Six MC mat men state bound

Because inclement weather forced its cancellation, no one can say for sure just how the Northern Sectionals would have played out on Feb. 6 when the six Bull Run District teams plus Stonewall Jackson and Central of Woodstock were slated to battle it out.

Perhaps this past weekend’s Region B tournament provides the best indicator of how the Sectionals would have played out. That’s because the top six teams included four from the Bull Run District and both Stonewall and Central.

Clarke County led the pack, claimed the regional crown with 189 first-place points, and edged host Strasburg by 1 point when the Rams finished with 188 points. Manassas Park came in third with 163 points and Madison County finished fourth with 146.5 points followed by Stonewall Jackson (142) and Central of Woodstock (129).

Individually Lynn Welch (125) and Ethan O’Connell (130) both claimed regional crowns while Andrew Riner (152) and Anthony Jewett (160) came in second. Peter Thawngzauk (103) and Derek Nicholson (285) finished fourth.

Those six will represent Madison this weekend at the Group A state tournament at the Civic Center in Salem.

Danny Camunas (140) narrowly missed qualifying when he finished fifth.

“The (Region B) tournament is the best (in Group A),” said Mountaineer Coach Mike Sacra. “With the teams that finished in the top six that would have been our Northern Sectionals. For us I don’t know that we expected to have four kids in the finals but we knew it was possible. Anything can happen at this tournament. We had some disappointments and we had some surprises.”

Of the latter, perhaps nothing was more surprising than the performance of Lynn Welch.

Unranked and unheralded, the junior fought his way to the finals and was the first of four Mountaineers to take center stage.

Though he gave up a takedown to his opponent, Marcus Clements of Chatham, Welch reversed the tide and pounded out a win by major decision, 15-6.
He reached the finals after defeating Casey Hamilton of Amelia in the quarter-finals by decision, 10-7, which advanced him to the semi-finals where he met Manassas Park’s Kent Cadle, formerly Group A No. 2 in the weight class.

Cadle, who defeated Welch at the district duals by decision, 12-9, was no match for Welch this time. The Mountaineer junior won decisively, 9-2, to advance to the finals.

Up next was junior and co-captain O’Connell, Group A No. 1 at 130, who met Manassas Park’s Parth Mehta with the title on the line.

The two had previously met in the district duals where O’Connell won by decision, 1-0. Their second encounter turned out to be an identical replay of their first match with O’Connell scoring an escape in the third period to win by the same score as before.

O’Connell reached the finals after pinning Stonewall Jackson’s Jordan Davis in the quarterfinals and then hammering home a win by major decision, 10-2, against Clarke County’s Jesse Farmer in the semis.

O’Connell and Mehta will likely battle it out for the third time at some point this weekend.

“(O’Connell) is going to have to open it up if they meet again,” said Sacra. “I expect they’ll see each other.”

Riner and Jewett also advanced to the finals but were turned back in their quest for titles.

Riner met Seth Williams of Strasburg who scored two takedowns en route to winning by decision, 4-0.

The Mountaineer senior and co-captain reached the championship bout with a first-round win by fall over Amelia’s Taylor Thompson, followed by a win by major decision, 12-0, against Ben Folsum of Riverheads in the quarters and a win by fall over George Mason’s Teddy Rueckert (4:48). Tied 2-2 in the third period against Rueckert, Riner broke open the close match when Riner, who had top position in the third period, worked the Mustang to his back and secured the fall.

Jewett faced Group A No. 2 Chris Pegram from Amelia in the championship bout. Pegram’s adroitness on his feet proved the difference in this one. He forced the advantage with his takedown ability and went on to win by decision, 13-6.

Jewett, a sophomore, reached the finals after pinning Rappahannock’s Matt Foster in the quarterfinals and then claiming a close win by decision, 2-1, over Randolph Henry’s Charlie Miller in the semis.

After a scoreless first period, Jewett scored a reversal in the second for the only points he would need to win. Miller’s lone point came when Jewett was penalized for locking hands.

Thawngzauk, after a first round bye, lost to Chatham’s Michael Farmer in the quarters by decision, 5-4, which dropped him into the consolation rounds where he first pinned Stonewall Jackson’s Bobby Wilkerson (3:30) and then won by major decision, 12-0, over Central’s John Scaggs to advance to the consolation finals where he fell to Rappahannock’s CJ Sidrow, who pinned him in 2:43.

Nicholson also was awarded a first round bye and then faced Amelia’s Ben Bragg who he flattened in just 0:37 to advance to the semis where he met Mike Larcamp of George Mason.

Though Nicholson won their previous battle at the district duals, the Mustang turned the tables on him and pinned Madison’s big man in 1:02.

Nicholson then dropped to the consolations where he first faced Clarke’s William Wallace and, for the second time in as many matches this season, flattened the Eagle, this time in 4:32 to earn a chance for third place in the consolation finals. There he met Buffalo Gap’s Jesse Banks who needed only 0:45 to claim victory.

Camunas came up just short in his bid to qualify for the state tourney. He opened the competition with a win by fall (1:53) over Brady Knox of Riverheads and then pounded out a win by technical fall, 16-0, over Brian Chapman of Appomattox in the quarters.

Camunas faced Casey Lewis of Buffalo Gap in the semis and, after a scoreless first period, Lewis scored a reversal in the second to lead 2-0. Camunas chose bottom position in the third and worked an escape with just 0:30 remaining in the match. Needing a takedown to win, Camunas forced the action but Lewis countered and held on for the win by decision, 2-1.

Camunas then went to the consolations where he met Strasburg’s Michael Reynolds in the semis. The Ram claimed a two-point victory, 3-1, which sent Camunas to the fifth/sixth place match where he faced Chatham’s Will Adams. Camunas, a junior, had no problem with the Cavalier and won by decision, 8-1.

Here’s how the rest of the Mountaineers fared:

119 — Ryan Lincoln met Strasburgg’s Bobby Rager (Group A No. 4) in the opening round. The Ram pinned him in 2:39 and sent Lincoln to the consolations where he faced Kaleb Orndorff of Central. The Falcon ended Lincoln’s participation with a win by fall at 5:05.

135 — Cody Banks opened with a first-round win by fall (1:09) over Ameliaa’s Tyell Parrish but then faced Riverheads’ Michael Gowen in the quarters where the Gladiator pinned him in 2:47 and sent the Mountaineer junior to the consolations where he was eliminated from competition after Chatham’s Mark Fitzgerald won by major decision, 13-4.

145 — Jeff Foster began well with a win by fall (3:33) over Chathamm’s Stanley Shelton but then met eventual champion Joe Nappi of Clarke in the quarters where the Eagle won by fall (4:51) to drop Foster into the consolations.

Foster responded with a win against Amelia’s Avery Wiggins who he pinned in 1:52 but was eliminated from competition when Rappahannock’s Daniel Clement pinned him in 1:42 in the quarters.

171 — Chris McHaney met Clarkee’s Teddy Long in the opening round where the Eagle landed and won by fall (1:10). In the consolations Randolph Henry’s Donte Stovall did likewise (0:53) to force McHaney’s exit.

189 — Justin Farry met Manassas Parkk’s Kenny Moore off of jump street and the Cougar proved to be too strong. Moore secured the pin late in the match at the 5:27 mark.

In the consolations Farry defeated Hunter Jensen of Riverheads when he pinned the Gladiator in 3:54. In the consolation quarters Farry lost by major decision, 8-0, to Stonewall’s Ricky Tisinger.

This weekend’s combined Group A/AA state tournament begins on Friday at 10:00 a.m. The championship finals are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.