Wrestling - Region 4C Tournament

LEESBURG — After a painful sophomore year, Handley 126-pounder Mac Gordon is back in familiar territory as a junior.

Gordon avenged last week’s 7-4 loss in the Class 4 Northwestern District tournament finals to Liberty’s Austin Harris with a 3-2 win over Harris on Saturday in the Region 4C tournament championship match at Heritage High School.

Gordon — who broke a 2-2 tie with an escape point with just 24 seconds remaining — improved his career record in high school regional tournaments to 7-0.

Gordon won the 113-pound 4A West Region title as a freshman. But he never got a chance to do much of anything as a sophomore. Gordon suffered a season-ending meniscus tear in his knee in Handley’s first tournament, which took place at Tuscarora High School.

“This was fun. This was awesome,” said Gordon of Saturday. “Wrestling’s my favorite sport, and I love being out there.”

Gordon was one of four local wrestlers to win region titles in the darkness at Heritage, which shut off all the ceiling lights for the championship finals except for one low-hanging ceiling lamp that provided a spotlight on the center of the mat.

Of the four local champions, Gordon was the only one who didn’t also win at last week’s Class 4 Northwestern District tournament. Sherando senior Timmy Dieter (132) and sophomore Heath Rudolph (145) and Millbrook senior Daniel VanAmburg (152) each earned championship finals victories over the same people that they beat in last week’s district championships.

In the finals, VanAmburg won 9-0 over James Wood sophomore Joey Vitola, who headlined an impressive James Wood performance. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the state tournament, and the Colonels had eight of their 10 wrestlers place in the top four, twice the amount of Sherando, Millbrook and Handley (four each).

One of James Wood’s other top four placers is junior Jonathan Addison, who had a remarkably good regional tournament end in controversial fashion.

Addison (12-11 record this season) did not qualify for the regional tournament after placing fifth at the district tournament. But he was selected to round out the eight-wrestler bracket on Saturday because the Dulles District — the only other district in the region — only had three wrestlers participate in its district tournament.

Addison finished fourth on Saturday, upsetting Northwestern District champion Caleb McLee of Sherando 3-2 in overtime in the quarterfinals as part of his performance.

But while Addison qualified for the state tournament based on place, James Wood coach Cory Crenshaw is not yet certain if he will be allowed to compete. Addison was disqualified for “flagrant misconduct” in his third-place match against McLee. With McLee up 1-0 in the third period the referees determined that Addison made illegal contact. Crenshaw would only say that Addison was “adamant” that he did not do what the refs said he did. Crenshaw said he plans on appealing if Addison is ruled ineligible for the state tournament.

Crenshaw said the 10 team points Addison recorded on Saturday were taken away as a result of his disqualification, which dropped James Wood from fifth to sixth place in the 14-team tournament. The Colonels’ 98 points were still the most among local schools, as Sherando placed seventh with 86 points, Millbrook placed eighth with 83.5 and Handley took ninth with 75. Fauquier won with 179 points, 12 more than defending champion Liberty (167).

The dark setting for Saturday’s finals — and the smoke sprays after each match was complete — made for a unique environment for spectators on Saturday. If Gordon was still in the situation he was in last year, he would have had a hard time appreciating it.

“It was hard seeing people wrestling,” Gordon said. “I enjoyed watching my team and all, but it was just hard. But it also gave me a drive to get back and work harder.”

Gordon put his all into his rehab. For a long time he focused on running and the weight room. It wasn’t until a month before the wrestling season started that he felt comfortable enough to wrestle.

While Gordon boasts an impressive 35-9 record, he’s said he’s felt frustrated at times in his attempt to get back to being the wrestler who placed fifth in the state as a freshman after previously winning regional and Conference 21 West titles. Gordon said failing to place at the Harrisonburg Invitational on Dec. 8 in the Judges’ second tournament was an eye-opener.

“I wrestled these high-level guys there, and it had been so long since I had seen someone at that level,” Gordon said. “It showed me how much harder I needed to work.”

It took the entire regular season, but Gordon feels he’s now wrestling at the level that he wants to be at.

After losing to Harris last week — Gordon got reversed and put on his back to go from leading 3-2 with 1:45 left to losing 7-3 15 seconds later — Gordon said he didn’t make any adjustments to what Harris was doing. He simply focused on executing his own technique as best he can.

On Saturday, 54 seconds in Gordon got a takedown that he felt set the tone for the match. Still, he was tied 2-2 with Harris until getting the escape he needed with 24 seconds left.

“He was tough on top. I’m not going to lie,” Gordon said. “His hips were moving side to side. I was just trying to work my stand-up to get away. Finally I was able to get hand control and turn in, get my hips away and I was out.”

Handley coach Troy Mezzatesta said it meant a lot to see Gordon win.

“Through the entire year, the process of getting through any doubt in his leg has been a journey to watch,” he said. “To watch kids who work hard, trust the process and get the results they’re due, it’s cool when that translates for them. He put the work in and it paid off.”

Gordon will now try to add to his family’s collection of state championships. Gordon’s cousins are Kristin and Katie Gordon, who starred during the time that Handley went 67-0 in winning three state tennis titles from 2007-09 as a Group AA school in the three-classification system. Kristin won a state doubles title and was a state singles finalist as a senior in 2007.

“After a year off, to accomplish what I have here, mentally it puts me in a better spot for states,” Gordon said. “I just remember my freshman year, how nervous I was before that. Now being a junior, it’s different. I’ve been there before, which is nice.”

