No. 6 Sparrows Point wrestling finishes as Class 2A state dual runner-up; No. 15 Bel Air, Marriotts Ridge fall in 3A semifinals

No. 6 Sparrows Point wrestling made it one step further than it had the previous five seasons at the state dual meet championships, but it ended still one step short of the ultimate goal. The Pointers knocked off La Plata to reach the Class 2A state final but lost to Stephen Decatur, 49-18, which won its fourth straight championship on Saturday at North Point High in Waldorf.

“We were proud of them,” Sparrows Point coach Mike Whisner said. “They gave their all out on the mat. I thought the match was closer than the score indicated. A couple matches that could’ve went either way, we just didn’t get any breaks today. They were the better team.”

Two other area teams were eliminated in the Class 3A semifinals: No. 15 Bel Air lost to North Point, 39-33, and Marriotts Ridge lost to eventual state champion Linganore, 70-9.

In Class 1A, No. 14 Harford Tech fell to eventual winner No. 2 South Carroll, 64-12.

Sparrows Point opened the afternoon with a 42-33 victory over La Plata in the semifinals. The Pointers secured enough points to win with three bouts left and forfeited the rest.

The Pointers took an early lead, winning three of the first four matches with an opening decision from Jason Worthington at 170 pounds and pins from Damion Nelson (182) and DeAndre Duvall (220).

After two La Plata wins, Sparrows Point went on a roll with five victories, all with bonus points. Chris Pakacki (113) won an 11-2 major decision, Gabe Dorsey (120) earned a pin, Christian Manley (126) earned a technical fall and Dom Ambrosino (132) and Jackson Rassmusen (138) sealed the team victory with pins.

“I just think we wrestled hard,” Whisner said. “We had a couple kids step up battling through injuries. This is the team coming together. There was no quit. It didn’t work out, but they gave it their all.”

The final started at 182. Sparrows Point and Stephen Decatur traded wins in the first four bouts. Nelson (195) and Hunter Petrovia (285) got pins to give the Pointers a 12-9 lead. Stephen Decatur, though, reeled off six straight wins before Russell Fary broke the streak, giving the Pointers a pin at 145.

Whisner said he hopes his wrestlers take lessons from the dual playoff run into the individual championship tournaments.

“Just the fact that we can compete with anyone,” he said. “We beat Stephen Decatur a month ago at a dual meet tournament, the IronHorse [Duals]. Just on any given day we’re certainly capable of beating anyone. They just need to keep that in mind the next three weeks and use this as motivation going forward.”

Meanwhile, in the 3A semifinals, Bel Air won the first three matches against top-seed North Point. Austin Bacot scored a pin in the opening 126-pound match. Chris Nice (132) and Gavin McDowell (138) won decisions.

Nice defeated Gable Pauole, 6-3, with a takedown and a two-point near fall in the first period. McDowell scored three first-period takedowns and beat Stone James, 14-9.

“We actually really liked where we started,” Bel Air coach Craig Reddish said. “We got off to a nice start, but we lost the draw, the coin flip and the coin flip really makes a difference when you send a wrestler out and when you don’t. We started out with three straight wins and because we didn’t have the draw, we didn’t get the matches we wanted in the middle.”

But the match quickly turned as North Point won the next four bouts, three by pin. Cade Zengel came back and got a 13-8 decision win over Antonio Alford at 182. Zengel led 9-7 in the third period before putting the bout away with a takedown and nearfall points.

North Point, though, won the next three bouts by pin and Bel Air took the final three by forfeit.

“I think these are all things you can take win or lose,” Reddish said. “The more times you can be in these moments, the less freaked out you are about stuff. You get to the state tournament or region tournament and facing the pressures to advance, when you get to more high-caliber competition the more it makes those moments easier.”

Marriotts Ridge’s lone contested win came at 152, where Tyler Bury beat Peyton Pickett, 4-3. Bury led 4-1 after two periods and held off Pickett late.

The Mustangs’ other points came from Boden Postorio, who was awarded a forfeit win at 106.

Harford Tech fell behind 12-0 early and, after earning a forfeit at 113, trailed by 21 when Nikolai Chervak won the only contested bout at 138. He pinned Kaden Cyrus in 1:02, but the Cavaliers won the final seven bouts to cruise to the final. The Cobras also fell to South Carroll in last year’s semifinal, 48-24.

Class 2A semifinals

Sparrows Point 42, La Plata 33

170: Jason Worthington (SP) over Patrick Takeuchi (LP) Dec 8-2; 182: Damion Nelson (SP) over Peyton Lee (LP) Fall 0:35; 195: Desaun Jeffery (LP) over Cooper Anuszewski (SP) Fall 0:29; 220: DeAndre Duvall (SP) over Mason Hine (LP) Fall 0:44; 285: Sima Saavedra (LP) over Hunter Petrovia (SP) Dec 5-2; 106: Aamir Wilman (LP) via fft.; 113: Chris Pakacki (SP) over Deegan Woomer (LP) Maj 11-2; 120: Gabe Dorsey (SP) over Cole Jackson (LP) Fall 4:30; 126: Christian Manley (SP) over Liam Fawls (LP) TF 22-4; 132: Dom Ambrosino (SP) over Grant Winkler (LP) Fall 1:16; 138: Jackson Rassmusen (SP) over Asher Walters (LP) Fall 3:26; 145: David Webster (LP) via fft.; 152: Gunner Gavin (LP) via fft.; 160: Mike Morris (LP) via fft.

