COACH OF THE YEAR Dick Bauerlein, North Carroll After dedicating 19 years of his life to coaching wrestling, Bauerlein has decided it is time to retire, which is bad news for all young wrestlers in the Hampstead and North Carroll area. Because of several unbelievable bad breaks, this talented coach never won a state tournament championship but he did win the inaugural state 1A-2A dual meet championship this season with a victory over Damascus in the finals. The Panthers finished with a 17-1 dual- match record this season and were ranked second in the Baltimore metro area behind private school power Mount St. Joseph. There were some who believed that North Carroll would have a good chance to beat St. Joe in a clash of Nos. 1 and 2, but there was not place on the schedule for a crowd-pleasing match of that kind. On the way to the state
1A-2A dual-meet title this season, Bauerlein and North Carroll blitzed strong county rival Francis Scott Key twice in dual matches and lost their only dual match by 1 point to Old Mill two days after scoring the first of two emotional wins over Key. The final career dual-match mark for Bauerlein was 235-21 to go along with eight straight Carroll County tournament victories and 11 of the last 12, eight regional tournament titles and three second-place finishes in state tournaments. That's certainly Coach of the Year numbers.
CO-WRESTLERS OF THE YEAR Randy Owings, Francis Scott Key, junior, 135 -- From the first day of the season to the last, Owings was a marked man by opponents. He was the only individual state champion returning to action in Carroll County and everybody wanted to beat him. But no one could stop this focused 135-pounder until the finals of the Class 1A-2A regionals in Boonsboro 10 days ago when North Carroll's Tommy Kiler scored a 5-3 decision over Owings. The Owings-Kiler matchup was the one wrestling fans in the county had been wanting to see all season since it never happened in the regular-season dual matches. Owings and Kiler met twice this season, both times in tournaments with the first bout coming the Rebel Invitational tournament at South Hagerstown in late January. Owings won that meeting, 5-3. When Kiler gained revenge in the regionals, Owings was unhappy but he didn't pout. He just came back the next weekend with four straight wins in the state 1A-2A tournament for a second straight state title (last year's was at 130 with a 31-2 record). The reward is a second consecutive Carroll County Wrestler of the Year honor, only this season he shared the award with sophomore sensation Mike Chenoweth of South Carroll. "When a wrestler goes through a whole season living up to all the expectations like Randy did," said Key coach Bill Hyson, "it's a marvelous achievement. Randy was also our team leader and now has an 85-5-1 record in three years (30-1 this season).
Mike Chenoweth, South Carroll, sophomore, 160 -- What an incredible story! No one in the county could remember any first-year wrestler coming in and accomplishing the remarkable feats that Chenoweth did. From the start, he was something of a hero at South Carroll and he ran the table with 27 pins in 32 bouts for a 31-1 record. His only loss was a 5-4 decision to Northeast's Ron Katzenberger in the finals of the Broadneck tournament Feb. 5. When wrestling at home, fans would cheer from the time Chenoweth stepped on the mat until he was finished wrestling, usually with a pin. Then his admirers would crowd around him and he would try to come up with an explanation of how he did it. Chenoweth added to his status in the finals of the state 3A-4A tournament at Western Maryland last weekend when he pinned Meade's Adam Butts in breathtaking fashion. Chenoweth was inches away from being pinned by Butts late in the second period before he turned suddenly on Butts and pinned him in 3 minutes, 49 seconds for the state 160-pound championship. That was one of the most memorable moments of this year's state tournament, and has to go down as one of the more dramatic finishes in state tournament history. It was quite a show but one of the first things Chenoweth said was: "My coach [Pete Olson] owes me food." Olson sure did owe Chenoweth four slices of cheesecake, having promised each one of his wrestlers a slice of cheesecake for each victory. Chenoweth pinned all four of his opponents in the state tournament, leaving him a major reputation to live up to the next two seasons.
