Half point haunts MC mat men

It’s not mathematically possible for it to have been any closer.

The lowest possible margin of difference between any two teams at a team tournament is a half point.

And a half point, no matter how slight, was the only difference between first-place Strasburg and runner-up Madison County at last Saturday’s Bull Run District Tournament at Manassas Park High School.

Strasburg, which trailed Madison by 3.5 points heading into the championship finals, witnessed four of its six finalists wrestle to victory and when the final team tallies were announced, the Rams had emerged as district champions with a total of 192.5 points, a half point ahead of Madison, which finished with 192 points.

Host Manassas Park, which not only won the district tournament a year ago by two points ahead of Strasburg and then went on to claim region and state honors as well, came in third with 172 points.

George Mason (88.5) was next followed by Clarke County (79) and Rappahannock County (23).

Strasburg’s Sean Hall, who won the district title at 119 pounds, was named the district’s “Most Outstanding Wrestler.”

Mountaineer coach Mike Sacra was voted by his peers as the district’s “Coach of the Year.”

The savvy and long-time skipper humbly accepted the award but there was no doubt he would have gladly traded individual accolades for team glory.

“I would have traded it for the win,” he said immediately following the presentation. And, as he reflected on how the tournament played out he said, “It was disappointing that we lost, but it was a great effort by our kids. It was disappointing that their effort went down to a half point difference. We were in a dogfight and in the end we ran out of ammo.”

Madison’s team members, parents and supporters cheered throughout the day when team scores were announced periodically.

With a lead of just 3.5 points, there was very little margin for failure in the championship finals where the Rams had slightly better success than the Mountaineers.

And slightly better turned out to be good enough.

The Rams won four championship matches and the Mountaineers three.

Madison had winners in Jarrett Brumett (135), Tyler Atwell (140) and Brandon Utz (215) who all won by fall.

Strasburg crowned district champions Hall (119), Justin Sager (145), Colin Barnes (160) and Jonathan Wilson (189).
The host Cougars sent the most (8) wrestlers to the finals where four won.

It began with Victor Cruz (103) who was soon followed by Maximo Gonzalez (112) and Juan-Carlos Taveras (125) and finally with Guppy Higginbotham (130).
The Rams and Mountaineers went head-to-head at 140, 145 and 160 pounds. Of those three matches, Madison won with Atwell at 140. Teammates Baxter Helmick (145) lost a physical and close decision to Sager, 6-4, and Anthony Jewett (160), just a freshman, battled Barnes tit-for-tat until the Ram junior caught Jewett out of position and stuck him with just 14 seconds remaining in their match (5:46).

Sacra and members of the team refused to pinpoint where things could have or should have gone differently.

“You can’t blame the kids,” said Sacra. “They maintained their focus. It wasn’t just Anthony losing late in his match. There were several times throughout the day when things didn’t happen for us. You can’t point to just one thing.”

Besides Madison’s, Strasburg’s and Manassas Park’s winners, George Mason crowned two champions and Rappahannock County one.

For the Mustangs, David Ray (152) pinned Madison’s Andrew Riner and Jake Schwind (171) flattened Clarke County’s Teddy Long (2:40).

For the Panthers, heavyweight Jeremy Diley pinned Bobby Jackson of Manassas Park.

For the Mountaineers, Brumett (135), Atwell (140) and Utz (215), all seniors, stood atop the awards podium to receive first-place medals, while teammates Bobby Basta (125), Helmick (145), Riner (152) and Jewett (160) finished as runners-up.

Hunter Welch (112), Dylan Basta (119), Ethan O’Connell (130) and John Heller (171) all came in third and Thang Uk (103), Justin Farry (189) and Jacob Houser (285) finished in fourth.

Here’s how Madison’s individual wrestlers by weight class and name fared and finished at the competition:
• 103 — Thang Uk went 0-2 and came in fourth. His best match came against Strasburgg’s Brady Kibler who he wrestled on even terms until Kibler reversed him and put him on his back for the fall.

• 112 — Hunter Welch, like so many of his teammates, responded to the teamm’s need for pins to keep pace with the hard-charging Rams.

Welch pinned his first opponent but fell by fall to Strasburg’s Bobby Rager, which sent Welch to the consolation rounds where he first stuck Carly Day of Rappahannock and finished the competition with a win by fall over Clarke County’s Johnny Longerbean to finish in third place.

• 119 — Dylan Basta won and lost by fall. In his first match eventual champion Sean Hall stuck him at 2:42 but in the consolation rounds Basta picked up huge team points by first pining Jordan OO’Hara of Clarke County and then Jackson Thomas of George Mason to place third.