Class 2A finals

Stephen Decatur 49, Sparrows Point 18

182: Nate McDaniel (SD) over Jason Worthington (SP) Dec 7-5; 195: Damion Nelson (SP) via fft.; 220: Kole Kohut (SD) over DeAndre Duvall (SP) Fall 2:36; 285: Hunter Petrovia (SP) over Eden McMullen (SD) Fall 1:28; 106: Juan Hinojosa (SD) via fft.; 113: Liam Hugues (SD) over Chris Pakacki (SP) Fall 1:52; 120: Elijah Collick (SD) over Gabe Dorsey (SP) Fall 3:20; 126: Reid Caimi (SD) over Christian Manley (SP) Dec 13-8; 132: Logan Intrieri (SD) over Dom Ambrosino (SP) Dec 11-5; 138: Alex Reihl (SD) over Jackson Rassmusen (SP) Maj 10-1; 145: Russell Fary (SP) over ZJ Lyons (SD) Fall 2:57; 152: Gavin Solito (SD) over Tanner Cooper (SP) Dec 9-5; 160: Evan Haworth (SD) over Matt Laubach (SP) Dec 9-2; 170: Parker Intrieri (SD) over Ramire McPhail (SP) Fall 1:22

Class 3A semifinals

North Point 39, Bel Air 33

126: Austin Bacot (BA) over Sophia Gerstman (NP) Fall 3:39; 132: Chris Nice (BA) over Gable Pauole (NP) Dec 6-3; 138: Gavin McDowell (BA) over Stone James (NP) Dec 14-9; 145: Aidan Rivenburg (NP) over Manny Lucas (BA) Fall 4:26; 152: Peter Beil (NP) over Joel Ouandji Nana (BA) Fall 4:26; 160: Connor Huff (NP) over Taran Johnson (BA) Fall 5:11; 170: Dominick Cady (NP) over Savion Ricketts (BA) Dec 6-5; 182: Cade Zengel (BA) over Antonio Alford (NP) Dec 13-8; 195: Dominic Queen (NP) Forf; 220: Kamari Loving (NP) over Ian Nitz (BA) Fall 1:12; 285: Kayden Chavers (NP) over Chris Vonziah (BA) Fall 1:54; 106: Khalil Mobley (BA) Forf; 113: Cole Bursk (BA) over Forf; 120: Dominic Grey (BA) Forf.

Linganore 70, Marriotts Ridge 9

126: Dylan Rohn (L) over Jamie Kraft (MR) Fall 3:28; 132: Garhett Dickenson (L) over Atley Turner (MR) Maj 13-2; 138: Sean Considine (L) over Alex Gladstone (MR) Fall 3:08; 145: Nathan Husted (L) over Cory Globerman (MR) Fall 1:35; 152: Tyler Bury (MR) over Peyton Pickett (L) Dec 4-3; 160: Ben Lawn (L) over Andre Duroseau (MR) Fall 2:25; 170: Ethan Arneson (L) over Jonah Obitz (MR) Fall 3:13; 182: Chase Witmer (L) over David Sarkisyan (MR) Fall 1:31; 195: Luke Riley (L) over Brendon Payne (MR) Fall 1:53; 220: Trevor Jenkins (L) over Ja`Kaylen Love (MR) Fall 1:50; 285: Joel Hopkins (L) over Skye Song (MR) Fall 1:05; 106: Boden Pistorio (MR) via fft.; 113: Cash Wheat (L) over Rocky Alabbadi (MR) Fall 4:51; 120: Brendan Considine (L) over Brady Eldridge (MR) Fall 0:48

Class 1A semifinals

South Carroll 64, Harford Tech 12

285: Decklen Logan (SC) over Gavin Lawson (HT) Fall 0:26; 106: Grayson Barnhill (SC) over Damon Boniface (HT) Fall 0:24; 113: Zaden Tablan (HT) via fft.; 120: Evan Owen (SC) over Christian Donlick (HT) Fall 1:14; 126: Joseph Gigliotti (SC) via fft.; 132: Angelo Marchany (SC) over Logan Barkey (HT) Dec 3-2; 138: Nikolai Chervak (HT) over Kaden Cyrus (SC) Fall 1:02; 145: Michael Pizzuto (SC) over Ryan Sewell (HT) Maj 15-3; 152: Gage Owen (SC) over Aidan Sullivan (HT) Fall 2:46; 160: Anthony Rodrigues (SC) over Brian Vickers (HT) Maj 10-2; 170: AJ Rodrigues (SC) over Alex Hallameyer (HT) Fall 0:19; 182: Rylan Moose (SC) over Jack Ryder (HT) TF 15-0; 195: Manny Rodrigues (SC) via fft.; 220: Janero Marchany (SC) over Spiros Nikitaras (HT) Fall 1:04.