THE FIRST TEAM Joe Smith, Liberty, Fr., 103 --This youngster has it all, according his coach Jeff Hash. The coach said Smith wins with technique, athletic ability, determination and quickness. Smith wasn't supposed to beat Francis Scott Key's Ryan Etzler in the Carroll county tournament 103 finals but he scored a 4-2 decision over the top seed and went on to a 25-6 record and an opening-round victory over Havre de Grace's Jeff Brochu in the state 1A-2A tournament at Western Maryland last weekend. "The strongest thing about Joe is his attitude," said Hash.
Eddie Davis, North Carroll, Jr., 112 -- He wasn't one of the marquee names on the Panthers' wrestling show this season, but it didn't take Davis too long to gain the respect of opposing coaches such as Hanover (Pa.) High's Terry Conover. Moments after Davis fought back from a 7-0 deficit to lose to Hanover's top-seeded Jeremy Reck, 12-10 in overtime in the McDonogh tournament last December, Conover asked North Carroll coach Dick Bauerlein: "Where did this kid come from? A lot of other coaches were asking the same thing the rest of the season as Davis went on to compile a 26-6 record and win a first-round bout in the state tournament.
Doug Dell, North Carroll, Sr., 119 -- Two bad knees prevented Dell from duplicating his super junior year when he went 30-1 at 103, losing only in the championship match of the state tournament to Marty Kusick of Northeast. But Dell was still able to roll up a 32-4 record this season even though he moved up two weight classes in the regular season before dropping down to 112 for the state tournament. He has a rare fracture crack in the femur on both knees and faces possible surgery now that the season is over. When it was time to go to the state tournament this season, Dell suddenly had to battle diarrhea in addition to the knee problems. He still made it to the semifinals before running up against Marty Kusick again and losing. Now it's on to a life on a dairy farm for Dell.
Dan Peiffer, South Carroll, Jr., 125 -- Was part of South Carroll's continued march forward in wrestling this season, winning the Carroll County tournament championship and going 21-8. Peiffer and the Cavaliers moved ever so close to Francis Scott Key, losing by one point in their dual match with the Eagles, in a bid to replace Key as the top challenger to North Carroll for supremacy in the county. South Carroll coach Pete Olson said Peiffer (21-8) won a lot because "he didn't give up back points. We have a saying here that if you stay off your back you stay in a match." Peiffer was also strong on takedowns, "getting in" on almost all his opponents this season.
Corey Rill, North Carroll, Jr., 130 -- No one on the North Carroll wrestling team listens to their coach (Dick Bauerlein) more during a match than Rill. He constantly is looking at Bauerlein for instructions and then carried them out most of the time for victories (28-7). Bauerlein said Rill "has always been a winner and goes the entire six minutes of a match. All he does is win." His top victory of the season came over Tim Fields of Frederick by a 4-2 decision. Frederick won the state 3A-4A dual-meet championship. Rill was beaten by Nick Basta of Old Mill, 5-0, in his only disappointing performance of the year, but that came just two days after an emotional dual-match win over Francis Scott Key. The entire Panthers team was a little flat that day when Old Mill pinned the only dual-match loss all season on North Carroll.
Tommy Kiler, North Carroll, Soph., 140 -- They call Kiler "Timex" around North Carroll because "he takes a licking and keeps on ticking." He grew up on the wrestling mat at the Manchester Juniors program, where his father, Kenny, is the skilled instructor. Kiler has all the moves and lost only to Co-Carroll County Wrestler of the Year Randy Owings in the Rebel Invitational by a 5-3 score and to Dunbar's Hermandez Thompson by a slim 10-9 margin in the semifinals of the state tournament last weekend. It all added up to a 34-2 record with two losses by a total of three points. A little break here or there and Kiler could have been unbeaten and the Wrestler of the Year in the county. Four of his wins came over Key's two state champions, Owings and Chris Beale. He decisioned Owings, 5-3, to break even with him at 1-1, and went 3-0 against Beale. But Beale gained a share of the All-County 140-pound slot with an incredible march to the state individual 140-pound title last weekend.
