Area Wrestling Bragging Rights: Warriors Sweep Rivals Millbrook, Wood In Duals

Posted: January 15, 2015
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI
The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY — Neither Sherando coach Pepper Martin (2-3 record at the Mountain View Duals) or James Wood coach Greg Walker (13th out of 21 teams at the North Hagerstown Hub Cup) felt their teams wrestled their best this past weekend.

Thrust into the spotlight of a Frederick County and Northwestern District rivalry match Wednesday night, it was the Warriors who seized the opportunity to rebound.

Sherando won six of the first seven matches and eight of the first 10 against James Wood en route to a 44-25 win, then ended the night with a 46-27 win over Millbrook to put the Warriors (18-8 record overall) at 3-0 in the Northwestern District and one win away from repeating as district champions.

“These schools are our rivals, and they can take away our district title,” said Sherando junior Ben Avery (285 pounds), who spent less than two minutes on the mat as a result of two first period pins. “That’s just makes the tension a lot higher because the match matters a lot more than if you’re in Pennsylvania.

“Not that those matches [outside of the area] don’t matter. But this means a lot [emotionally] for you as a [individual] wrestler and as a team, and it means a lot to win.”

Though a rapidly improving Millbrook (8-10, 0-3 Northwestern) team put a jolt into the Warriors in the nightcap Wednesday (James Wood and Millbrook did not wrestle each other) with pins in its first two matches, the Pioneers faced a bit of an uphill battle before the match even started as a result of having to forfeit two weight classes.

But the match between Sherando and James Wood (18-4, 0-2) featured two teams that could fill all 14 weight classes, and both teams had every reason to feel good about their chances of success.

The match started at 106 pounds, and the Warriors got two huge wins early to give them the momentum they needed.

Sophomore Jeremiah Platts — academically eligible for the first time — made the first appearance of any wrestler at 106 pounds for Sherando this season and recorded an impressive 12-3 win.

After James Wood state champion Aaron Black earned an 11-0 win at 113 pounds to knot the match at 4-4, a match between two of the area’s better lightweight wrestlers took place at 120 pounds between Sherando’s Mike Duffy and James Wood’s Matt Artrup.

Duffy earned a hard-fought 2-1 win by riding Artrup out for the entire third period, much to the delight of an enthusiastic Sherando fan base, and a pumped-up Warrior team won the four matches following that one to grab a 26-4 lead.

“It’s always great when you have those kind of matches early on, where it’s really close,” said Sherando senior 138-pound Colton Simmons, who went 2-0 with two major decisions Wednesday and was one of the contributors to that winning streak. “It’s nice to win those kind of close matches, and it kind of shifted the momentum in our favor.”

Simmons and Avery also both stated how great it is to have Platts — a wrestler who only figures to get better as his conditioning improves and gets more matches under his belt — in the lineup.

“[Platts] wanted to wrestle badly, and he had to work hard in the classroom to be able to wrestle for us, and he made it,” Martin said. “We’re excited to be able to fill all the weight classes, and he’ll be a nice little edition to the team.”

Though Martin said some of his wrestlers might have underestimated Millbrook — Martin gave a lot of credit to how much the Pioneers have improved in the past two and a half weeks — he liked the approach the Warriors had to the James Wood match.

“I thought we wrestled pretty well against James Wood — without a doubt much better than we did last weekend,” Martin said.

Platts, Curtis Guthridge (two pins at 126), Justin Feighery (two decisions at 132), Simmons, Platts’ junior older brother James (two pins at 145), Tim Coleman (a pin against James Wood and a forfeit win vs. Millbrook), John Borst (two pins at 170), and Avery each went 2-0 for Sherando.

To put it mildly, Walker was stunned by how the Colonels wrestled.

Walker said last week was a rough one because of the weather, injuries and illness, and it led to a sub-par tournament performance in Hagerstown (Md.) over the weekend. Walker thought his team was ready to bounce back based on how James Wood’s last two practices went, but Walker said he didn’t see what he needed to out of his team.

“It was just so bad. It was,” Walker said. “We drilled hard the last two days to get focused for this match, and they came out as flat as could be.

“In my eyes and other peoples’ eyes, we were probably projected to win, just based on how many kids [Sherando] lost last year, and stuff like that. We knew they were going to come after us, and it should have at least been a close match. It was just bad. We’ll go back [today] and refocus, and pray that we get better for this weekend.”

In addition to Black, James Wood got wins from Jimmy Woznak (pin in 3:48 at 152), Hunter Bentley (pin in 2:39 at 182), D.J. Christian (a 6-0 win at 195), and Adam Vadell (a first period pin at 220).

Despite the loss, Millbrook definitely had some highlights against the Warriors. With the match starting at 113 pounds, Chase Canter got a pin 23 seconds into the second period against Sherando’s Anthony Damico after trailing 7-0 after the first period, and senior Ryan Meushaw earned his 100th career win at 120 pounds with a win by fall in 56 seconds.

“[Canter’s] win was huge, especially to start us off,” Millbrook coach Jeff Holmes said. “He knew his objective. He lost to that kid earlier in the year, and he knew it was going to be a battle. He didn’t give up, and he did what he needed to get the ball rolling for the team. It was fantastic.

“[As a team], we’re putting it together. We had a slow start at the beginning of the year, but we’re coming together as a team and working hard and battling. We still have yet to put together a full lineup, and I want to see what type of team we’ll be when we do.”

Meushaw knew what type of win he wanted Wednesday to commemorate his 100th win, and he was glad he got it quickly.

“I really like the fact I dominated for my 100th win, as opposed to just making it a decision,” Meushaw said. “The fact that I beat Sherando makes it even more sweet.”

The Pioneers also received wins from Kevin Valyear at 152 pounds (8-2 decision) and Dylan Wisman (195) and Joseph Tanner (220), who both recorded first period pins.

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