Led by the defending state champion Kusick twins, Marty (112 pounds) and Mike (125), who became Anne Arundel County's first four-time tournament champions, No. 4 Northeast won its second straight crown, its third overall, at Annapolis yesterday.
Northeast (205 points) and runner-up Broadneck (177) were regular-season dual-meet losers to No. 2 Old Mill (174.5). But the sixth-ranked Bruins' Arto Vartanian (Hwt., 22-2) took only 36 seconds for his 20th pin of the year, lifting Broadneck into second place.
The Kusicks were joined in victory by sixth-ranked teammate Jay Queer (135, 24-2), who has 17 pins and three technical falls.
In accomplishing what three-time county champs Chuck Sturm (a 1983 graduate) and Charlie Royer ('85), both of Old Mill, and Shawn Miller (Broadneck, '92) couldn't, top-ranked Marty (23-0, 10 pins), officially was the first four-time champ.
Marty, two minutes Mike's junior, used four takedowns in a 9-2 victory over Arundel's Phil Schleifer (13-2). "I said right after my match that being younger has its advantages," Marty said.
But second-ranked Mike (23-1) was more impressive in a rematch of last year's county title bout, getting his seventh pin of the year over top-ranked Jamie Kuch (19-2, 13 pins). Mike beat Kuch, 5-1, for last year's crown, and 13-4 earlier this year.
"I put it out of mind that we'd wrestled before," said Mike, a regular at 119 pounds. "Coach wanted me to wrestle Kuch to give me more of a challenge. I pressured him the whole time."
Old Mill's top-ranked Don Patterson (23-2), a 5-0 winner over Adrian Spears of Northeast, and teammate Nick Basta (140), an 11-3 winner over Severna Park's George Mamalis, won their second straight crowns. The Patriots' Mike DiLeonardi (145), a regional champ, improved on last year's runner-up effort with a 7-4 decision over Arundel's sixth-ranked Isaac Haertel (24-2).
Arundel's fifth-ranked senior Mark Chesla (152, 24-2) got his 19th, 20th and 21st pins in winning his second straight crown. Chesla, Arundel's first undergraduate state champ, decked Broadneck's Rob Peck (9-2) in 1:35 of their title bout.
Southern's top-ranked Tyrone Neal (130, 27-0) racked up a 9-1 lead before nailing his 19th pin over Broadneck's Lonnie Donner (23-3), and third-ranked teammate Tromaine Graves (171, 26-3) won a battle of county champs, 11-6, over Meade's fourth-ranked Adam Butts (26-2).
Butts, last year's 3A-4A state runner-up and county champ at 160, led 6-5 early in the third period. But Graves scored a takedown with 57 seconds left, received a one-point stalling penalty and scored three back points.
Chesapeake's fifth-ranked Travis Gottlich (103, 26-0) improved on last year's third-place with his 16th pin of the year, against Broadneck's Ben Helbig. South River's Travis Murdock (119, 25-4) overcame a 2-0 deficit to pin Northeast's Glen Lail, who entered the bout at 20-3 with 16 pins.
Meade's Detric Tyus (160) won a wild match, 14-7, over #i Broadneck's Aaron Lawson. Tyus (18-6), a senior who had not wrestled at Meade before this year, was recruited from the halls by coach Scott Jacoby.
The team crown was the third in 25 seasons for Northeast coach Al Kohlhafer, who won the county's first team state championship in 1976. His Eagles also were state champs in 1993.