A young Howard wrestling team just would not go away yesterday in the state Class 3A-4A North Region tournament at Perry Hall.
The Lions hung around the so-called big boys in the tournament (South Carroll and Dulaney) all day long and moved in for the victory in the championship finals.
Howard had five in the finals and racked up 99 points for a first-place finish.
Host Perry Hall was second with 83.5 points, South Carroll third (79 points) and Dulaney took fourth (71.5 points).
Franklin came through with a fifth-place finish (61 points), Westminster was sixth (57), Kenwood seventh (53) and Centennial eighth (49.5).
Howard didn't come to Perry Hall with a long list of credentials, having only a 5-5 dual-meet record and one senior on the team.
It seemed to be a squad building for the future but the future was suddenly now.
Howard also qualified six wrestlers for the state 3A-4A tournament next weekend at Western Maryland College.
"We took our lumps early in the season and lost four dual matches by three points or less," said Howard assistant coach Dan Ricker. "When the losses started to add up, the guys began to say: 'It's the same old thing for Howard wrestling, we're getting beat up again.' "
But the Lions peaked at the right time yesterday.
"Howard had too many numbers at the top weight classes for us," said South Carroll coach Pete Olson. "What killed us was Dan McKennie hurting his knee and ankle in the second period of the heavyweight semis and having to default to Howard's Brian Neal after Dan was ahead, 5-2. If Dan doesn't get hurt, he probably wins and that would have given us three in the finals and Howard four in the finals instead of five."
Neal, a sophomore, was pinned by Franklin's Mike Hartman in 3:15 in the heavyweight championship bout.
Joining Brian Neal in the finals for Howard were his brother Kenny (189), Frank Tortella (171), Chris Poling (160) and Eric Paskin (145).
Paskin, the only senior on the Howard squad, and Tortella took home individual championships for Howard yesterday.
Paskin decisioned Perry Hall's Rich Hanzevack, 6-4, and Tortella scored a 5-2 decision over Westminster's Jason Hare.
Paskin said: "I felt some pressure being the only senior on the team but I was able to go out and give it a good shot today even though I wasn't feeling that good."
Perry Hall's Steve Boothe had the home crowd on its feet when he hooked up with Centennial's Jason Nagle in a 125-pound bout and came away with a 9-7 decision on a reversal with 15 seconds left.
"I'm pleased," said Perry Hall coach Jeff Langrehr. "We have a lot of potential and I felt we got the most out of it today. We're a much better tournament team than we are a dual-match team. Howard placed too many people in the finals for us to compete with."
As Howard did, Perry Hall sent six wrestlers to the state tournament. Dulaney and South Carroll each qualified five.
Dulaney coach Pete Chakmakas said his team was the opposite of Perry Hall.
"We're better at dual meets than tournaments because we have a lot of guys who aren't that talented but they feed off each other," said Chakmakas.
Westminster's sixth-place showing was led by freshman Bobby Biden's 6-4 overtime victory in the 103-pound championship finals.
Bel Air's Bryan Stewart (140) put on an outstanding show against Richard Strong of Kenwood, rolling to a 14-3 major decision for his 27th straight win.