In addition to Vitola and possibly Addison, James Wood will send juniors Vince Caruso (113) and Sam Adkins (160), who each took third, and freshman Braden Sitton (106), sophomores Aidan Barton (120) and Chris Nuss (138) and senior Walker Powell (170), who each took fourth, to the state tournament.

The Colonels’ eight potential state qualifiers are three more than they had last year.

“They hit my marks today,” Crenshaw said. “Coming into my head today I had four in my head that I thought was going to be guaranteed spots, and those four made it. The other four all had a chance, and it just depended on how the bracket unfolded and how they decided to wrestle. I think all eight of those guys did everything they could today to make that top four.”

Though Addison had a disappointing finish, Crenshaw gave a lot of credit to the wrestler who won 2-1 in overtime over Charlie Salt of Loudoun Valley in overtime to guarantee himself no lower than fourth and give himself a shot at the state tournament.

“I thought he wrestled very well all day,” Crenshaw said. “Today he gave me everything he had.”

Two James Wood wrestlers did not get a chance to show what they could do on Saturday despite qualifying for the regional tournament.

Junior heavyweight Brayden Patterson-Campbell’s doctor did not clear him to participate because of an eye injury that he initially suffered a couple of weeks ago. Joshua Arce (126) was not allowed to participate for health reasons, which was particularly disappointing for Crenshaw since Arce is a senior.

James Wood will be monitoring some injuries this week. Powell injured himself in practice before the district tournament, so on Saturday the Colonels elected to have Powell default his championship semifinal and third-place matches to limit the potential for aggravating the injury. Nuss also suffered an injury in his last match of the day.

In a rematch against Liberty’s Bryan Contreras in the 132-pound final, Dieter (43-2) won 7-4.

It looked for a split-second like Contreras might score the initial takedown after sending Dieter to the mat 30 seconds in. But Dieter quickly righted himself, and with 21 seconds left in the period, he got a takedown and two near-fall points for a 4-0 lead. Dieter controlled the action from there, building up a 7-2 lead before Contreras got a late takedown.

“I felt like I was able to really move my hands more and be more active on my feet,” said Dieter, whose lone takedown against Contreras last week came with 27 seconds left for the final points in a 4-3 win. “I was more offensive than I was last week, and I think that made a huge difference in our match.

“I think I did very well this weekend, but I think there’s still a lot of improvement I can make with my offense [going into the state tournament].”

In a rematch against Fauquier’s Eric DeWald in the 145-pound final, Rudolph won 8-5. Rudolph took the lead for good after lifting DeWald and dropping him for a 5-4 advantage in the second period. He stretched his advantage to 8-4 before DeWald managed a late escape.

Rudolph was pleased with how he finished things off this week after a rough third period last week. Rudolph led 10-1 after one period against DeWald last week and finished with a 16-7 win after each wrestler scored six points in the third period.

“I think I wrestled him pretty well,” Rudolph said. “I couldn’t get him on his back early. I couldn’t gas out [like last week] I had to wrestle him the entire time and keep up the pace and keep up the intensity and keep getting takedowns from neutral. I was able to do that this time.

“It means a lot [to be regional champion]. It was a goal of mine. I worked a lot in the offseason, and the coaches have helped me peak at the right time.”

Sophomore DaShawn Lee, who took second at 285, and third-place finisher McLee will also go to the state tournament for the Warriors.

In a rematch of last week’s district championship in which Lee was pinned by Liberty’s Willie Phipps with four seconds left in the first period, Phipps took down Lee with five seconds left in the sudden victory-overtime session for a 3-1 win.

Millbrook’s VanAmburg (40-6) shut out Vitola for the second straight week in the finals. After winning 4-0 last week, Vitola scored four points in the final seconds of the first period, then added three more in the second and two in the third.

“This whole tournament, I was more nervous than last week,” said VanAmburg, who pinned his first two opponents on Saturday. “It just meant so much to keep the lead [in the finals], because this tournament mattered more than last week obviously, so I wanted to get this title as well. As soon as I got those quick four points, my nervousness just went away.”

Millbrook will also send juniors Jonathan Ochoa (second at 113) and Daniel Flores (second at 220) and sophomore Jack Winans (third at 182) to the state tournament. In the finals, Ochoa was pinned in 48 seconds by 2018 Class 4 106-pound state champion Jack Creamer of Dominion (40-0 this season), and Woodgrove’s A.J. Bartling took Flores down 26 seconds into sudden victory overtime for a 3-1 win.

Flores’ performance was notable in that he did not make the district finals last week.

“I know what he’s capable of,” Millbrook coach Jeff Holmes said. “It’s just making sure he performs the way he’s capable of. He’s got another opportunity to show what he can do next week.”

In addition to Bishop, Handley will also send seniors Web Bentley (second at 138), Ethan Bishop (third at 152) and Tommy Downey (fourth at 195) to the state tournament.

Bentley — who lost 9-3 to Kettle Run’s Alex Smith in a rematch of last week’s district final that Smith won 10-5 — was the only Judge to qualify for states last year.

“We had a great chance to maybe get all six of our guys in,” Mezzatesta said. “But what the guys did in the offseason with lifting, camps, and clinics, we’re taking more than last year, so that’s great. Hopefully we can keep building on that success.”

The state tournament will take on Friday and Saturday, with the first day of competition being held at Riverside High School in Leesburg before moving to Robinson High School in Fairfax the second day.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1