Wood wrestling pins Handley in final match to defeat Judges

WINCHESTER — Whether they liked it or not, it all came down to Ezekiel Diaz and Isaac Bond.

With James Wood trailing Handley 34-33, Diaz and Bond’s 190-pound bout to conclude Wednesday’s wrestling dual at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium ended up being the deciding factor between a win and loss for both teams.

And with 20 seconds left in the second period, Bond got the upper hand and pinned Diaz to give James Wood the 39-34 win over the Judges for a Class 4 Northwestern District victory.

The Colonels improved to 3-0, It was the first dual loss of the season for the Judges, who are now 10-1.

Bond, a junior, didn’t necessarily want the spotlight in that do-or-die moment.

“I was very nervous that it came down to me,” Bond said.

But after securing three points on a takedown earlier in the period, Bond ultimately got on top of Diaz and pinned him to give his team the cross-town win.

“When I pinned him to his back, I was very excited and happy,” Bond said.

James Wood coach Cory Crenshaw said there were a lot of matches that could have gone either way on Wednesday, including Bond’s.

“That's one of those matches that it can go either way,” Crenshaw said. “We were fortunate enough to get on top, and I think maybe if we were not on top, that would have been a little bit different scenario.”

Crenshaw was glad to see Bond not let the bright lights affect his performance on the mat.

“As an individual, you may not want to be in that [position that] this is coming down to you, but he was able to step up to the plate,” Crenshaw said. “When he got on top, he was able to get the guy flat, get to his wrist ride, and get the pressure on top. That's the biggest thing. Once he got that pressure, it changes the outcome of the way that the whole instance is going to wrestle there. So, he did a good job with what we've been getting him to work on, and he was able to put something together right there.”

Diaz and Bond’s match came after a back-and-forth contest in which Wood led 27-15 after trailing 6-0 to start the dual.

Owen Jett (215 pounds) started things off for Handley with a pin 18 seconds into the second period to give the Judges a quick 6-0 lead.

After a pin by James Wood’s Orion Cox (285) in the first period (0:57) and a Handley forfeit against Hayden Black (106), the Colonels took a 12-6 lead.

Handley's Alex Sardelis (113) then defeated Kaiden Tidwell by major decision to bring the Judges' deficit to two points. After a sudden victory by Wood's Isaiah Hodel (120), the Colonels had a 15-10 lead. That lead was short-lived, as Handley's Jace Culotta (126) defeated Cash Keeler 18-0 by technical fall, tying the match at 15 apiece.

Wood proceeded to score 12 straight points off pins by Max Mooney (132) in the first period of his match and Seth Merryman (138) in the first period (1:00) of his match.

Trailing 27-21, Handley turned to Carson Otto (150) to take on Austin Noble.

It took until the ultimate tiebreaker overtime, but Otto won by decision after taking down Noble with a few seconds left on the clock. Otto’s victory brought the Judges within three points down 27-24.

Handley senior James Battulga (157) pinned Sean Hodel with 1:20 left in the second period to give the Judges a 30-27 lead — Handley’s first lead since the opening match.

It took just over a minute for Wood to snatch the lead back, as Aiden Henry (165) pinned Ramon Rodriguez with 56 seconds left in the first period to give the Colonels a 33-30 advantage.

Thomas Thorpe (175) then defeated Blake Tidwell by a 13-5 major decision to give Handley a slim 34-33 lead before Bond answered the bell in the final match.

“We were dedicated,” Bond said. “Dedicated to get the win. Dedicated to come out on top. [We] wrestled strong and stayed focused.”

Crenshaw, who is in his ninth season at the helm of the Colonels’ program, still believes his team has plenty of room to improve.

“We're going through a lot of growing pains,” Crenshaw said. “We only lost one kid from last year's roster, but we're still kind of in that young mindset that we're trying to grow into and trying to get these younger guys to buy into the program and understand what we're trying to get them to accomplish. Some of the older guys are understanding that, ‘Hey, we're just not in the mindset that we need to be right now,’ and hopefully that'll change things.”

Handley coach Troy Mezzatesta agreed with Crenshaw that Wednesday’s match came down to a few close matches that could have been flipped either way.

“If we don't get pinned in a couple places, then we win by one or two,” Mezzatesta said. “And that's the way it goes sometimes. It's a cross-town rival. I wrestled for James Wood back in the day myself, so I know it was always amped up."

Battulga transferred to Handley this year from James Wood and faced the Colonels for the first time.

"For James, it was a big match because he's going against his old team,” Mezzatesta said. “People want to play it up, but at the end of the day, it's just handling James Wood. Same as it's always been.”

Handley and Wood will be back in action for a tournament at Loudoun County on Saturday.

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