River Hill's performance at the 3A/4A East regional tournament Saturday at Wilde Lake wasn't quite as dominant as its showing at the Howard County tournament last weekend, when the Hawks had nine finalists, five champions and broke the record for total points.
This Saturday, all the Hawks managed to do was qualify eight wrestlers for next week's state tournament, with five regional finalists, win three championships and outscore second place Meade by more than 70 points (155-84.5) to take the team title.
But considering the level of competition, River Hill coach Brandon Lauer was quite pleased with his team's showing.
"This region is ridiculous. It's so deep and the talent level is so high, this is like a mini state tournament," he said. "Our ability to put eight into states is fantastic."
The 3A/4A East regional tournament featured 19 wrestlers ranked in the top ten by the Maryland State Wrestling Association.
Cory Daniel (160), Omar Messallam (182) and Jacob Benedict (220) all defended their county titles on Saturday.
While Daniel and Messallam each ended their matches early with second period pins, Benedict had to wrestle the full six minutes, and then some, to get his first regional title.
The senior was tied with North County's undefeated Pat Hyde, 1-1, at the end of the third period after each wrestler scored an escape. After another 60 seconds could not decide a winner, Hyde and Benedict each escaped again in the next two overtime periods, forcing a fourth overtime, known as the Ultimate Tiebreaker.
Hyde selected top position, and Benedict broke free from his grasp almost immediately to win his title.
"He's never beat Pat Hyde. He lost to him to go to states his sophomore year, he lost to him in overtime last year ... it's been very close," Lauer said. "He was motivated to get the win and he worked hard ... he showed his endurance, he showed the level of conditioning that we pride ourselves on as a program, and he was able to get the job done."
Centennial senior Nathan Kraisser (126) and Reservoir freshman Sam Rowell (138) also followed up their county titles with 3A/4A East regional crowns. Kraisser is now a four-time county and regional champion, and will attempt to win his fourth state title next weekend.
Wilde Lake senior Alex Polonsky (113), a 2010 state champion, lost in the Howard County finals to Reservoir sophomore Mason Kilcarr last week, but earned a rematch on Saturday, and made the most of his second chance, scoring a 90-second pin.
"This is really exciting because I knew I could do it," said Polonsky, who admitted to overlooking Kilcarr last week before getting pinned. "I was happier after this than I was when I won the state title, because I'd lost to him last week, so I really had to prove myself. I just go about (the state tournament) the same way I did this week, everybody is going to be a state champion in my eyes."
Hammond's Jonathan Goodwin (145) and Bryan Overton (160), and River Hill's Jack Noonan (152) and Jason Johnson (285) all lost in the regional finals.
Noonan's showing, despite falling in overtime to Meade's Lance Alderman, was especially impressive considering that he entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, and had to win a pigtail match against Atholton's Ashton Stennett just to make it into the main bracket. In the quarterfinals, he won by forfeit after Old Mill's Salaman Riddell, the top seed, was a late scratch. He then defeated Aberdeen's Jasaan Beck to advance to the finals, where he forced overtime by scoring an escape late in the third period.
"Noonan wrestled and took advantage of his opportunity ... he almost won the region," Lauer said. "He wrestled smart, stuck to the gameplan and was able to almost pull it off."
Johnson lost to North County's Lorenzo Maddox, 4-3, after nearly scoring the winning takedown in the final seconds.
106: Jeremy Morrow (Ch) maj. Nate Rosenblatt (SD), 9-0.
113: Alex Polonsky (WL) pin Mason Kilcarr (Re), 1:31.
120: Cameron Harrell (Br) dec. Logan Reece (Ar), 5-0.
126: Nathan Kraisser (C) maj. Collin Alley (SR), 15-1.
132: Tyler Goodwin (Ar) tech. Jeff Taylor (BA), 16-1.
138: Sam Rowell (Re) pin Stanley Proctor (An), 5:49.
145: Alex Rice (Ch) dec. Jonathan Goodwin (Ha), 8-4.
152: Lance Alderman (M) pin Jack Noonan (RH), 6:52.
160: Cory Daniel (RH) pin Bryan Overton (Ha), 3:17.
170: William Holder-Moore (BA) dec. Isiah Alston (M), 7-3.
182: Omar Messallam (RH) pin Ian Marinacci (Br), 2:36.
195: Brandon Ballard (NC) dec. Seth Holbrook (OM), 5-0.
220: Jacob Benedict (RH) dec. Pat Hyde (NC), 3-2 UT.
285: Lorenzo Maddox (NC) dec. Jason Johnson (RH), 4-3.