Wrestling: Walters/Copp Tourney

WINCHESTER — It wasn’t a weekend Simon Bishop wishes to repeat, but he wouldn’t change the ending for anything.

The Handley senior avenged his only defeat of the season by pinning 2021 145-pound state champion Noah Hall of Liberty with 54 seconds left in the third period in the 165-pound final on Saturday at the Willie Walters/Jaye Copp Tournament at James Wood High School. The match was scoreless until Bishop set up his pin.

Bishop not only went home with a first place medal, but he also was handed a plaque for being selected as the 15-team tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Not a bad haul for the wrestler who wasn’t entered into the tournament until the day before.

On Friday, Handley drove more than 90 miles to Maryland to Manchester Valley High School, and weighed in and started warming up for a two-day tournament that they were accepted into eight months ago. But there was a mixup with the filing of Handley’s paperwork, and the Judges were not allowed to compete because their paperwork hadn’t been officially sanctioned.

Handley coach Troy Mezzatesta — a 1988 James Wood graduate — made a call to see if his alma mater would let his team into tournament, and the Colonels graciously did so.

“I didn’t think I’d get a rematch this soon,” said Bishop, who injured his shoulder while losing to Hall 11-2 in a dual match at Handley on Dec. 7. “I wasn’t too excited [about changing tournaments] at first. But this feels really great.”

Bishop — who had a forfeit victory and two falls in his first three matches — was one of four local champions. Teammate and junior Nick Baker won at 132 pounds, and James Wood sophomores Colton Bendure (126) and James Battulga (144) remained perfect in their careers at the Walters/Copp Tournament by winning their respective weight classes.

Woodgrove won with 255 points, Liberty took second with 217.5 and George C. Marshall was third with 165.5. James Wood placed fourth with 155, Sherando was seventh with 131 and Handley was eighth with 125. The Warriors sent four of their wrestlers to the Beast of the East in Delaware, including 2022 state champions Keagan Judd and Anthony Lucchiani.

In the first match against Hall, Bishop (18-1) injured his left shoulder in the first 30 seconds of the match. He was able to finish the match, but he wasn’t in good shape and had to sit out of practice for two days. Bishop — who went 5-0 at the Appalachian Duals at Skyline last week — is currently wearing a brace to keep his left shoulder stable.

After a scoreless first period, Bishop said he wrestled cautiously from the bottom position in the second period to protect his shoulder. Bishop was on top for the third, and he felt confident he had an advantage in that situation. About halfway through the period, Bishop set up his pin.

“He had his arm posted kind of behind him, so I saw that, grabbed it, and I put it behind my head and started getting back points there,” Bishop said. “He kind of slipped out of it there so I had to transition to almost a headlock to get the pin.”

Mezzatesta said he wanted to see what a healthier Bishop (third in Class 4 at 160 pounds last year) could do against Hall, and he couldn’t have been happier for him.

“It was great to see him pull it out tonight,” Mezzatesta said. “That was a good redemption win for him.”

Baker — the state runner-up to Lucchiani at 120 last year — improved to 20-0 by winning his first three matches by fall and the 132 final 6-0 over Loudoun County’s Troy Chung.

Baker said he’s hungry to win a state title after being a finalist last year. He’s competed in numerous tournaments since the end of last season, traveling to places like Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia Beach to find the best competition he could find to make himself better.

“I really want to work on my pace in my matches,” Baker said. “Keep the pace up and keep the pressure on them.”

Baker certainly did that in the championship match. He had three takedowns — one in each period — and all of them came within the first 11 seconds of the periods.

“Everything that he’s worked for in the offseason, the motor that he shows is non-stop relentless,” Mezzatesta said. “The pace that he puts out there is rolling for anybody. I’d hate to wrestle against him.”

Handley was also led by senior Logan Westfall (third at 126 pounds), Thomas Thorpe (third at 157) and Hayden Thompson (sixth at 120). Heavyweight wrestler Rodd’ney Davenport did not compete because of his participation in Sunday’s Coaches USA All-Star Series football game at Shenandoah University.

“The young kids are coming around,” Mezzatesta said. “And Logan Westfall had a fantastic finish against a top-quality 126 bracket. For him to finish third shows he put the work in.”

Bendure — who beat Westfall 7-3 in the semifinals — is another wrestler who nearly captured a state title last year, finishing second at 113 pounds. Bendure worked out in Shenandoah University’s RTC program, and also spent time training in the Red Lion Wrestling Club at Handley to elevate himself for the 2022-23 season.

“[SU head coach] Tim McGuire really helped me out with technique,” Bendure said. “This year, I’m more confident and just a lot better wrestler.”

In the 126 final, Bendure (16-0) took on Broad Run junior Bryan Johnson, who placed fifth in Class 4 at 120 last year.

