Wrestling: 4A/3A South tournament

By Andy States
SMAC Content Manager

The questions have been there at the start of every season. Just who is going to replace the graduated starters on La Plata’s wrestling team?

On Saturday at Eleanor Roosevelt in the 4A/3A South tournament, this year’s group definitively answered that question again. Five Warriors earned individual championships — including four first-time regional champs — placed in 12 of 14 weight classes and rolled to a sixth consecutive 4A/3A South tournament title.

The Warriors, on the strength of championships courtesy of Mike Garrow (119 pounds), Johnny Thomas (125), Nick Romero (135), Nick Houser (160) and Alex Ingagliato (215), accumulated 218.5 points to more than double-up runner-up Huntingtown. Oxon Hill came in third, Leonardtown fourth and Chopticon fifth.

“It was special,” La Plata coach Todd Sharp said. “Beginning of the year we talked about the dark horses nobody knew about. Sure enough here’s Nick Houser winning a regional title. Mitchell Keith took third, Joey Higgs — there’s three guys nobody knew much about.”

Garrow earned the first title of the night for the Warriors with a 16-1 technical fall over Huntingtown’s Joey Rice at 119. Rice upset Northern’s Quentin Leadbeter — the SMAC champion who brought an unbeaten record to regionals — in the semifinals.

“When [Rice] got that upset on Leadbeter I was pretty shocked,” said Garrow, who lost to Leadbeter by a point in the SMAC final a week earlier. “When I went into the match [against Rice] I basically knew — I’m pretty good on my feet — I knew I could dominate on my feet.”

Garrow’s win triggered the Warriors’ impressive finals run. Thomas came through with a 7-2, triple-overtime win over Roosevelt’s Mark Inda at 125. Romero took a 10-2 decision from Roosevelt’s Donovan Daniel at 135. Houser squeaked out a 7-6 win over Bowie’s KeyShaun Ward at 160, and Ingagliato held off Chopticon’s Brock Morris for a 10-8 win at 215.

“No one expected this team to get this far,” said Houser. “Just to prove them wrong is the best feeling in the world.”

In a repeat of the SMAC finals at 103, Northern’s Eric Stubblefield topped La Plata’s Dylan Dull 7-4. In other rematches from SMAC, Leonardtown’s Brian Samuels again bested Huntingtown’s Markus Jarboe at 130, this time by a 7-4 count.

At 145, Leonardtown’s B.J. Frederick reversed the outcome of his SMAC final with Chopticon’s Vincent Shontere. Shontere defeated Frederick in the SMAC final, but on Saturday Frederick came through with a third-period pin.

Northern’s Jeff Williams, who defeated La Plata’s Brent Mowry on a buzzer-beating takedown for an 8-7 win at SMAC, defeated his La Plata counterpart for the second consecutive week. Williams held off Mowry’s comeback attempt for an 8-6 win.

Chopticon earned a pair of titles, with 140-pound Stephen Cannon taking an 8-2 decision from Oxon Hill’s Andre Wilcox. Later, Alec Pence slipped past C.H. Flowers Zane McBride by a 6-5 score in the 171-pound final.

Laurel’s Toby Onyekweili defeated Westlake’s Raheem Williams by 14-4 major decision in the final at 112. Westlake earned its lone championship of the night thanks to sophomore Kian Magruder, who entered the tournament with a 10-8 record. Magruder defeated top-seeded Durrell Thomas of Parkdale 14-12 in an overtime semifinal encounter, and then outlasted Leonardtown’s Alan Payne 13-12 in the 189-pound final.

Defending state champion Nigel Cross, of Oxon Hill, ran his season record to 28-0 with another regional championship at heavyweight. Cross pinned all three of his opponents, and finished his tournament work with a third-period pin of Flowers’ Isaiah Shelton.

While Cross is the region’s only defending state champion, individually, La Plata is the defending 4A/3A state tournament champion. And, with 11 wrestlers qualified for next weekend’s state tournament at Cole Field House, the Warriors figure to again be in the mix.

“Hopefully we’ll make a run for it,” Sharp said. “We’ll see what happens, but it’s going to be a total team effort again next week. It’s a three- or four-team race.

“It’s going to be who shows up. It’s going to be a fun tournament, I think. It’s certainly not going to be anybody running away with it. It’s going to take a total team effort. Hopefully we’ll place as many guys as we can and we’ll see what happens.”

Team scores: La Plata 218.5, Huntingtown 101, Oxon Hill 93, Leonardtown 92.5, Chopticon 92, Eleanor Roosevelt 82.5, Westlake 75, Northern 61, C.H. Flowers 56, Bowie 50, Parkdale 48, Great Mills 45, Lackey 28, DuVal 24, Laurel 23, Crossland 17, Bladensburg 12, Friendly 11, High Point 8, Northwestern 4

Championship finals
103 Stubblefield (Nor) 7-4 Dull (LP) (Click HERE for match highlights)

112 Onyekweli (Lau) 14-4 Williams (Wl) (Click HERE for match highlights)

119 Garrow (LP) 16-1 Rice (Hun) (Click HERE for match highlights)

125 Thomas (LP) 7-2 Inda (ER) OT (Click HERE for match highlights)

130 Samuels (Lt) 7-4 Jarboe (Hun) (Click HERE for match highlights)

135 Romero (LP) 10-2 Daniel (ER) (Click HERE for match highlights)

140 Cannon (Ch) 8-2 Wilcox (OH) (Click HERE for match highlights)

145 Frederick (Lt) pinned Shontere (Ch), 5:30 (Click HERE for match highlights)

152 Williams (Nor) 8-6 Mowry (LP) (Click HERE for match highlights)

160 Houser (LP) 7-6 Ward (Bow) (Click HERE for match highlights)

171 Pence (Ch) 6-5 McBride (CHF) (Click HERE for match highlights)

189 Magruder (Wl) 13-12 Payne (Lt) (Click HERE for match highlights)

215 Ingagliato (LP) 10-8 Morris (Ch) (Click HERE for match highlights)

285 Cross (OH) pinned Shelton (CHF), 5:31 (Click HERE for match highlights)

Consolation finals
103 Onyekweli (ER) pinned Truitt (Lt), 2:37
112 Brannon (LP) 2-0 Solomon (OH) OT
119 Leadbeter (Nor) 4-0 Fagbemi (CHF)
125 George (Hun) pinned Messick (Ch), 3:48
130 Jackson (ER) 7-2 Rutledge (Wl)
135 Arias (Bla) 4-2 Bose (Lt)
140 Ursiti (LP) 4-2 Cherry (Bow)
145 Murphy (OH) pinned Higgs (LP), 2:07
152 Rowe (Hun) 3-1 Monda (GM)
160 Butler (HEL) pinned Tshikaya (Pkd), 4:13
171 Lawrence (Wl) 7-5 Bogdan (GM) OT
189 Keith (LP) 4-2 Langley (HEL)
215 Parson (OH) 5-3 Young (Hun)
285 Alexander (Cro) pinned Layeni (Duv), 2:03

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