James Wood ends drought by winning in Walters/Copp wrestling tournament

By JIM LAISE | The Winchester Star

Dec 23, 2017

WINCHESTER — For the first time in recent memory James Wood High School’s wrestling team came home —literally —with the championship in its own Willie Walters/Jaye Copp Holiday Tournament Friday night at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

Wood coordinator of activities Craig Woshner said he believed that the Colonels had won the Walters/Copp first-place plaque before, “but it’s been a while. This is certainly the first in a long time.”

Coach Cory Crenshaw didn’t have any problems with his recollections after the Colonels amassed 196 points, to easily outdistance second-place Freedom (South Riding), which finished at 172.5.

“This being my second year as head coach, we’ve never won this since I’ve been here,” Crenshaw said. “Last year we didn’t wrestle well at all. I believe we might have finished eighth, but from last year to this, it’s a big jump. The big difference, I think, was in the wrestle-backs. This year we didn’t give up.

“This has to be our biggest win in a tournament like this,” added Crenshaw, a 2001 Handley graduate. “As a team, we competed fully at each spot.”

Sherando, which led the Colonels by two points heading into the final day, finished third at 185. Clarke County was eighth among a dozen squads. The Eagles, with only five available wrestlers, finished with 84 points.

The difference between the Warriors and the Colonels came in Friday’s championship semifinal round. Wood sent five wrestlers to the finals (two at 106 pounds), while the Warriors advanced just one.

Thanks in a big part to those performances, the Colonels outscored the Warriors by 43 points on Friday. Both teams finished with one champion as Wood’s Josiah Geaslen (106) and Sherando’s Timmy Dieter (132) won titles.

“The difference was in the semi’s,” said veteran Sherando coach Pepper Martin. “It was our downfall, our Achilles heel. “I’ve got to say it was one of our worst semifinal rounds in our history. But we put seven wrestlers in the consolations (which came on Friday), and four of the seven scored. We can build on that.”

Clarke County was unique. Coach Jon Van Sice brought just five potential point-producers to the annual event.

Two of them won championship plaques as Pete McLean (220) and Bryan Wallace (285) dominated. Teammate Jack Smith (120) was a runner-up and Justin Toone earned a sixth (first through sixth places were awarded medals) in the 126-pound class.

“We didn’t have quantity, but we did have quality,” said coach Van Sice. “We’ve got a lot of young men out right now with injuries. And, even when we get everybody back, we won’t have wrestlers to cover every spot.”

Wallace, a UNC-Charlotte football signee, has won three straight Class 2 championships, all at different weight classes. Last year’s champ at 220 is going for the crown at 285 this winter.

Wallace, 12-0 this season and 181-8 overall, defeated Freedom’s Jacob Edwards with a fall at 1:23. At one point in the championship match, Wallace flipped Edwards, who shouted, “Oh, no” as he fell to the mat.

Wallace won all three of his matches with first-period pins.

“Sometimes I like to get it done fast, but sometimes I go out there with the idea in mind to try out something new,” Wallace said. “But [in the championship], I wanted to get out there early and get us some points.”

Van Sice said that McLean getting the chance to go against Wallace every day in practice has improved the 220-pound senior.

This was McLean’s first-ever individual title. The senior executed what Van Sice said was a “high crotch takedown,” a difficult proposition in the title match against Robert Streightiff of Culpeper. It resulted in a fall in 1:40.

“It’s hard for a big guy to shoot through,” McLean said. “In fact, it’s something I’ve been working on a lot. Bigger guys usually fight upright because of their strength.”

“But the power really comes from the legs,” added Van Sice. “And that’s what (McLean) used today.”

James Wood’s Geaslen defeated freshman teammate Noah Cooley by fall in 5:02 at 106. Both Geaslen and Cooley are sharing their first seasons on the Colonels’ varsity roster.

They admitted they wrestle often during practice. “We kind of know what each other is going to do,” said Cooley. ““The biggest thing I did today [against Cooley] was run the half-Nelson. I haven’t been able to do that until [Friday]. That was something new I showed.”

Dieter, all-state as a sophomore, improved to 20-1 this season and 139-28 overall. He whipped his first opponent by fall (56 seconds), but found rougher going in his semifinal and final bouts. He topped Freedom’s Sean Crumbliss by a 9-4 decision in the final.

“Both those young men that Timmy wrestled were strong,” Martin said. “It took his best to beat them both.”

Dieter said he was told that Crumbliss made all-state in 2016-17. Dieter had to wrestle a fine line in the last minute of his bout.

“You have to keep wrestling, otherwise the officials will call it stalling,” Dieter said.

“So, you have to keep moving, but not necessarily working for the (fall),” said Martin. “He did a good job of that.”

After a dominant sophomore season, Dieter said he worked off weight to end up at 132 before this campaign began. “That’s so that I don’t have to fool with it during the season. During the season, I just want to work on getting better,” Dieter said.

Martin also was with Tucker Anderson. The senior finished third in the 160-pound realm, after losing on Thursday night.

He wrestled back on Friday, outdistancing sophomore teammate Colton Foltz by a 3-2 decision. Anderson then beat Mikey Neal of Calvert Hall (Md.) by an 8-6 decision.

“He did an outstanding job,” said Martin. “He fell in the consolations after losing last night. He and Timmy were our big positives.”

Other Warriors who scored were: Gavin Eanes (sixth, 120); Heath Rudolph (fourth, 126); Jackson Bryant (third, 138), Christian Burns (sixth, 145). Quinn McPartland (fourth, 152), Shawn Norris (fourth, 170), Zack McCarty (third, 182), Zack Kales (third, 220) and DeShawn Lee (sixth, 285).

James Wood received runner-up finishes from freshman Joey Vitola (138), Sam Adkins (145) and Luke Roy (195). Other place winners were: Joshua Arce (third, 230), Corey Lemons (third, 132), Matthew Alderman (fifth, 138), Aaron Curd (third, 152), Maverick Eichelberger (third, 170), Jarrod King (fifth, 182), Kobey Brooker (sixth, 220) and Brayden Patterson (fourth, 285).