Since he was a freshman at Sherando High School, Anthony Lucchiani set out to be in the history books. On Saturday, that manifestation became reality.
Lucchiani was one of two area wrestlers, alongside James Wood’s Hayden Black, to win a state title at Saturday’s Class 4 state wrestling tournament held at Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach.
With his performance, Lucchiani won his fourth state championship in four years to break the Sherando record for most state wrestling titles — John Borst (2015-17 high school titles) and Keagan Judd (2020, 2022-23) were previously tied with Lucchiani with three each. Lucchiani also became the first wrestler in Frederick County/Winchester to be a four-time state champion.
In a phone interview Sunday, Lucchiani was still processing his historic career at Sherando, where he went 187-14 with 119 pins and was a four-time district and regional champion.
“It’s kind of a surreal feeling,” Lucchiani said. “I haven’t really grasped the concept of it yet. I’m still kind of in shock right now, but I mean, I’m just grateful. That’s all I can really say. I’m grateful for my teammates, my family and friends and my coaches. They’re the only reason why I’m at this point where I am.”
Lucchiani defeated Woodgrove’s Camden Murray by major decision (10-1) in the first-place match. The George Mason commit started with a takedown 14 seconds into the first period and entered the second period up 3-1, with Murray earning his lone point on an escape with 1:22 left in the first. Lucchiani then earned four points in the second period with an escape and a takedown and finished the match off with another takedown early in the third.
Lucchiani had never gone up against Murray before Saturday but knew he had the upper hand once he got on the mat.
“I figured him out real easy into the first period,” Lucchiani said. “… I knew exactly what he was doing. He couldn’t touch me. I mean, he couldn’t touch my legs. There was no point in the match where he was able to even get close to scoring on me. I just did all the right things, stayed in a good position, and I used my moves, and they all worked.”
Sherando coach Brian Kibler said Lucchiani will go down as one of the greatest athletes Sherando has ever seen.
“It’s quite an accomplishment by him,” Kibler said. “It takes not only the talent to be able to do that, but even a little bit of luck when it comes down to injuries and things that nature. Being able to stay durable throughout four years is quite an accomplishment. He’s going to rank really, really high in a lot of statistical categories in the history of Sherando High School.”
After cementing himself in the Sherando record books, Lucchiani waved his hands in the air, did a backflip and flexed to the crowd. That celebration came after some Woodgrove fans were booing him during the first-place bout.
“Woodgrove’s crowd was getting real chirpy with me, and I was kind of egging it on and giving it right back,” Lucchiani said. “I love those kinds of things. I love when it gets a little bit chaotic. I love when tensions get high and emotions run deep. That’s what I’m built for, and I strive in those moments.”
James Wood finished in sixth place in the tournament with 85.5 points. Sherando placed seventh with 82 points, Millbrook tied for 12th place with 60.5 points and Handley finished in 18th place with 38 points. Woodgrove took first place, finishing with 209 points.
Lucchiani won his first match against Atlee’s Reece Leggett by fall (1:05). He then defeated Manor’s Rodney Vaughan by technical fall (19-1) in under three minutes to make it to the semifinals, where he took down Hanover’s Benjamin Owens by technical fall (23-3) to go to the first-place match.
Due to weather last month, Saturday’s tournament was rescheduled from its original two-day format. That didn’t stop Lucchiani from accomplishing what he set out to do four years ago.
“I was just really getting to my shots, wrestling well [and] doing the right things,” Lucchiani said. “It was a little different, obviously, [because] it was a one-day tournament, and I’m really used to those two days. But I didn’t let that stop me from doing what I do.”
After placing third at last year’s state tournament, Wood’s Black earned his first state title at 106 pounds, defeating Blacksburg’s Takoda Parker by major decision (16-3). He started the match with a takedown 23 seconds into the first period and got another with 57 seconds left in the period to take a 6-2 lead heading into the second.
Black then started the second period with an escape and followed that with two takedowns, entering the final two minutes with a 13-3 lead. He tacked on another takedown 27 seconds into the third period.
