Maryland Boys Brawled Last Weekend

The Maryland State Wrestling Association’s Fall Brawl served as the unofficial kickoff to the high school wrestling season on Sunday at the McDonogh School. It was the first preseason tournament in Maryland just a few short weeks before the season gets underway.

Marylanders accounted for eight of the 14 high school champions with Pennsylvania claiming four and one each going to New Jersey and Virginia.

A KING FROM ANOTHER LAND

One of Maryland’s champs, Logan King (144) wrestles for Sussex Tech in Delaware where he placed eighth at 132 pounds at states a year ago. At the Fall Brawl, King pinned Bowie’s Jeffrey Archer in 3:00 according to the brackets. Acher won a Prince George’s County Title last year then failed to place at regions. King surprised Private School state runner-up Mason Comegys of McDonogh, 4-2, in the semifinals.

Moltumyr was fifth in the state at 132 but he and Comegys did not meet. Comegys beat Gilman’s Zach Glory and Moltumyr lost to Glory. Poly’s City Champ, Derrell Davis, upset Moltumyr in the consolation finals, 1-0. Davis, who did not place at states in 2025, also took out Eastern Tech’s two-time 2A/1A state placer, Chase Ullmann, 4-3, in the consolation rounds.

FREDERICK COUNTY SHINES WITH THREE GOLDS

Frederick County Wrestlers locked down three crowns in impressive fashion with Brunswick’s Seth Crawford winning a battle of three-time state placers, 5-0, over Loyola-Blakefield’s Josh Hale at 150 pounds. Crawford was a 2A/1A state silver medalist while Hale was third at the MIS Tournament in 2025.

Frederick’s Joao Victor Guerra came out of nowhere to take third at the 4A/3A States a year ago at 150 pounds and met the 175-pound 2A/1A state runner-up, Carter Canale of Middletown, in the semis and blasted him, 18-4. Guerra posted a 10-2 major decision of Pennsylvania’s Michael Schmitt in the 165-pound finals.

Urbana’s former state second place finishing Damian DuChez is at the Bullis School this year and captured the 113-pound crown with a 10-1 major decision versus McDonogh’s incoming freshman and highly decorated youth wrestler, Braidyn Taby. DuChez shocked the wrestling world when he placed eighth at Fargo in 16U Freestyle at 94 pounds over the summer.

FOREMAN LIKES TO KEEP THINGS CLOSE

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Leo Foreman took out a McDonogh foe of his own in the 144-pound finals as he squeezed by Dominic Manna (5th at MIS), 4-3. Foreman won a nailbiter with Linganore’s Cash Wheat, 8-7, in the semis. At states, where Foreman took third, Wheat was handled by a 17-2 technical fall by Foreman and failed to place. Manna defeated Arundel’s Matteo Brown, who was fourth at states, 7-3, in his semifinal. Wheat handled Brown easily for third place, 23-9.

KHOZHUGOV READY TO BUILD OFF LAST YEAR

Watkins Mills’ Ziya Khozhugov, a fifth-place finisher at 4A/3A states, stuck Loyola’s two-time state placer Riley Miller in the 190-pound finals in 2:51. Khozhugov edged McDonogh’s Giuseppe “JJ” DiMonte, a former state placer who was off to stellar start in 2024 when he was befallen by injury, 4-3, in the quarterfinals.

WRESTLERS FROM DOWN SOUTH STAND OUT

Wrestlers from Southern Maryland added two golds to Maryland’s count with Ryken’s defending private school state champ, Evan Gavin (215 pounds) and Rampage’s Esaias Perez (106).

Gavin used a quick pin of 59 seconds against Hammond’s Xavier Nichols, who was sixth in the 2A/1A states at 190 in 2025. Perez is still part of the middle school ranks but moved up to the high school division here and took home the 106-pound gold with a 4-1 win over Loyola’s highly touted freshman, Charles Cooper.

JERSEY BOY RAINS ON WHITMAN’S STATE CHAMP RANDALL

New Jersey’s sole champion, Jeremy Negron of Edison, was just sixth in his region and did not qualify for the state tournament. Interestingly, his 138-pound finals foe, Walt Whitman’s Adan Magnas, suffered the same fate being sixth in his region and sixth in Montgomery County as well. Negron’s big win came over Magnas’ teammate, two-time 4A/3A state champ Solomon Randall, by fall in 2:54. Randall came back to take third.

Another Whitman grappler finished as a runner-up at 126 pounds when Virginia’s Edwin Gonzalez blanked sixth-place state finishing Jabasie Trice, 10-0.

KEYSTONE STATE QUARTET’S PERFORMANCE

Two of Pennsylvania’s four titlist are nationally ranked by High School on SI, Hanover’s CJ Caines (No. 22 at 126 pounds) and Malvern Prep’s Lukas Zalota (No. 14 at 285). Caines decked Loyola’s Brendan Tobin in the 132-pound finals. Zalota also used a pin for his glory in 2:12 over Saint Frances Academy’s Evan Smith-Matlock, who was sixth in the state last year.

