rhodes pinned Severn’s Rehman Masood (1:16), Loyola Blakefield’s Jake Wright (2:21) and Curley’s fourth-seeded Garrett Butt (2:20), before falling again to Stern.

Stern was one of four third-place finishers for the Gaels, who won the tournament with 322 points.

Mount St. Joe placed top three in all 14 weight classes, crowning six champions and earning four runner-ups.

Pallotti junior Jeremy Wright was seeded eighth at 132 pounds, but he went 3-2 and placed fifth.

After a first round bye, he was pinned in the first period by eventual champion Ray Kable, of McDonogh, in the second round.

In his first consolation match, Wright pinned St. Mary’s Graysen Rizzzo (2:20).

He followed with a 5-3 decision over fourth-seeded Ryan Eby, of Loyola Blakefield.

He was pinned by St. Joe’s Clement Woods in the next round, but ended on a winning note when he pinned seventh-seeded Ryan Becker, of Curley, with two seconds left in the first period.

The only other Panther to place top six at MIAAs was freshman heavyweight Robert Thornburg, who was sixth.

Thornburg opened with a bye, then lost to Curley’s Jeremiah Trotman by fall in the first period.

He followed another bye with a 3-1 decision over Mount Carmel’s Colin Kafes before ending his day witha loss to John Carroll’s Bryce Hare in the tangle for sixth place.

Earlier this season, Pallotti coach Tom Owens liked Thornburg’s potential.

“He’s a heavyweight freshman and he’s a really big boy and once he gets used to his body and matures a little bit, I think he’s got a great chance to get to the top of the MIAAs if he sticks with it,” Owens said.

Others who competed, but didn’t place at MIAAs were freshmen Kyle McMurty (106, 0-2), Jaden Korentang (113, 0-2) and Keith Lewis (120, 1-2), sophomore Damon Hawkins (126, 0-2), freshmen Matthew Miller (138, 0-2) and Clayton Bullock (170, 0-2) and seniors Eduardo Sandoval (182, 1-2) and Max Grogans (220, 1-2).

Lewis’ win was a first-period pin of Severn’s Sam Bruce in the consolation round.

Sandoval pinned Gerstell Academy’s Chris Day in 2:24 before dropping his other matches.

Grogans pinned Gerstell’s Sam Koyfman, but lost his final two matches.

Grogans and Rhodes came back the following weekend at the Maryland Independent Schools state tournament and both placed seventh at Harford Community College.

Rhodes, who posted a 28-7 record, decisioned Georgetown Prep’s Kyonte Hamilton in the seventh-place bout.

Grogans left the meet with a 23-7 record, after pinning Boys’ Latin’s JT Morton in 2:22 for seventh.

Grogans was an alternate and competed at National Preps last weekend at Lehigh University.

He lost a 3-2 decision to Episcopal’s Max Myer in the first round and dropped a 2-0 decision to St. Thomas More’s Dakota Grover in the second round.

Pallotti basketball upset

Although they didn’t make the MIAA tournament, the Pallotti boys basketball team did have one shining moment on Jan. 12 when they knocked off top-seeded Boys’ Latin, 50-44.

Boys’ Latin (30-6) was ranked no. 1 in the Baltimore Sun basketball poll at the time.

A 55-38 loss to Loyola Blakefield in the next game was followed by a 69-55 victory over Calvert Hall in the Panthers finalgame.

Coach Dennis Murphy’s squad finished 9-9 in conference (14-15 overall) and one game behind Glenelg Country School (10-8, 18-10) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the A Conference Red Division.

The win over Calvert Hall ended the careers of seniors Joshua Carter, Jordan Davis-Parran, Jabari Hawkins, Isaiah Lattimore, Miles Mallory, Isaiah Oshinnaiye and Gilbert Otto.