Garfield Thompson (119), Carl Levine (125), Wayne Lucas (135) and Carlos Levine (145) all pinned for Mervo in last week's 39-23 Interdivisional City League victory over Poly.
A 14-4 decision by Marco Epps (160) made the score an insurmountable 36-23, with three bouts left -- one of which was a decision by teammate Aaron Brown (Hwt).
Decisions by Millard West (130) and Vaughn Devaughn (140) also helped Mervo (9-0 in Division I) improve to 10-2 overall. Division II leader Poly dethroned the Mustangs for last year's City Tournament crown.
Mervo, coached by Dwight Warren, is 10-0 since losing season-openers to Calvert Hall and Perry Hall, and has outscored the opposition by an average of 48.5-15.
Lucas (17-4) is a returning city champ who was fourth in last year's regions and third in last year's Maryland Scholastic Association Tournament. Carlos Levine (17-4) and West (16-3) were city runners-up, and Thompson (13-5) and Brian Cromwell (152, 13-6) each were third in the city tournament.
Warren is getting big performances out of Brown, a freshman who has the team's best record at 18-3. Terry McNair (103) is 11-4, Epps, 7-2, and Rashan Torian (160) is 5-2.
Independent states revisited
Danny DeVivo (160, 27-1), David Inkman (140, 27-2) and Tyran Dungee (145, 28-4) won titles, Erik Shafer (119), Jake Lissau (125), Danny Mattson (130) and Kenny Hunter (Hwt., 26-4) were runners-up, and Jon Pitonzo (103) was third as Mount St. Joseph captured the inaugural Maryland Independent Schools State Tournament Saturday at Bullis in Montgomery County.
Dungee was most impressive with a 12-1 hammering of the host school's top-ranked Benny Ferro, who entered with a 26-1 record, 17 pins and five technical falls.
Hunter lost, 8-7, to McDonogh's top-ranked J. R. Plienis (27-1) on an escape with 40 seconds left. Plienis, whose teammates Martius Harding (171) and Dave Trudil (130) were second and third, respectively, had pinned Hunter earlier.
Calvert Hall's (10th place) two champions were Gino Amasia (112, 34-2, 26 pins) and Brian Kapp (125, 29-1), and Rob Johns (103, 28-3) was second.
Seventh place John Carroll was led by Greg Stotler (189, 24-1), who nearly pinned Landon's muscular Jack Cathirell (21-1) in an 8-1 victory. Teammates Jon Cohen (145), Andrew Dunn (152) and Mike Babiak (171) were fourth.
Curley was fifth in the 25-team field, getting third-place efforts from Sal Acquia (140) and Mickey Glendon (152), and a fourth place from Mike Boettcher (125).
Gilman was sixth as Arman Taghizadeh (119), Kirk Caldroney (145) and Greg Plitt (171) overcame unfavorable seeds to place third, and Maakan Taghizadeh (112) was fourth.
Boys' Latin runner-up Tim Berger (135, 20-2) built a 7-0 lead in an 8-5 semifinal win over Georgetown Prep's Alex Abularach, who entered the bout at 21-1. The Lakers' Erik Fitez (160) also was a runner-up.
Other top finishers were St. Mary's Ernie Listman (160, third) and Josh Creekmore (130, fourth), St. Paul's Mike Kernan (140, fourth) and Bill Bond (189, fourth) and Friends' Ethan Goldberg (152, second).