During the finals of Saturday night's Mount Mat Madness wrestling tournament, the loudest cheers from local fans were for Mathew Miller of John Carroll and Bobby Bowman of Mount St. Joseph. They were the only two local wrestlers to reach the finals.
Both won, Miller at 152 pounds by pinning Shane Miller of Sussex Central, and Bowman at 171 with the narrowest of decisions over Jay Wieller of Wyoming Seminary, 1-0.
The tournament drew an impressive field of teams to CCBC-Catonsville, and Wyoming Seminary of Pennsylvania, ranked No. 5 nationally, was the most impressive, beating St. Mark's of Delaware, 217.5 -212.5. Sussex Central (Del.) was third with 156.5 points, and host Mount St. Joseph was fourth with 147.5.
Miller and Bowman both missed last season, and both said they "knew" before their championship matches that they were going to win.
Miller missed last season, taking a year off from high school in favor of being home-schooled and taking classes at Harford Community College.
"I didn't want to be a 16-year-old senior," said Miller, who is now a 17-year-old junior with a 30-0 record, which includes 26 pins, two technical falls and two decisions. "I needed a year to mature."
Miller has demonstrated that maturity and his work ethic by taking part in 4 a.m. workouts with soldiers at Aberdeen Proving Ground before school. Once at John Carroll, he lifts weights during free periods before practice.
"He's capable of anything," Patriots coach Keith Watson said "It sounds arrogant, but I've glimpsed what he does outside our work room. ... This tournament is a meat grinder, and if you don't come in here working your butt off, you're not going to succeed."
After Miller pinned his opponent in the semifinals, he said he knew he would win his weight class.
"Cody Allala [the No. 2 seed and state champion from Hopewell, Va.] was the best person in my weight class," Miller said. "As soon as I won that semi, I thought I had won the tournament. I couldn't believe it. I was dazed."
Bowman missed last season because of Lyme disease.
But the senior was motivated by his absence, too. And his hard work showed. He escaped from Wieller in the second period to score the only point he needed.
"I knew then I just had to ride him out," Bowman said. "My semifinal was close, too. I scored with 30 seconds left to win. It made my dad and coach pretty nervous."
Wrestling fans who expected to see Gaels heavyweight Karl Green in the finals got a surprise when the 285-pound wrestler, ranked fifth nationally, was pinned in his semifinal match and finished third.