“I was really just looking to score,” Black said. “Once I got the first takedown pretty early, I just kind of got on a roll and kept getting more.”
Black started the day off with a medical-forfeit victory and followed it up with first-period pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
James Wood coach Cory Crenshaw was proud of Black, who finished his sophomore campaign with a near-flawless 49-1 record.
“He’s matured into his body a little bit more [this season],” Crenshaw said. “He’s a solid 106-pounder, and he’s been there all year. He’s had a lot of success this season. [He] finished out the year with only one loss on [his] record. It’s just something for him to keep looking at, and hopefully, next year, we’re going to put ourselves in a very similar position and hope to repeat.”
Wood’s other All-State wrestlers (top six finishers) alongside Black were Max Mooney (third at 132 pounds) and Jesse Woodson (fifth at 157). All 10 wrestlers the Colonels brought to Virginia Beach scored points.
Orion Cox, who won the Region 4D title at 215 pounds, had to medically forfeit in the quarterfinals of Saturday’s tournament.
“It’s very unfortunate as a senior for that to happen,” Crenshaw said of Cox. “But these are young kids, and as the big picture goes, what [does] the future hold for him? Hopefully he looks upon the experiences that he had and looks forward to the next step in his life.”
Sherando had three other All-State wrestlers in Carter Straight (fourth at 144), Jason Foster (fourth at 190) and Ben Taylor (fifth at 175).
Although he would’ve liked to see some higher placements at some weight classes, Kibler thought his team met expectations for the most part, especially considering the two-week gap between regionals and Saturday’s state tournament.
“Anytime you’re at that level of competition, those things are going to happen, no matter who they are,” Kibler said. “I’ll tell you, with such a long layoff between only wrestling one time in February and a lot of practice, I never really knew what we were going to get, but I think what we got was actually what we were [throughout the season].”
Millbrook had three of its four state qualifiers reach the semifinals, with Will Potter (190) and Ezra Doyle-Naegeli (285) finishing second in their respective weight classes.
Potter lost to Orange County’s Dominic Turner by decision (4-3) in the first-place bout. After giving up an early takedown in the first period, Potter tied the match at 3-3 entering period 3. But Turner quickly earned an escape point from the bottom position to start the third and held on for the rest of the match.
“I know Potter probably is a little disappointed,” Millbrook coach Jeff Holmes said. “I mean, we did have the expectation or the hope that he could come away with a title, but he wrestled tough. It’s one of those things where the state tournaments [is] a whole new ball game.”
Doyle-Naegeli, one of two seniors on the Pioneers’ roster, lost to Heritage’s Kyle Desantos by technical fall (20-1) in the first-place match.
Although the final match of Doyle-Naegeli’s career at Millbrook didn’t go as Holmes hoped, he said Doyle-Naegeli was a leader of the Pioneers’ program.
“He understands what the sport of wrestling means,” Holmes said. “He was a leader, and he’s going to be missed. I mean, he has a way [with] people gravitating to him. He was a hard-working kid, and he put a lot of time into the sport.”
Millbrook’s Tyler Kinsey (fourth at 165) also earned a spot on the podium for the Pioneers.
Handley’s James Battulga (157 pounds) finished second in his weight class to lead the Judges.
Handley coach Troy Mezzatesta thought Battulga wrestled “pretty dominantly” throughout the day before falling to Loudoun County’s Justin Lowery by technical fall in the championship bout.
Mezzatesta said Battulga, who had been battling a shoulder injury for the past month and a half, tweaked his shoulder in the match against Lowery.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Mezzatesta said. “We went for it. You could tell we were really wearing him down. We just probably tweaked our shoulder and ran out of gas ourselves a little, so it didn’t go our way, but he certainly went for it.”
Handley’s Hayden Thompson (144) was the Judges’ other All-State wrestler, placing fifth. Mezzatesta said Thompson is Handley’s first four-time state medalist.
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