Bendure led 1-0 after two periods on an escape 18 seconds into the second period. A Johnson reversal 10 seconds into the third period made it 2-1. Bendure got an escape 26 seconds later to tie the match.

“What we did all offseason at RTC was knee slides, and I got out [for an escape],” Bendure said.

With the match tied 2-2, Johnson surprised Bendure by saying he was tired at the end of regulation.

“[James Wood has] probably the best conditioning coaches in Coach [Jordan] Hartman, so going into overtime, I was confident,” Bendure said. “I just had to push the pace. I couldn’t slow down.”

Bendure’s strength eventually helped him emerge on top in a scramble with Johnson, and he recorded his pin with 18 seconds left in the first overtime.

“When I got in on the shot, I had to keep driving my feet, which I had a problem with last season,” Bendure said. “I would get in on a shot, then I would stop, and then I would drive my feet. I’ve worked on that, and today I did it more in one motion than two separate parts.”

Bendure’s Walters/Copp championship last year was one of several tourney titles for him. For Battulga, though, last year’s title at 120 would be his last.

Battulga had weighed as much as 137 pounds before getting down to that 120 weight class, and in retrospect he felt like that cutting that much weight prevented him from wrestling his best the remainder of the season. When the postseason rolled around, Battulga had a 13-5 record but was not in James Wood’s starting lineup.

“It’s different from last year for me,” Battulga said. “It’s more technical now, not speed.”

Battulga (15-3) only gave up two points total in his first three matches (two falls, one technical fall) and defeated Loudoun County senior Josiah Smith 6-0 in the final. Battulga recorded a takedown 53 seconds in, two near fall points 26 seconds later, then completed the scoring with a reversal 11 seconds into the third period.

“I outpaced him, and I did some good work on top,” Battulga said.

Crenshaw said this season will definitely be an adjustment for Battulga in moving up a few weight classes, but he can tell he feels better and stronger.

“He’s just going to have to continue to work on his technique like he did today, be very strong in the top position, continue to pressure and continue to attack,” Crenshaw said. “That’s kind of the big factor right now. He’s continuing to wrestle when other kids are not.”

James Wood freshman Max Mooney also advanced to Saturday’s finals, losing a 5-2 decision at 106 to Woodgrove’s Adam Skinner.

The Colonels were also led by Blake Messick (third at 132 pounds), Aiden Henry (third at 150) and Seth Merryman (fourth at 138).

“Aiden had a tough weekend last weekend, so it was good to see him turn things around and have a good day today,” Crenshaw said. “[As a team], we’re going to keep moving, we’re going to keep progressing and hopefully as we get through Christmas break and get into that district regular season there, we’ll see how things start to turn around.”

James Wood only had 10 wrestlers compete on Saturday. The Colonels will have people compete at 175 and 215 going forward, but Jack Thompson’s status at 285 is a question mark because of an injury suffered on Dec. 7.

Sherando had three wrestlers compete in the finals. Senior Peter Richardson lost 9-5 to Broad Run’s Doug Bloodsworth at 157; senior Storm Miller was pinned in 3:07 by Woodgrove’s Camden Owens at 190; and sophomore Judson Dean lost 2-1 to Bishop Ireton’s Joseph Redden at 215.

Richardson took a 5-4 lead 27 seconds into the second period on an escape, but Bloodsworth took him down with 33 seconds left in the period before adding three more points in the third. Dean had an escape at the 1:15 mark of the second period to take a 1-0 lead, but a reversal by Redden with 42 seconds left in the third period served as the winning points.

The Warriors were also led by Jayden Patten (fourth at 144), Zane Jenkins (fifth at 175), Richard Reyes-Guevera (sixth at 132) and Matthias Rivera (sixth at 285).

Sherando went 4-7 in the final placement matches on Saturday (more than one wrestler was allowed per weight class). Three of those wins came in seventh-place matches.

“It was a mixed bag,” Warriors coach Brian Kibler said. “Probably the most disappointing part for this was the way that we ended. In a tournament, you want an odd placing of first, third, fifth and seventh. That’s an area we’ll have to improve on in individual tournaments as we get down to the postseason. But we had some experienced guys here who kind of maybe did what they could do, and some inexperienced guys getting out there and feeling it.”

None of his three finalists recorded a takedown in their championship matches, so Kibler said that’s something else Sherando will need to work on.

“That’s how big matches are won,” Kibler said.

In addition to the Beast wrestlers (Zach Hayes and Brogan Teter also went to Delaware), Sherando was also without two other returning starters in Tyler Koerner and heavyweight Ethan Gonzalez. Kibler said Koerner was held out as a precaution and Gonzalez was at a football combine in Texas.

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