Posted: December 29, 2012
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

WINCHESTER — Just like at last year’s Willie Walters/Jaye Copp Holiday Invitational, Handley’s Jordan Dowrey ended the tournament with an impressive victory from his heavyweight position.

But victories in tournament finals are no longer a surprise for the Handley junior. And it’s getting to the point that success is no longer a surprise for the rest of his teammates, either.

The Judges’ stellar first month of the season continued with a third-place finish at the 18-team Walters/Copp tournament Friday night at James Wood High School.

Eastern View captured the competition — which was condensed from two days to one because of the weather forecast that called for snow Saturday — with 210.5 points. Stafford took second with 148, Handey took third with 141, James Wood took seventh with 101 and Sherando was ninth with 88. In addition to Dowrey — who beat James Wood’s Erik Bearer 1-0 in the only all-local final — other local wrestlers who won individual titles Friday were James Wood sophomore Jimmy Woznak (106 pounds) and the Sherando junior duo of Jacob Guthridge (120) and Kyle Vangel (138).

But once again, the story of the young wrestling season was Handley. At the Max Horz Tournament in Berkeley Springs (W.Va.), Handley took second and placed higher than all three Frederick County schools. The Judges also own a dual victory over two-time defending Northwestern District champion Millbrook.

And on Saturday, Handley’s seven placers — four more than it had at this tournament last year and two more than James Wood and Sherando had Friday — kept the Judges rolling at a tournament that lasted more than 12 hours.

“I’m extremely happy with how our team performed,” said Handley coach David Scott, who was referred to as a “legend” by a smiling James Wood coach Greg Walker as Walker walked along Scott around 10:30 p.m. “We beat all our district teams and the [Region II] teams that were here.

“Obviously we want to win, but it’s nice to be able to beat the teams that we’re going to see in the postseason. At the beginning of the year, I thought we’d be really competitive in duals, but it’s really nice to see us do well in tournaments, because that’s what it’s all about when you get down to the end.”

Though hard work is going a long way toward making Handley a force, confidence seems to be playing a big role in its consistency.

“Once you start realizing that you can win, you do it,” Scott said. “Before, when we first started doing this, some of them were just OK with being mediocre, but now they want to be great. They feel they can be, and it’s working its way down from our seniors to our good group of freshmen.”

Others who placed for Handey were Sean Bridgeforth (second at 132 pounds, lost 10-1 in the final to Kody Kernan of Musselman, W.Va.), Coby Pitcock (second at 170, lost 4-3 to Freedom’s Jason Cardozo in the final) and Lio Quezada (third at 113).

Most of the consolation finals were not contested because of the Virginia High School League’s five-match limitation rule for one day, so Joe Lewis (fifth/sixth at 152), Killian McPartland (fifth/sixth at 182) and Tommy Shea-Roop (fifth/sixth at 220) did not get specific places.

Perhaps the most noticeable part of Dowrey’s win was that Bearer made Dowrey go the distance. Bearer — who was pinned by Dowrey in a match earlier this year — became the first person not be pinned by the 21-0 Dowrey this season.

“I’ve been wanting a match that takes me all three periods and gets me that work,” said Dowrey, who managed an escape point 19 seconds into the second period, then rode Bearer out in the third. “I know that not everybody I wrestle, especially in the postseason, is going to go down quick. So it’s definitely good to have that competition.”

On a condensed day like Saturday, it also helped to conserve energy and pin opponents as Dowrey did in his first three matches.

James Wood’s Woznak also did a good job of that, winning by forfeit in his first match and then recording first-period pins in his next two. He closed with a 7-0 win over Eastern View’s Yarhoski Aldiva in the final.

“It was a long day, but I felt I wrestled a pretty strong tournament,” Woznak said. “I made sure I got a lot of fluids, had my rest and had a good warmup before my matches.

“It’s an important tournament because we host it, and I always want to do well.”

James Wood coach Greg Walker was pleased with Woznak, and given that the Colonels only suited up 10 wrestlers, he felt seventh was a strong showing. The Colonels were without star 120-pounder Taylor Swartz because of injury.

“We’ve got a bunch of young kids who’ve just got to learn not to give up,” Walker said. “We struggle with mental toughness. Our kids are young, so we’ve just got to keep working. We started five freshmen last week, and it’s tough to ask so many young kids to step up to the plate.”

Others who placed for James Wood were Levi Roy (fourth at 170), Logan Bauserman (fifth/sixth at 160) and Austin Henry (fifth/sixth at 182).

Sherando got wins in the finals from Guthridge (a 9-4 winner in the final against Brian Belcher of Stonewall Jackson of Manassas at 120) and Kyle Vangel (a winner by fall in 2:44 over Tony Pritt of Eastern View in the 138 final).

The Warriors also had Mike Duffy (fifth/sixth at 106), Colton Simmons (fifth/sixth at 132) and Tyler Hamilton (fifth/sixth at 195) place.

Guthridge had a particularly impressive win in the semifinals against Musselman’s Bradley DeRito in a match that Sherando coach Pepper Martin felt was between the two best 120-pounders in the tournament. Guthridge won that 4-3 with some late heroics.

“In the last six seconds, I shot a high-crotch, didn’t get it, and backed off. I ended up throwing him with two seconds left on his back to win it,” Guthridge said. “Everyone was going crazy, and the crowd loved it. He’s a great wrestler.

“My finals match I was a little tired. But it was a good day. I just take the abilities that God’s given me and take my desire and determination to just put forth the effort, go out there and get the job done.”

Martin said he couldn’t have been more pleased with what Guthridge and Vangel were able to do.

“Jacob’s one of top wrestlers and one of our team leaders, and he had some really tough competition last weekend [in Raleigh, N.C., where Guthridge placed fifth],” Martin said. “He had some tough matches today, particularly in the semifinals. Champions find ways to win close matches like that, and he did a great job.

“Kyle Vangel wrestled really well last weekend and wrestled extremely well today. He ended up getting three pins in four matches. What helped him out a lot was his success on his feet. In every match he got the takedown and the lead, and that gave him the confidence to work some things from the top that he does well and turn his opponents.”

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