At 120 pounds, Chase Smith came out on top of a loaded bracket that saw defending 2A/1A state champion, Ethan Valdisera (Calvert) fail to place while his former teammate at St. Mary’s Ryken, Becket Geary landed in second, falling to Smith 10-0. Geary beat Patuxent’s incoming freshman Giovanni Barone by tech, 16-0, and Roosevelt’s returning state champ, Austin Hayes, 7-0. Barone knocked off Valdisera, 7-5, in the consolation rounds and took third with a pin of Hayes in the consolation finals. Valdisera lost his semi-final bout with Smith in overtime, 14-7.

Spring Grove’s Chase Amspacher won the 175-pound bracket with an 18-3 tech fall of Northern Garrett’s Lukas Wolf, who placed third at the 2A/1A states a year ago. Wolf met Poolesville’s Zoya Wexler in the semis and came out ahead, 8-7, over the fourth-place state placer.

HS Boys - 106

1st Place Match

Esaias Perez (Rampage) won by decision over Charles Cooper (Loyola) (Dec 4-1)

3rd Place Match

Daniel Stefko (Independent) won by decision over Logan Ardinger (PAL hagerstown MD) (Dec 4-0)

HS Boys - 113

1st Place Match

Damian DuChez (Capital Wrestling Club) won by major decision over Braidyn Taby (Rampage) (Maj 10-1)

3rd Place Match

William McMurtrie (Gonzaga College High School) won by tech fall over Abdulaziz Abduraimjonov (Maryland Predators) (TF 17-0)

HS Boys - 120

1st Place Match

Chase Smith (Mat Assassins Wrestling Club) won by major decision over Becket Geary (Southern Maryland Rush) (Maj 10-0)

3rd Place Match

Giovanni Barone (Honey Badgers WC) won by fall over Austin Hayes (Team Takedown) (Fall 1:31)

HS Boys - 126

1st Place Match

Edwin Gonzalez (Viking Wrestling Club) won by major decision over Jabasie Trice (Maryland Summer Wrestling Leag) (Maj 10-0)

3rd Place Match

Fred Brinkman (Georgetown Prep) won by decision over Jeremy Moore (All I See Is Gold Academy) (Dec 3-1)

HS Boys - 132

1st Place Match

Cj Caines (Mat Assassins Wrestling Club) won by fall over Brendan Tobin (Loyola) (Fall 1:28)

3rd Place Match

Liam Soe (Middletown Knights) won by decision over Reese Davis (Thomas Johnson High School) (Dec 3-0)

HS Boys - 138

1st Place Match

Jeremy Negron (Yale st. Wrestling club) won by fall over Adan Magnas (Unattached) (Fall 1:19)

3rd Place Match

Solomon Randall (Capital Wrestling Club) won by tech fall over Connor Frank (NCHS) (TF 17-1)

HS Boys - 144

1st Place Match

Logan King (McDonald Wrestling Academy) won by fall over Jeffrey Archer (PGWC) (Fall 3:00)

3rd Place Match

Derrel Davis (A K Wrestling Foundation INC) won by decision over Henry Moltumyr (Rampage) (Dec 1-0)

HS Boys - 150

1st Place Match

Seth Crawford (Coco Trained) won by decision over Joshua Hale (Loyola) (Dec 5-0)

3rd Place Match

Gannon Beach (Seven Valleys) won by decision over Michael Perez (Mat Assassins Wrestling Club) (Dec 4-1)

HS Boys - 157

1st Place Match

Leo Foreman (UNIVERSITY PARK) won by decision over Dominic Manna (Headhunters) (Dec 4-3)

3rd Place Match

Cash Wheat (Alliance Wrestling Club) won by major decision over Matteo Brown (Headhunters) (Maj 23-9)

HS Boys - 165

1st Place Match

Joao Victor Guerra (Frederick) won by major decision over Michael Schmit (Steller Trained Wrestling) (Maj 10-2)

3rd Place Match

Carter Canale (Middletown Knights) won by major decision over Jacob Gough (None) (Maj 13-1)

HS Boys - 175

1st Place Match

Chase Amspacher (Mayfield Mat Academy) won by tech fall over Lukas Wolf (Hillbilly Hammers) (TF 18-3)

3rd Place Match

Zoya Wexler (Capital Wrestling Club) won by major decision over Gavin Bowman (Wrestling to Beat the Streets) (Maj 10-0)

HS Boys - 190

1st Place Match

Ziyaudy Khozhugov (Capital Wrestling Club) won by fall over Riley Miller (Loyola Blakefield) (Fall 2:51)

3rd Place Match

Giuseppe Di Monte (Alliance) won by decision over Max Birth (FCMC) (Dec 11-9)

HS Boys - 215

1st Place Match

Evan Gavin (SMWC Wolfpack) won by fall over Xavier Nichols (Headhunters) (Fall 0:59)

3rd Place Match

Jacob Endzel (SC Prep) won by major decision over Brayden Pearson (Unattached) (Maj 8-0)

HS Boys - 285

Guaranteed Places

1st Place - Lukas Zalota of Unattached

2nd Place - Evan Smith-Matlock of Pasadena

3rd Place - Richard Anderson of St. Mary?s Ryken

Round 1

Lukas Zalota (Unattached) won by fall over Richard Anderson (St. Mary?s Ryken) (Fall 1:47)

Round 2

Lukas Zalota (Unattached) won by fall over Evan Smith-Matlock (Pasadena) (Fall 2:12)

Round 3

Evan Smith-Matlock (Pasadena) won by decision over Richard Anderson (St. Mary?s Ryken) (Dec 6-2)