Chesapeake 3A State Dual Champs!

Saturday evening’s 3A state final was a rematch with No. 11 South River for No. 7 Chesapeake, who they had beaten 43-32 in an Anne Arundel County League Dual. This one ended similarly but with Chesapeake holding more points in the 46-25 win during the MPSSAA 3A State Duals Wrestling Finals at North Point High School in Waldorf.

The title was the second straight for Chesapeake and third since 2022.

“We have had a good mix of young guys coming up from the Panthers, along with some veterans that we have had in the room with us for some time now,” said Chesapeake coach Randy Curtin. “I also think our coaching staff is really solid and the boys have developed great team chemistry. Winning two in a row and three in five years is very satisfying, I have enjoyed the ride and again, I thank God for all of it.”

The Seahawks had to feel good about the way things started as they stacked wins in four of the first six matches to go up, 16-12. One of them, to kick the affair off, was unexpected and could’ve been a pivotal moment in a South River win when unranked Evan Paximadas beat No. 20 Drew Michael at 190 pounds, 8-6.

That win and the moments to follow would represent the high-water mark for South River as the tide slowly shifted ashore to the Cougars who began piling up bonus points at a furious clip.

The only bout during the run that put the dual away where South River countered Chesapeake with a state ranked grappler of their own was at 126 pounds where they were hoping for an upset from No. 16 Trent Shipley over No. 10 Bentley Schmidt.

That did not occur, but what did unfurl was a 15-7 major decision in favor of Schmidt. That major decision would be the only victory for the Cougars that was not achieved with a pin. They had two falls in the early going from No. 14 Gavin Lewis (215) and Will Glatz (106) for the 12 points they held prior to Schmidt’s four being added.

With the scored knotted at 16 after Schmidt walked off, four consecutive pins slammed the door shut on South River. No. 16 Carson Roberts gained his fall in the middle frame versus Austin Langis, 3:27, at 132 pounds. No. 1 Corey Brown, who is ranked 29th in the country by High School on SI at 126 pounds, was up at 138 and stuck Landon Garnett in 32 seconds.

No. 13 Brayden Roberts wasn’t impressed, and said, “watch this”, then dropped Jude Tillman in a mere 13 seconds. No. 15 Rex Graves’ second period decking of Nicco Seppi, 2:31, equaled the magic points that meant victory was theirs. Up 40-16, hope flowed out of the Seahawks.

“Those four have been awesome all season, so it wasn't a complete surprise,” Curtin said. “Also, Bently Schmidt’s win over Shipley at 126 was very impressive. Carson Roberts struggled a bit with Langis at first, but then was able to pin him, so I felt a sense of relief.

“There was no doubt Corey was going to pin, I was glad that he did it so quickly. When Brayden Roberts pinned, I felt complete relief."

This was the clincher in my eyes, although it wasn't mathematically clinched yet. That made it 34-16 with 4 matches remaining, but it was more of a momentum thing than anything else.

“We were bumping him up and we have respect for Tillman. So, when Brayden pinned him in 13 seconds it was a flood of relief, and euphoria. I also loved hearing the roar of the crowd at that point, and from our bench as well. Graves’ pin sealed it mathematically and I just remember that sense of relief. Also, this title was particularly satisfying - it has been a very challenging year from my coaches’ perspective, so to win this (along with the Anne Arundel County dual title and 3A south region dual title) was very satisfying.”

Over the final three matches, No. 18 Owen Collins would add the seventh pin to the book for Chesapeake with a 38 second ending for Logan Fulda for his squad’s final points. South River collected wins in the other two, a fall by No. 21 Ethan Burger at 157 pounds over Trevor Webb and a 5-1 decision for No. 11 Chris Millard against No. 24 Collin Richardson.

After Paximadas gave them a jolt out of the gate, South River picked up wins from Zack Philpott at heavyweight, No. 8 Jackson Peeples (113 pounds), and William Galvez (120). Philpott edged Payton Lazas, 1-0. Peeples put a 13-4 major decision on No. 9 Quinn Greenstreet. Galvez added a one-minute fall of Brayden Haney to the score.

“We expected our hammers to do well from 126 to 150 but we had a few hesitations: Paximadas getting the close win at 190 was disappointing, we almost had that one,” Curtin continued. “Peeples beating Quin - that was a reversal from last time (and last time we had only won by 11 points). Also, they had a backup guy at 120 so we were hoping our backup guy could hang in there with him, but he didn't."

“So, South River certainly had the early momentum, and like I said, we only beat them by 11 the first time. In high school wrestling, I consider 11 to be very close. Furthermore, we were bumping all of our guys up to 132, 138, 144, 150, so we weren't sure that it would work out. The fact that all four of those weight classes pinned was huge, and obviously it swung the match in our favor.”

Chesapeake reached the finals with a 63-15 win over Catonsville in the semifinals. South River handled No. 13 Westminster, 40-25, in theirs.

“I was happy to shake up our lineup a little bit and put some backups in (against Catonsville),” Curtin added. “Also, we chose to not forfeit any of the matches at the end, to give our guys more mat time. In fact, two of the Catonsville coaches texted afterwards thanking us for not forfeiting out. We have a lot of respect for head coach George Dunn and for the Eveleths (the Eveleth family wrestled for Chesapeake in the late 90’s and early 2000’s).”

A pattern would emerge in Chesapeake’s match versus Catonsville that they would replicate against South River, winning all but one match by fall. The difference with the Comets was the Cougars won eleven of the 14 bouts with just two second period pins.

“These boys are some pinners for sure,” remarked Curtin. “I think that has ramped up even more lately - the tougher competition we faced in December and January has led to these boys picking up some big wins, and like you mentioned, putting them away with the pin.”