• 125 — older brother Bobby advanced to the championship bout only to lose to Taveras by decision, 8-2. After a first-round bye, Basta pinned Peter Levi of Clarke County to make it to the finals where his loss left him as a runner-up. 

• 130 — Ethan OO’Connell, despite a 5-0 district dual record earlier in the season, faced eventual champion Higginbotham in a critical first-round bout. Tied 8-8 late in the third period, Higginbotham caught O’Connell out of position for a four-point maneuver that lifted the Cougar to victory by decision.

Like his teammates before and after him, the Mountaineer sophomore picked up wins by fall in the consolation rounds first by sticking Alborz Alaeddini of George Mason and then Kostya Donner of Clarke County to finish in third.

• 135 — Jarrett Brumett entered the competition with a team-best season record of 47-2. Second only to Atwell for most career victories, but first on the list of all-time wins by fall, 117, Brumett added more laurels to his resume. 

He stuck Manassas Park’s Bradley Smith and then Clarke County’s Tommy Cleary in the finals to give the Mountaineer senior 148 career victories of which 119 are by fall.

Brumett was the first of three Mountaineers to go on to claim district championships.

• 140 — Tyler Atwell knew that his team needed wins by pins and, like his teammates, made sure he did his part. 

The school’s all-time leader in wins (162) pinned Nathan Lailari of George Mason and Strasburg’s adversary Darren Neff in the finals.
A state runner-up a year ago at 135 pounds, Atwell is currently the No. 1 ranked wrestler in his weight class in Group A competition.

• 145 — Baxter Helmick brought his impressive 45-3 season record to the tournament and a reputation among his teammates for delivering a stinging cross-face. 

Though he lost to Sager of Strasburg in the finals, Helmick used his cross-face against the Ram on several occasions in the lost by decision, 6-4.
  When he was asked if Sager got a good taste of the cross-face Helmick smiled and said, “I think he underestimated me.”

  Helmick earned the right to wage war with Sager after pinning Clarke County’s Matt Thompson and then winning by decision, 9-2, against Isaac Velasquez of Manassas Park.

• 152 — Andrew Riner accepted a first-round bye and then dispatched Tyler Armor of Rappahannock County to face George Masonn’s David Ray in the finals.
The Mustang is ranked No. 1 in Group A for a reason.

A rare unbeaten at this point in the season, Ray easily maneuvered Riner to his back and secured the fall at 3:05.

• 160 — Anthony Jewett pinned his way into the finals to face highly regarded Colin Barnes. 

But if the Ram thought that Jewett would be easily subdued, he was mistaken.

The Mountaineer freshman battled Barnes on nearly even terms, trailing 11-8, when he made a fatal mistake. Catching him out of position, Barnes wrapped Jewett’s head and took him to his back in a vise-like headlock that forced Jewett to capitulate at the 5:46 mark.

But Jewett, a first-place winner a week ago at Covington, picked up valuable team points when he first pinned Kyle Cauble of Manassas Park and then Rappahannock County’s Zach Callas to set up the showdown with Barnes.

• 171 — John Heller dropped a first-round match to Clarke Countyy’s Teddy Long who won by decision, 5-1. In the consolation rounds Heller, who celebrated his birthday at the tournament, gave himself and his teammates a birthday gift when he pinned Strasburg’s Koby Bly and then Manassas Park’s Brandon Watkins to finish in third.

• 189 — With Heller making weight at 171 pounds, Justin Farry was Madisonn’s man at 189 but the freshman simply did not match up well against his competition. After a first-round bye, the Mountaineer freshman met eventual champion, Jonathan Wilson of Strasburg, in his next match.
The extremely muscular Ram made short work of Farry winning by fall at 0:52.

In the consolations Farry lost by technical fall, 17-2, to Manassas Park’s Kenny Moore, which left Farry in fourth place.

• 215 — Brandon Utz was the last of three Mountaineers to win in the championship finals. Though his opponent, Cody Weaver if Manassas Park, managed to stay out of range of Utz’s headlock and throw maneuver, the Mountaineer senior knew just how much his team needed a win by fall.

After a scoreless first period where Utz routinely catches up with an opponent, he scored a set of three back points in the second period and led 3-0 at the start of the third.

Utz was methodical. He wrestled patiently and finally figured out a way to turn the Cougar to his back. With just 23 seconds remaining in their match, Utz finally forced Weaver into submission and the Madison faithful went wild.

Utz, who entered the tournament with a season record of 42-5, pinned George Mason’s Sam Dittmer to advance to the finals.

• 285 — Jacob Houser finished in fourth but did not compete in any matches during the tournament. 

Up next for Madison and its district adversaries is this weekend’s Region B Tournament at Cumberland High School where the top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the following weekend’s Group A state tournament in Salem.