Wrestling - Andrew Kenney Memorial Classic

December 2, 2010

By Robert Niedzwiecki
The Winchester Star       

STEPHENS CITY- The Millbrook High School wrestling team didn't waste any time showing it means business.

The Pioneers were the only team to go unbeaten at the Andrew Kenney Memorial Classic Wednesday at Sherando High School, posting a 4-0 record in impressive fashion.

Millbrook lost just three contested individual matches in its first three team matches, then finished the evening with a 35-31 victory over Brentsville, which was the only other undefeated team heading into the final round of the eight-team tournament.

That dual was tied heading into the final match, but Billy Wisman's 17-4 win at 171 pounds proved to be the difference.

"Our hard work in the room is really showing itself on the mat," Millbrook's 189-pound junior Joe Jessen said moments before the Pioneers faced Brentsville. "You can really start to see our team separate from the pack a little bit."

Fellow Northwestern District schools Sherando and James Wood each went 2-2, and Handley went 1-3.

With the four Northwestern schools each wrestling one match against the same four teams - Brentsville (3-1), Broadway (3-1), Liberty (1-3) and Spotswood (0-4) - Millbrook showed in the third round that it's a little further along than its competition.

Broadway opened with wins over Sherando (34-33) and James Wood (37-33), but the Gobblers never threatened the Pioneers in the third round. Millbrook raced to a 19-0 lead with wins in its first four matches. In that stretch, they won quickly (Wisman and Jordan Wampler at heavyweight won by with first-period pins). They won comfortably (Jessen won by major decision). And they won with grit - DeAndre Johnson scored a takedown to send his match at 215 pounds into overtime, then won 5-3 with another takedown 15 seconds into the extra session.

Broadway closed to within 19-10, but three pins and a technical fall over the remaining eight matches helped the Pioneers cruise to a convincing 48-19 win.

"I think all of our wrestlers wrestled really well," said Millbrook coach John Borst, whose team beat Liberty 79-0 and Spotswood 75-6. "The freshmen that we had in our lineup really stepped up.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get to wrestle as many matches as we'd like because some teams had forfeits, but overall I'm very pleased with how we wrestled."

The Pioneers showed their depth as well. Millbrook, which has a logjam of wrestlers in the middle weights and is playing with its lineup, still performed at a high level even though the Pioneers elected not to use senior John Sharp (sixth in Group AA at 160 pounds last year).

Jessen was impressed with some of the newcomers.

"We had a couple of former JV wrestlers step up, and that just stems from the hard work they put out - they believe they're the best too," he said.

The Pioneers had seven wrestlers go 4-0 - Luke Anderson (125), Warren Ramirez (130), Kyle Barnett (140), Brandon Seal (145), Carter Barnett (160), Wisman and Jessen.

Both James Wood's and Sherando's coaches were lamenting their close losses to Broadway, and they hoped that Wednesday will serve as a good stepping stone for their squads.

"We need a lot of work," said Walker, whose team beat Spotswood (72-12) and Liberty (55-30) and also lost to Brentsville (47-20). "[Broadway] shouldn't have come to down to the final [individual] match. We should have been ahead in the match.

"We made a lot of mental mistakes, a lot of technical mistakes, and we've just got a lot of work to do."

The Colonels were led by Taylor Swartz (4-0 at 103), Cody Landis (4-0 at 130), Jeremiah Cox (4-0 at 140), Mark Bean (4-0 at 215) and Chris Ewing (3-1 at 145).

Sherando coach Pepper Martin said the biggest positive was that he was able to get 20 wrestlers at least two matches apiece.

"It's quite obvious that we are young and inexperienced," said Martin, whose team beat Liberty (51-18) and Spotswood (66-12) and lost to Brentsville (59-12). "The kids wrestled hard. But our experienced guys were a little bit sloppy, and the inexperienced guys seemed to have forgotten everything we've drilled and taught so far.

"It was just good to get in four non-district matches."

The Warriors were led by Brandon Fletcher (4-0 at 125), Dan Mullaney (3-0 at 130), Gabe Mead (3-0 at 152) and John Reel (3-1 at 140).

Handley was led by Tom Delaney (4-0 at 145). The Judges beat Spotswood (47-42) and lost to Brentsville (66-11), Liberty (46-36) and Broadway (52-24).

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