The only decision for Chesapeake came from Richardson with his 9-5 outcome versus Nate Smith at 175. Adding first period endings were Glatz, Greenstreet, Brown, Brayden Roberts, Colt Kendall (144), Webb, Collins, and Lewis. Hogging the spotlight and lingering into the second frame before stomping their foes out were Schmidt and Cohen Lare (150).

Two state ranked Comets registered pins versus Chesapeake, No. 11 Owen Shelley (120 pounds) and No. 17 Josh Agen-Davis (190). Henry Jones chipped in a 3-2 win over Lazas at 285.

In closing Curtin reflected on the day and the win over an Anne Arundel County rival.

“Also, it was against South River - this proves what those of us in Anne Arundel County have said for some time now, that it is one of the toughest counties in the state (Crofton was also in the 4A title match against Whitman),” said Curtin. “We have so much respect for South River and their coaches. Every year we stress out before the South River match, lol.

“The whole team wrestled well - I mentioned Dean almost getting the win at 190, our heavyweight wrestling a disciplined match avoiding the pin, our 106 coming through for us yet again (he is our backup 106). And obviously those five hammers I have already mentioned. And our seniors at 165 and 215 taking care of business. Also, Collin Richardson at 175 only getting minored, last time he got teched by Millard.”

3A - Chesapeake-AA

1st Place Match

Chesapeake-AA defeated South River 46-25

190 - Evan Paximadas (South River) over Dean Michael (Chesapeake-AA) Dec 8-6

215 - Gavin Lewis (Chesapeake-AA) over Matt Dague (South River) Fall 2:37

285 - Zach Philpott (South River) over Payton Lazas (Chesapeake-AA) Dec 1-0

106 - Will Glatz (Chesapeake-AA) over Westin Jones (South River) Fall 1:20

113 - Jackson Peeples (South River) over Quin Greenstreet (Chesapeake-AA) Maj 13-4

120 - William Galvez (South River) over Brayden Haney (Chesapeake-AA) Fall 1:00

126 - Bently Schmidt (Chesapeake-AA) over Trent Shipley (South River) Maj 15-7

132 - Carson Roberts (Chesapeake-AA) over Austin Langis (South River) Fall 3:27

138 - Corey Brown (Chesapeake-AA) over Landon Garnett (South River) Fall 0:32

144 - Brayden Roberts (Chesapeake-AA) over Jude Tillman (South River) Fall 0:13

150 - Rex Graves (Chesapeake-AA) over Nicco Seppi (South River) Fall 2:31

157 - Ethan Burger (South River) over Trevor Webb (Chesapeake-AA) Fall 2:51

165 - Owen Collins (Chesapeake-AA) over Logan Fulda (South River) Fall 0:38

175 - Chris Millard (South River) over Collin Richardson (Chesapeake-AA) Dec 5-1

Semifinal

Chesapeake-AA defeated Catonsville 63-15

175 - Collin Richardson (Chesapeake-AA) over Nate Smith (Catonsville) Dec 9-5

190 - Josh Agen-Davis (Catonsville) over Chase Miller (Chesapeake-AA) Fall 0:37

215 - Gavin Lewis (Chesapeake-AA) over Donovin Boger (Catonsville) Fall 1:22

285 - Henry Jones (Catonsville) over Payton Lazas (Chesapeake-AA) Dec 3-2

106 - Will Glatz (Chesapeake-AA) over King Whitehurst (Catonsville) Fall 1:34

113 - Quin Greenstreet (Chesapeake-AA) over Angelo Kibby (Catonsville) Fall 1:43

120 - Owen Shelley (Catonsville) over Brayden Haney (Chesapeake-AA) Fall 1:28

126 - Bently Schmidt (Chesapeake-AA) over Drew Eveleth (Catonsville) Fall 2:45

132 - Corey Brown (Chesapeake-AA) over Daniel Tamerat (Catonsville) Fall 1:08

138 - Brayden Roberts (Chesapeake-AA) over Julian Epps (Catonsville) Fall 1:04

144 - Kolt Kendall (Chesapeake-AA) over Thang Cin (Catonsville) Fall 0:48

150 - Cohen Lare (Chesapeake-AA) over Pau Tuang (Catonsville) Fall 2:23

157 - Trevor Webb (Chesapeake-AA) over Khamar McGhee (Catonsville) Fall 1:31

165 - Owen Collins (Chesapeake-AA) over Joshua Hmung (Catonsville) Fall 1:11

Semifinal

South River defeated Westminster 40-25

175 - Josh Little (Westminster) over Jack Tillman (South River) Fall 3:21

190 - Chris Millard (South River) over Dominic Van Drei (Westminster) TF 26-6

215 - Evan Paximadas (South River) over Daviti Guliashvili (Westminster) Dec 11-4

285 - Zach Philpott (South River) over Aiden Wengert (Westminster) Dec 3-2

106 - Westin Jones (South River) over Adam Vile (Westminster) Dec 10-3

113 - Jackson Peeples (South River) over Adam Shaffer (Westminster) Fall 3:10

120 - Trent Shipley (South River) over Jake Vile (Westminster) Fall 2:42

126 - Conor Ruane (Westminster) over Austin Langis (South River) Fall 3:50

132 - Zachary Bowersox (Westminster) over Aidan Oddis (South River) Fall 1:30

138 - Ethan DeGalicia (Westminster) over Landon Garnett (South River) Maj 21-7

144 - Jude Tillman (South River) over Tyler Cain (Westminster) Fall 3:15

150 - Liam O`Dwyer (Westminster) over Nicco Seppi (South River) Dec 10-8

157 - Ethan Burger (South River) over Chace Fisher (Westminster) Dec 8-6

165 - Logan Fulda (South River) over Cole McCann (Westminster) TF 19-3