Chris Beale, Francis Scott Key, Sr., 140 -- Think about it. Carroll County has captured five individual state championships in the last two seasons and Beale has one of them. His teammates Randy Owings (two) and Zac Yinger (one) have three and South Carroll's Mike Chenoweth has one. That is some pretty fast company for Beale to be hanging out with. But Key coach Bill Hyson believes Beale always has been underrated. "Chris has always had the skills, been a hard worker and does the intangibles," said the coach. "It's just that he has made some mistakes that have cost him." The whole world loves a Cinderella story and Beale was certainly a long shot to win a state title but he came through when the pressure was on him the most to complete a 28-6 season.
Zac Yinger, Francis Scott Key, Jr., 145 -- He completed the Key run of three straight individual state championships last weekend at Western Maryland College with a fairly easy 10-3 decision over Lackey's Ryan Hersey. It gave him the best record in the county (33-1) and gave Key coach Bill Hyson some more credibility as an expert judge of talent. Before the states, Hyson said Yinger deserved some consideration for county Wrestler of the Year, and Yinger went out and backed up his coach's faith in him. Yinger had excellent credentials for the top award but was edged out by teammate Randy Owings and South Carroll's Mike Chenoweth.
Saidrick Lewis, North Carroll, Sr., 152 -- On some nights, this agile senior looks unbeatable and usually is. He has power, strength, quickness and a good repertoire of moves. He even overcame this season a tendency to listen to the crowd too much and try to please them. That focus enabled Lewis to bolt through the regular season with only one loss. But setbacks in the regionals and the states took a little steam out of his 29-3 record this season. Lewis moves to the first team All-County after being on the second team last season. "It's all a matter of confidence for Saidrick," said his coach Dick Bauerlein. "He just has to make up his mind that he wants to wrestle his best every time out. That's the last piece to the puzzle for him."
Chris Boog, North Carroll, Sr., 171 -- Every time a person looks around, Boog is clinching another dual-match championship for the Panthers. But on Feb. 19 against Damascus, Boog wrapped up the only state championship coach Dick Bauerlein won in 19 years at North Carroll. Needing only a decision to give the Panthers the inaugural state 1A-2A dual-match title, Boog was ,, cautioned by Bauerlein not to take any gambles or do anything stupid. But Boog looked at Bauerlein and said: "Coach, I'm going to give you a pin." He did. It was one of 32 wins this season with three losses after a 30-1 season last year. Boog said he enjoyed every one of the wins but he walked away a little disappointed last Saturday in the state tournament, where he lost a match in overtime after he apparently had won it in regulation on a penalty point against Wilde Lake's Mike Green. However, the point was not written down by the official scorer and Boog had a 7-7 tie
instead of an 8-7 win at the end of regulation. "Chris is a good kid who moved up to 189 on occasions and still won for us," said Bauerlein. "He's always pumped up and never has trouble cutting weight."
Joe Torsella, North Carroll, Sr., 189 -- This senior was not a wrestling gym rat. He did not take up the sport until his junior year after hewas spotted in gym class at North Carroll by Bauerlein. Since then, he has come on to give the Panthers a lot of key wins at the end of matches. He was 13-6 this season to surge all the way from nowhere on the All-Carroll County team last season to first team. The highlight of this season came against Damascus in the state 1A-2A dual-meet championship match. Torsella pinned Montgomery County champion Brandon Ray in just 36 seconds. Torsella is proof that Bauerlein doesn't always have to tap into the Manchester juniors program to be successful. In fact, Bauerlein said six of his top 13 wrestlers were not in the Manchester rec program.
Bill Beltz, North Carroll, Jr., Heavyweight -- Came to coach Dick Bauerlein from weightlifting class in his freshman year and has progressed rapidly over three seasons, qualifying for the state tournament this season and compiling a 25-8 record. With an ever-present smile and a positive outlook, Beltz has been a pleasure to coach for Bauerlein. He has displayed a knack for coming from behind to win matches, a quality all coaches like to see in an athlete. Unlike some heavyweights, Beltz has no trouble maintaining his weight and is in good shape.
PICKING THE TEAMS
The All-Carroll County wrestling teams were selected by Bill Free after consultation with staff writers and area coaches.