Class 4 state wrestling tournament

FAIRFAX — One of Handley’s most decorated wrestlers in its history might have bent a little on Saturday, but he didn’t break.

Handley senior Web Bentley did not achieve his dream of competing in his first state championship match. But he rebounded from his Saturday morning semifinals loss to take third place at 138 pounds for the second straight year at the Class 4 state wrestling tournament on Saturday at Robinson High School.

Bentley was disappointed after being pinned in 2:22 by Great Bridge’s Ty Chittum in 2:22 in Saturday morning’s semifinals.

But a conversation with 2016 Handley graduate Lio Quezada gave him all the motivation he needed to finish the day strong. Quezada — a two-time state champion for the Judges and a former George Mason University wrestler — was at Saturday’s state tournament as an assistant coach with Class 6 Fairfax. The Class 6 and Class 5 tournaments also took place at Robinson.

“He really helped bring me back into it and focus on what I needed to do,” said Bentley, who won his last two matches and finished 4-1 in the tournament. “Getting third in the state is an opportunity not a lot of kids have. I’m just grateful that I’ve had all these opportunities to wrestle in this tournament.”

Bentley was one of seven local wrestlers who earned all-state honors for placing among the top six people in their weight class on Saturday.

Led by 132-pound champion Timmy Dieter (see related story) and sophomore Heath Rudolph (fifth at 145 pounds), Sherando placed 15th out of 47 teams (45 scoring) with 38 points.

Millbrook had junior Jonathan Ochoa place third at 113 pounds and junior Daniel Flores take sixth at 220 to take 16th with 36 points. Handley — which also had junior Mac Gordon take fifth at 126 pounds — tied for 20th with 30 points. James Wood had sophomore Joey Vitola place sixth at 152 pounds and tied for 31st with 22 points.

Great Bridge won with 183 points and defending champion Eastern View was second with 152.

After winning 8-3 in the consolation semifinals, Bentley got a takedown 22 seconds into his third-place match with King George’s Cody Murgas. That turned out to be all he needed. Bentley added an escape at the start of the second period for a 3-0 lead and finished with a 3-1 win.

Bentley finishes with a career record of 156-38, a win total that Judges coach Troy Mezzatesta said ranks in the top three all-time at Handley. Bentley picked up his 100th career pin in late January and now ranks second only to former two-time state champion Jordan Dowrey in career pins at Handley.

“It’s meant the world to me, “ said Bentley of his Handley career. “I’ll miss every second of it when I’m in college. I’ll definitely be thinking back on all these great memories I’ve made with [former head] coach [David] Scott and Coach Mezz, and everyone else that’s helped me and molded me into the wrestler that I am today. It’s been a good 13, 14 years of wrestling.”

Mezzatesta said he was glad to see Bentley respond so well after his semifinal loss and end his career in fitting fashion. The second-year head coach said it will be tough not having him around any more.

“He’s such a team leader,” Mezzatesta said. “The work ethic that he brings, the experience that he brings is outstanding. He’s a smart kid whose GPA is through the roof. It’s been a joy, a pleasure and a privilege to have a kid like him as the new guy coming in. You don’t replace him, but you certainly miss him and cherish him.”

Gordon (39-11) finished up his season with a 5-3 win in the fifth-place match against Riverside’s Nate David. Seniors Ethan Bishop (152) and Tommy Downey (195) were each one win away from earning all-state medals at the tournament.

“We were fighting some of his confidence with the knee throughout the year,” said Mezzatesta of Gordon, who missed almost all of the last season because of injury after placing fifth at 113 pounds at the 2017 state tournament. “To see him wrestling at a high level and get back to the same finish he had as a freshman is a testament to him.”

Millbrook’s Ochoa (46-8) wrestled back to take third after being knocked out by a major decision (13-4) in Friday’s quarterfinals by Great Bridge’s Logan Pierson.

He won his consolation second round match by fall (3:00), his consolation third-round match by decision (8-3), his consolation semifinal match by decision (4-2) and dominated his third-place match against Salem’s Jeremy Muncy with six takedowns in a 16-9 win. Ochoa led 8-3 after two periods and never let his lead dip below five in the third period.

Ochoa said his sixth-place finish at last year’s state tournament gave him confidence and motivation this year.

“I wanted to get higher up [with my place],” Ochoa said. “I pushed myself a little more in practice every day to try and get to the top. Hopefully, I can get a state title next year.”

Millbrook coach Jeff Holmes said Ochoa had an excellent tournament.

