Handley’s Hot Start Fuels Wrestling Win Over James Wood

Posted: December 17, 2015

By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood Colonels wrestling coach Greg Walker initially wanted to move Wednesday night’s dual with rival Handley to January due to the rash of injuries to the Colonels’ roster.

The schedules weren’t compatible so the two met as scheduled.

The Judges manhandled the banged-up Colonels early, racing to a 34-0 lead, on their way to a 46-27 victory.

Handley raced to its big lead after the first seven matches.

The Judges received pins from Lio Quezada (132), Cole Capitano (145), Dolan Delaney (182), Deauntia Green (220) and Web Bentley (120); decisions from Cam Bentley (138, 10-4), Anthony Smith (160, 7-1), Nehemius Gomez (170, 6-3); and a forfeit victory for Harrison Robinson (152).

“We were bumped up at 182, 195 and 220 so Dolan getting bumping up and getting the pin there and Deauntia bumping up and getting the pin was big for us,” said Handley coach David Scott. “It was a big match for us at 145 because we had a backup in there [Capitano] against their starter [Tyler Arnold] so that was a big victory. Then at 160 they brought their kid up from 152 to wrestle up thinking they were going to get the win there but our kid [Smith] just took him down at the end there and got the major which was awesome.”

James Wood accumulated its 27 points with pins from Hunter Bentley (195), Adam Vadell (285), Josh Arce (106) and Aaron Black (113) along with a decision in the night’s final match at 126 from freshman Zach Singhas.

“We have five kids out right now because of injury. That was throwing points to them automatically basically because we were wrestling JV against varsity,” said Walker, who had wrestlers out at 120, 152, 160 and 170. “But they [Handley] came out and wrestled and put up a pretty impressive lead. I think it will be different when January comes around and we have our full team in but I can’t stop injuries.

“... The kids I had to throw in there tonight are young and inexperienced and I had to throw them into a pack of wolves and they hung in there and did the best they could.”

The Colonels expect a full healthy roster by Jan. 1, including Ryan Funkhouser who is still recovering from in injury late in the Colonels football season.

The dual started at 132 pounds, the strength of Handley’s lineup with Quezada, who started the momentum for the Judges with a first-period pin.

“I had to set the tone, and get the person behind me motivated to get out there and get after it,” Quezada said. “We were neutral and I took him down then hit the ball and chain and really took him to his back. I took it slow so I could really squeeze it.”

“I think it’s really cool how we do that now with getting the drawn weight class you kind of never know where it’s going to start out with,” Scott said. “When we start at 132, we are starting at the best part of our lineup going up through and that definitely made a difference in this match being able to start where we are strong.”

Quezada remembered every point made the difference in last year’s dual.

“This was really important because last year we only beat them by one,” he said. “And this was our chance to come out and show people that we are a different team. We got to show them that we could come out and score a lot of points to show that we are going to be dominant this year.”

While Quezada set the tone it was Web Bentley at 120 who had to stay fresh for one of the night’s final matches. Bentley scored a second-period pin.

“It definitely gets the nerves up to have a late match but it’s exciting to have that final match and know that I need to do really well,” Bentley said.

Perhaps the loudest cheers Wednesday came from the Handley wrestlers as JV wrestler Gomez stepped in and came away with a 6-3 decision.

“That was great, it’s always fun to see him [Gomez] wrestle,” Bentley said.

“It’s really cool because he’s a senior and he’s been with us for four years and he’s never really been able to find a spot, so to be able to have him contribute to the team in his senior year and a local match is pretty awesome,” Scott said.