MC beats state mat champ

Manassas Park and Strasburg are the benchmarks by which other Group A wrestling teams measure their success.

Far too often, each provides a reality check for the opposition.

But every now and then, the team on the receiving end of the reality check becomes the giver, which is the role Madison County’s mat men found themselves in at Saturday’s Bull Run District Duals hosted by Strasburg.

Madison defeated defending Bull Run District, Region B and Group A state champion Manassas Park, 47-30, before facing Strasburg in the tournament’s finale.

The Rams survived the Mountaineer scare and prevailed in the end, 39-36.

Madison Coach Mike Sacra could only speculate what the outcome might have been had the team not been forced to forfeit matches in three weight classes.

“You can’t give up 18 points to a good team,” he said, “but I’m pleased with how we did. I think as a team we’ve turned the corner.”

Madison and Strasburg each compiled 4-0 records to set up the finale. The Mountaineers opened the competition with a win over Clarke County, 46-27, then trounced Rappahannock County, 72-6, before defeating the defending champions, 47-30, and then had a final tune-up against George Mason with an easy, 52-18 win over the Mustangs before facing the Rams.

Here’s how the action unfolded, round-by-round:

Madison 46, Clarke County 27 — Action began at 103 pounds and the Eagles’ Ben Genda claimed the forfeit. Teammate Jesse Farmer (112) won by technical fall over Hunter Welch and Mike Finniff (119) pinned Dylan Basta to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead, which soon evaporated.

The Mountaineers reeled off seven straight wins beginning with Bobby Basta (125) who won by fall over Peter Levi. Ethan O’Connell (130) followed suit with a win by fall over Kostya Donner, as did Jarrett Brumett (135) who pinned Tommy Cleary.

Tyler Atwell (145) won by major decision, 15-5, over Matt DeHaven and then Baxter Helmick (145) pinned Joe Nappi, Andrew Riner (152) stuck Sam Betz and Anthony Jewett (160) pinned Mason Thompson to give Madison a 40-17 advantage.

Clarke County’s Teddy Long (171) interrupted the Madison streak when he won my major decision, 14-4, against Justin Farry. His teammate, Logan Large, claimed the forfeit at 189 pounds but Madison’s vaunted 215-pound wrestler, Brandon Utz, flattened Hayden Arrington at 1:53.
There was a double forfeit at 285 pounds.

Madison 72, Rappahannock 6 — Pantherss’ first-year head Coach Jamie Harris, an alumnus of Northwood High School, fielded a depleted lineup with five of his wrestlers missing in action.

“We’re the walking wounded,” he said.

The condition showed up in the final tally.

Madison claimed points from seven forfeited matches, with a double forfeit at 103 and a Madison forfeit at 285, which left just five head-to-head matches with the Mountaineers making it a clean sweep.

Welch (112) finished off Carly Day (4:49), Atwell (140) pinned Julius Lucas (2:43), Helmick (145) dispatched Malcolm Perry (1:01), Riner (152) stuck Zach Collins (1:03) and Farry (171) corralled Cody Newcamp (2:24).

The Panthers’ points came when Group A’s No. 3 ranked heavyweight Jeremy Diley claimed the forfeit.

Madison 47, Manassas Park 30 — Action began at 112 and Welch won by fall over Lance Cadle. Parth Mertha (119) and Dylan Basta went into sudden victory where Mertha scored a takedown to win, 4-2.

After Bobby Basta (125) claimed a forfeit, O’Connell (130) pinned Austin Hall (1:35) and Brumett (135) stuck Brad Smith (2:53). Brandon Tharp accepted a forfeit at 140, which enabled Atwell to wrestle up at 145 where he executed his signature fireman’s carry maneuver to perfection en route to his win by technical fall at 5:28 over Isaac Velasquez.

Helmick moved up as well and at 152 pounds broke open a tightly contested match when he executed a Peterson maneuver and took Tyler Wagner to his back and secured the fall at 4:36 to make the score 41-9 in favor of the Mountaineers.

