Wrestling: Owings Mills outmaneuvers Catonsville

Owings Mills went on the road to Catonsville High and secured a 55-24 dual meet victory, but both coaches were well aware that a few matches could have been drastically different if a trio of Comet wrestlers could have finished their moves when they had Eagle wrestlers on their backs.

After Catonsville's TJ Henry opened the match with a second-period pin of Tyquez Shade at 195 pounds, Comet 220-pounder Alex Pearson and Comet heavyweight Jordan Reynolds took their Eagle foes to their backs, but Russell Barnes (220) and Darius Carroll bounced back to pin the Comets for a 12-6 lead and the Eagles never looked back.

"Two matches like Russell's and Darius — if they get pinned we might not win this match," Owings Mills coach Guy Pritzker said.

Barnes was leading 1-0 early in the second period when Pearson took him down and scored two back points for a 4-1 lead with 1:25 left in the second period.

Barnes finally squirmed free 40 seconds later for a reversal and head-locked him for a pin three seconds later.

"I was thinking of trying to take a leg and take him down, but he had a lot more muscle than I did," Barnes said.

Pearson (17-3) was coming off a championship at the Northern-Calvert Tournament over the weekend and Barnes admitted he was his toughest challenge to date.

"He (Pearson) was like the only one that was really, really tough," said Barnes.

Carroll outweighed Catonsville's Jordan Reynolds 267-206 at heavyweight, but Reynolds rallied to take a 3-2 lead and had Carroll on his back for 30 seconds in the second period.

But Carroll took the lead with five seconds left in the second period on a reversal and pinned the Comet sophomore with 22.7 seconds left in the third period.

It was Reynolds first loss in a dual meet this season for the 5-2 Comets. He is 11-3 overall.

"We had a little scare there in the beginning," Pritzker said. "You have to understand if you get pinned instead of pinning, that's a 12-point turnaround."

The other match that could have been a Comet upset came at 152 pounds.

Owings Mills' Adrienne Hazel was leading Alex Knipe 16-4 early in the third period when Knipe caught him with a headlock and took him to his back in the final minute of the match.

He didn't finish the move and Hazel held on for a 17-10 decision.

"It just boils down to the guys finishing their moves," said Catonsville coach Eric Warm, who said the Eagles experience was the difference. "If you get on top of someone you should never get off."

Owings Mills did that quite well as they won eight of the weight classes with pins.

Freshmen Jacob Rendelman (106) and Brandon Bekar (113) and seniors Dan Grossman (126), Azmat Armedova (145), Demetrious Johnson (160) and Taran Carr (170) all secured pins.

Armedova's ability to fill in at 145 allowed Pritzker to bump up Hazel, Johnson and Carr in the middleweights.

"We matched up good with them," Pritzker said. "It really helped that I bumped them up because that's the heart of their lineup."

Zach Shapiro's 13-2 victory over Greg Eads, at 140, was the only other Eagle victory not decided by a pin.

The night wasn't all positive for the 15-1 Eagles, who gave Pritzker his 471st career win (against 59 losses).

Senior Jason Escobar (120) broke his ankle and defaulted to TJ McDonald and he was taken away in an ambulance.

Joining McDonald and Henry with victories for the Comets were juniors Sean Thrasher (132) and Trevor Jackson (182).

Thrasher (15-5) pinned Seth Friedman in 55 seconds and Jackson earned a pin in 59 seconds.

"Sean is wrestling at a very high level right now," Warm said. "He wants nothing short of a state championship."

Pritzker knows all about state championships. His Eagle squads have won seven under his tutelage and finished second twice, including last season.

Catonsville's best team effort was a runner-up finish in the 1971 state tournament.

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