“He wrestled fantastic, especially the last two rounds,” Holmes said. “He really stepped it up. We kind of discussed some things after his quarterfinals [loss]. To me, that kid kind of to some extent maybe outwrestled him that match, but there some opportunities we had. We talked about it, and he put some of that stuff we talked about it into use and really put together a solid last half of the tournament, which I was really pleased with.

“I think he deserves to be a high place winner. He puts in the work and wrestles hard, and I’m very pleased.”

Flores (33-17) went 2-0 on Friday to advance to the semifinals, but he did not a win match on Saturday. He was pinned in 52 seconds by Wade Wheeler of Amherst County in the semis and lost 12-0 to Churchland’s Charles Grant in the consolation semifinals. He did not participate in the fifth-place match and was credited with a loss by injury default.

Millbrook sophomore Jack Winans (182 pounds) was one win away from placing at he state tournament.

In a bit of a surprise, Pioneers senior Daniel VanAmburg was the only Pioneer not to win at least two matches. Millbrook’s only regional champion went 1-2 and was knocked out by James Wood’s Vitola by fall in 2:16 in the second round of consolations, this after VanAmburg beat Vitola by a combined 13-0 in district and region finals matches.

“You don’t want it to happen, especially with your captain, someone who’s put everything into the program,” Holmes said. “He just had a rough day. I don’t know if it was the pressure that got to him. Don’t get me wrong, he wrestled good kids and had a tough weight class. But for whatever reason, things didn’t go his way [Friday]. You hate to see it happen, but it does happen. My heart goes out to him, because he’s done so much for the Millbrook program.”

Vitola’s win over VanAmburg wasn’t a shock given that Vitola (28-12) had pinned VanAmburg during the regular season to give him a 1-1 record at the time against him. But after the way the previous two matches went, it was a big turnaround.

“I had nothing to lose,” Vitola said. “I just went in there and I was going to try for anything I could. I was going to keep attacking. I was up 4-0, then he got three points on me. Then we just got into a scramble position and I put him to his back and pinned him.”

Vitola said he felt a lot more comfortable at the state tournament after going 0-2 last year. Though he dropped both of his matches on Saturday (he cut a 6-0 third-period deficit to 7-5 before falling 9-5 to Monacan’s Ethan Carpenter in the fifth-place match) he went 3-3 overall and also earned an 11-3 win over Handley’s Bishop to guarantee himself a spot on the podium.

James Wood coach Cory Crenshaw said he liked what he saw from Vitola, particularly against VanAmburg.

“We approached it a lot different this week,” Crenshaw said. “The last two weekends we let him get extended on us. VanAmburg is long and lanky [compared to Vitola]. We stayed more upper body with him this time, and it kind of startled Daniel a little bit. Daniel didn’t get off to the fast start like he did the previous two weeks.

“Joey’s got goals for himself, and after placing sixth this year hopefully he can be in the semifinals next year and give ourselves a shot at a state final appearance.”

Vitola lost in the quarterfinals on Friday to fall into the consolation bracket. Vitola was the only one of James Wood’s eight wrestlers who managed to win his first round match, and none of the seven that lost could make it back though the consolation bracket to wrestle on Saturday. (James Wood’s 220-pounder, Jonathan Addison, did wind up competing in the tournament on appeal after the Colonels were initially being told he wouldn’t because of what a referee deemed flagrant misconduct on his part at the region tournament.)

The good news for James Wood is that of its eight state qualifiers, only 170-pounder Walker Powell will not be back.

“Getting those guys to come down here and see what it’s actually like and understand the commitment factor is big,” Crenshaw said. “Hopefully next year our guys will have the desire, and we’ll have more placers on the podium like Vitola today.”

On Saturday, Sherando’s Rudolph (45-11) lost his semifinals match 18-5 to Caroline’s James Dosado and dropped his consolation semifinal match to 6-2 to Powhatan’s Colby Cheatham.

But Rudolph ended his day by continuing his dominance over Fauquier’s Eric DeWald to take fifth place with an 11-3 win. (Rudolph beat DeWald in both the district and regional finals.) Rudolph went 3-2 overall this weekend.

“Heath had a good tournament,” said Sherando coach Brian Kibler of the wrestler who qualified for states at 126 pounds last year but did not place. “He beat the kids that we felt like he should have beat. It’s a bitter taste to be in the semifinals and lose one there. But he was out there competing and still firing off shots no matter the situation and trying to do something to win in all his matches today.”

Sherando junior Caleb McLee (220 pounds) and sophomore DeShawn Lee (285) both went 0-2 on Friday.

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