Manassas Park’s Rob Howe (160) ignited the Cougars with a win by fall (1:23) against Jewett.

The highest scoring match took place at 171 pounds where Manassas Park’s Brandon Watkins had the advantage in the end over Farry, 16-13.

In between the Madison forfeits to Manassas Park at 189 and 285 pounds, Utz (215) needed only 0:34 to pin Cody Weaver.

Manassas Park’s Victor Cruz (103) claimed the Madison forfeit to end the match.

Defeating the defending champions is something Sacra could put into perspective.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten them,” he said. “It’s always nice to beat the defending state champions. It gives us some validity and gives us some confidence. At the beginning of the year I didn’t think we were a good dual team but we’re turning into one. We’re finding ways to win.”
The winning ways continued into the next round.

Madison 52, George Mason 18 — The Mustangs had forfeits in five weight classes, the Mountaineers in one, and there were two double forfeits, which left six contested matches. Of those, Madison won four and George Mason two.

Action began at 119 pounds and Dylan Basta hammered a win by major decision, 9-0, against Jackson Thomas.

Older brother Bobby (125) pinned Benson Ting (3:09), O’Connell (130) dispatched Alvorz Alaedini in 0:49, and Welch (112) stuck Danny Seidita (2:26).
For George Mason, David Ray (152) pinned Riner and Jacob Schwind (171) flattened Farry in 0:22.

Strasburg 39, Madison 36 — Unlike their first encounter a week ago when the Rams won in more convincing fashion, 46-21, this onee’s outcome was decided in the final individual match.

Strasburg’s Bobby Rager (119) edged Dylan Basta by a 3-1 decision, to lift the Rams to victory.

Unexpected wins along the way set up the match-ending drama.

Action began at 125 pounds and so did the drama.

Senior Bobby Basta picked up a huge win for the Mountaineers when he edged Sean Hall, Group A’s No. 1 ranked wrestler in the weight class, by decision, 3-2.

Basta’s feat inspired his teammates, including O’Connell who was up next.

The Mountaineer sophomore faced district nemesis Jay Silvas who had defeated O’Connell in all four previous matches including his 10-4 win by decision at last week’s “Ram Rumble.”

This time, O’Connell solved the Silvas puzzle and won for the first time against the Ram senior, a 4-2 decision.

Brumett (135) pinned Cody Cooper in 1:24, Atwell (140) made short work of Darren Neff (1:31) and Helmick (145), who had defeated Seth Williams by decision the week before, picked up more team points this time when he forced Williams to succumb at 5:35.

But the Rams charged back behind the efforts of Justin Sager (152) who pinned Riner and Colin Barnes (160) who finished off Jewett.

Koby Bly (171), who lost the previous week to Farry, turned the tables on the Mountaineer freshman, pinned him at 3:30, and brought the Rams to within six points, 24-18.

With John Heller (189) out of the lineup due to medical reasons, Strasburg’s Jonathan Wilson claimed the forfeit, which tied the match at 24-24.

Utz (215) put the Mountaineers back in the lead when he dispatched Brandon Diehr in just 0:22 to make it 30-24 Madison.

But Strasburg’s Michael Diehr (285) and Michael Capone (103) claimed forfeits to make it 36-30 in favor of Strasburg.

Welch (112) then accepted a forfeit to tie the match at 36-36 with Dylan Basta and Bobby Rager up next at 119 pounds to decide the outcome.

Though Strasburg prevailed in the end, the taste of victory came tantalizingly close for the Madison.

“We could almost taste it,” said Sacra.

Even with the eventual defeat, seniors like Brumett cherished the moment.

“Even though we lost it was the highlight of my whole wrestling career,” he said.

There are more highlights to come. The Mountaineers were scheduled to host a quad this past Tuesday against Powhatan, Covenant and Woodberry Forest. This Saturday they host the Mountaineer Duals, where a total of eight teams, including local squads from Culpeper and Orange, are scheduled to compete.