By Andy States
SMAC Content Manager
It was there for just a second if a person let their mind wander on Tuesday night.
After Huntingtown’s Joey Rice upset La Plata’s Daniel Brannon by a 4-2 count in the night’s 119-pound bout, the visiting Warriors’ lead stood at just 21-15 and, with exactly half of the night’s matches still to be contested, for a brief moment one could envision the possibility of someone knocking La Plata off its Southern Maryland Athletic Conference perch.
La Plata, which in recent years has dominated the conference and, in all reality, the state, looked vulnerable if only briefly. But, still ahead by just six two matches later, the Warriors received a boost from an unexpected source. Nick Romero upset the Hurricanes’ Nick Higgins in a convincing 13-6 decision at 135 to trigger a five-match run that ended with La Plata 44-18 winners over Huntingtown.
“[The 119 match] was a disappointing loss for Daniel and that was one we kind of expect im to win about every time he goes out, and they the same with Higgins,” La Plata coach Todd Sharp said. “[Romero’s win] really took their crowd out of it.
“He’s probably the hardest-working kid in our room. The other guys see it and they see what happens whenever you put that kind of work in.”
“I don’t really know,” Romero said of how he was able to earn the win, “but most of the stuff I’ve done I’ve practiced over and over and it became instinct. I just knew what to do when it happened.”
Following Romero’s win, Chase Ursiti took the 140 match by decision, while Joey Higgs (145) and Brent Mowry (152) won the next two matches by major decision. Nick Houser then ended the night with an exclamation point, pinning Huntingtown’s Mitchell Lowery in the second period of the 160-pound match to cap the night for La Plata (8-0, 6-0).
All in all, Sharp thought it was the best performance of the season for La Plata, which has not lost a regular-season match to a SMAC opponent since the 2003-04 season. Despite the success over the past few years, the Warriors are inexperienced in spots in the lineup, particularly up top. But, as has been the case thus far this year, the team found a way to battle through it, and even picked up a pin courtesy of Jon Boarman in the heavyweight bout.
“We also know that Huntingtown is well-coached. They have a good team and we were ready,” Sharp said. “We were expecting a good match and that’s probably the best, I think, we’ve wrestled yet.
“The whole point is you always want to keep getting better. If you’re not getting better either the guys aren’t working hard enough or the coaches aren’t doing their job. That’s the best we’ve looked so far.”
The match was the only scheduled action of the week for Huntingtown (4-2, 2-2), which competed the past two weekends at the Arundel and South River tournaments.
“A couple guys stepped it up,” Huntingtown coach Terry Green said. “We’re coming off two long weekends and we’ve got to hit it hard. That’s our only match this week. Some guys did. Some guys didn’t.”
Rice’s win over Brannon was a clear highlight, while Markus Jarboe took a 3-2 decision from John Thomas at 130. David Young won by fall at 215 for the Hurricanes, while Peter Athens, who has destroyed everything in his path in the season thus far, won by forfeit at 189.
For Rice, the win over Brannon avenged previous losses dating back to their respective junior league careers.
“Before, Brannon used to beat me in youth league,” Rice said, “so I knew I was going against a good wrestler. I just went out and tried my hardest and I ended up winning.”
Huntingtown is slated to be back in action next Tuesday at Lackey against the Chargers and the North Point Eagles.
The match against Huntingtown in the books, La Plata now prepares for its third trip to the Mount Mat Madness tournament, always one of the toughest tournaments in the state and arguably the most challenging part of the Warriors’ schedule. The tournament will push the younger members of the team to the limit and, hopefully, prepare the team for another run at what it hopes will be another successful postseason down the road.
“It will be a good measuring stick for a lot of our guys,” Sharp said. “A lot of guys will go two-and-out, probably. Still, you go up there and you see that caliber of wrestling and you learn a lot just by watching and you try to emulate what some of the best guys do. It’s a good experience for us any way you look at it, I think. It will be quite a challenge and hopefully we can be respectable.”
La Plata 44, Huntingtown 18
171 Keith (L) 7-0 Russell
189 Athens (H) by forfeit
215 Young (H) pinned Keeves, 2:45
285 Boarman (L) pinned Murphy, 3:59
103 Dull (L) by forfeit
112 Jennings (L) pinned Redding, 3:08
119 Rice (H) 4-2 Brannon
125 Garrow (L) 5-1 George
130 Jarboe (H) 3-2 Thomas
135 Romero (L) 13-6 Higgins
140 Ursiti (L) 8-2 Conto
145 Higgs (L) 12-0 Barcenas
152 Mowry (L) 10-2 Rowe
160 Houser (L) pinned Lowery, 2:51
astates@digitalsports.com
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