Just three matches into the finals at the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference wrestling tournament on Feb. 22, Leonardtown’s Sean Vosburgh won the 120-pound bracket to become just the eighth four-time SMAC champion.
Later on in the championship round, Huntingtown’s Josh Stokes had the opportunity to increase the exclusive list’s total to nine, but was denied by Chopticon’s Greg Griffith in the 170-pound final.
Stokes was not going to let that happen again at the Class 4A-3A South Region tournament, which was contested at Huntingtown High School on Saturday.
Again squaring off against Griffith in the final at 170, Stokes was able to get the first takedown in the first period and held onto his edge for the duration on the way to a 7-5 decision.
“I wanted revenge. He beat me twice,” said Stokes, who also dropped a one-point decision to Griffith during the regular season. “Those are the only two losses I have on the season. He took my four-time SMAC champ away. I was like, ‘You can’t take my four-time region champ away.’”
Stokes was one of three champions from Huntingtown, the most in the boys tournament of any of the participating schools at the tournament. Saturday night’s action also featured a girls tournament for the first time, which crowned 12 girls as region champions.
In addition to Stokes, Huntingtown’s Jackson Cramer (145 pounds) and Robbie Ireland (152) also reached the top of the podium. Cramer gutted out a tough 10-6 decision against Chesapeake’s Dean Laumann, while Ireland followed with a first-period pin of Northeast’s Caleb Zaruba the following match.
Chopticon boasted a pair of champions, with Trey Kratko taking the 120-pound title and Garry Gorham doing the honors at 195. Kratko won by fall in the third period, pinning Northeast’s Michael Carnes, while Gorham nipped J.M. Bennett’s Troy Gibson by a 3-1 decision.
Gorham, who injured his shoulder in the finals at SMAC the week prior, studied up on his regional final opponent to try to come up with a winning strategy.
“I watched his match earlier to see how he wrestled, to identify the stuff he does,” Gorham said. “I noticed that towards the second period he starts gassing, so if I just kept pressure on him, kept pushing, eventually he should gas and that should give me a better chance to wrestle against him since my shoulder is bum right now. He started breathing heavy. I kept control of my breathing. He shot and I got behind him.”
Rounding out 4A-3A South boys champions from SMAC, North Point’s Kielin Huff pinned Wise’s Caleb Kearney to win the 113-pound title.
“I felt really, really good today,” Huff said just after stepping off the podium. “I was trying to wrestle my hardest, give it all I got.”
Rounding out the boys champions, Chesapeake claimed two crowns with Chase Listorti (126) and Victor Listorti (160) doing the honors, while J.M. Bennett wrestlers also claimed a pair with Micah Reddish (182) and Eric Ward (220) winning their respective brackets.
At 106, Northeast’s Colin Cook came back late to take a tight decision against Northern’s Dylan Montgomery. Bowie’s Dainon Kappes took a highly competitive 16-11 decision from North Point’s Aidan Rivenburg at 132. Laurel’s Derrick Moody won the 138-pound bracket, topping Bowie’s Kiernon Kappes 3-0 in the final, while DuVal’s Elijah Fontem won the heavyweight final by fall.
The girls portion of the tournament featured a total of eight matches — all finals — while four others won regional titles unopposed.
From SMAC, Endyah Monlyn of Great Mills took the 112-pound crown by fall against North Point’s Sofia Gerstman, while fellow Hornet Hazel Honeycutt (117) and Jocelyn Cacek (225) also earned spots atop the podium. Taylor Stone of St. Charles needed 56 seconds to pin Northeast’s Jenna McCloskey to win at 138, while North Point’s LeeAnn Quashie took a 6-5 decision from Northeast’s Lacee Schmidt at 152. The Eagles’ Myra Bowdoin also was the region champion at 164.
Other winners were Magdalena Rivera (100 pounds) and Ogechi Nwughala (122) of Oxon Hill, Krista Kappes (106) of Bowie, Julia Fitzpatrick (127) of Bennett, Akira Granham of C.H. Flowers and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Arrey Mbutamble (200).
Up the road at South River High School in Anne Arundel County on Saturday, the Leonardtown Raiders competed at the 4A-3A East Region tournament, qualifying five boys wrestlers for this week’s state tournament.
Vosburgh (120), Brian Bieshelt (132), Finn Eskeland (145) and Joe Stanalonis (285) all finished as runners-up at South River, while Matthew Oh placed third at 113.
Sara VanRyswick heads to the state girls tournament, taking the region title at 138 with a late first-period pin over River Hill’s Ava Flynn.
The 4A-3A boys and girls state tournaments Thursday through Saturday at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
Twitter: @cfhphilly
