McDonogh's sophomore state champion Ryan Davis scored an escape and a takedown, all in the third period, for a 5-2 victory last night in the 140-pound final over Mount St. Joseph's state runner-up Ryan Herwig, winning the toughest class of the Hammond Invitational.
Davis, who edged South Carroll's 4A-3A state champion Bryan Hamper, 4-1, in the semifinals, then defeated Herwig, who had handed Kent's 2A-1A state champion, Mikey Blake, his first loss of the year, 9-4, in the semifinals.
"I knew all of these guys were good, but I knew I could hang with them. I did better than I expected," said Davis, who moved up from 135 pounds while Hamper and Herwig, both seniors, dropped from 145.
"I wanted to keep every match close then turn it up in the third period because I knew my conditioning was better than theirs."
Atholton's fifth-ranked Bryan Radik (130) scored a takedown with 45 seconds left and hung on for a 5-4 victory over Franklin's third-ranked Matt Schuster, a state runner-up and state champ the past two years. Radik (13-2) has been on a tear, having beaten The Sun's No. 1-ranked Ryan Green of River Hill earlier in the week, and, in yesterday's semifinal, edged No. 2-ranked Zak Johns of McDonogh, 5-2.
In the semifinals, Schuster (14-2) edged William Penn's Harry Kettner, a third-place finisher in Delaware. Kettner owns a victory over Caesar Rodney's Todd Martin, who pinned Schuster earlier this year. Radik's only loss was to Owings Mill's No. 4 Clayton Arnold in overtime.
Franklin's Mays twins, state runner-up Luke (160) and Sam (171), a state champ two years ago, were champions after being second last winter. Luke worked over his opponent in a 13-6 victory over Lackey's previously unbeaten Martin Queen (11-1). The only loss of the season for Mays (15-1) was against Delaware's state runner-up from Caesar Rodney.
Sam (15-1) edged McDonogh's Geoff Miller, 9-7, in the semifinals and Atholton's Mark Carbone, 5-3, for the title. Carbone had earned a 4-2 semifinal victory over DeMatha's Nate Crosby, the private schools state champion who finished fourth after losing to Miller. Sam's only loss was also to a Delaware state runner-up.
Carbone (13-4) lost, 4-3, and, 5-3, respectively to McDonogh of Charles County state runner-up Nick Carrington, and Northern of Garrett state champ Matt Wolfe.
Gilman's Mike Dowling (215) improved to 12-0 with his 6-4 victory over DeMatha's Matt Bovich. Dowling wrestled last season behind three-time All-Metro wrestler Mike Faust, who was The Sun's Male Athlete of the Year.
Hammond's Ryan Mackin (135) slipped to 25-1 after a 3-0 loss to Hodgson Vo-Tech's state champ, Mike Welch (33-2). Mackin beat South Carroll's Dan Patterson (135), a third-place finisher at states, 17-11, in the semifinals.
The most highly anticipated matchup of the night, a battle of defending National Preps champs between DeMatha's Kevin Gabrielson and Bullis Prep's Matt Palmer lasted 20 seconds as Gabrielson scored his 17th pin to move to 28-0.
"He shot in, got both hands round my legs; his head was down, but his butt was up. I let him come in and hip-tossed him," said Gabrielson, who pinned four opponents in a combined 4 minutes, 14 seconds. "The move was there, and that's probably the tightest I've ever had it. I give him credit for moving up to wrestle me."
For McDonogh, Chet Naylor (119) and Kellen Williams (heavyweight) were second. For Atholton, Doug Ramsey (103), Adam Roth (145) and Mark Carbone (171) were second; and Wes Lipple (112) third. For Mount St. Joseph, Tim Bohlman (112) was second; Bruce Dulski (103) and Sam Lewnes (152) were third. For Hammond, Russ Tebeleff (119) and Joey Kilo (145) were third.