In a rare occurrence, two of the state’s top teams converged on St. Frances Academy on Tuesday evening not to wrestle each other but to face off with The Panthers one at a time. No. 2 Spalding and No. 5 Mt. St. Joseph will dance together another time.
On this night, they were there to tangle with No. 12 St. Frances, and both did so with tremendous success. The Gaels opened the action with a 57-20 win over the Panthers. They left the building while Spalding was warming up but more of the same continued in the night cap, with the Cavaliers almost duplicating the score versus the hosts, 51-20.
A lot of times in dual meets featuring two ranked teams, there is typically a pivotal moment or two that defines the outcome. Both of these duals had none of that as both saw the visitors take a commanding lead early on and ride that to victories containing very little drama.
The only drama on the mat on this day came in some of the individual matchups, not in regard to the team tally or the flow of momentum. St. Joe found itself up 51-0 before the home team threw any points on the board. Spalding’s edge wasn’t nearly as wide before St. Frances scored but was still big at 36-0.
“I felt that the SFA wrestlers came to battle and wrestled very tough,” remarked Gaels coach Harry Barnabae. “In spite of a few holes in the lineup the MSJ wrestlers understand that bonus points are the key to a dual meet victory. We are constantly looking for the opportunity to pin, and secure bonus points. And it appeared that our wrestlers were locked in to doing just that in tonight's match.”
In what is considered to be a down year by the Gael’s recent lofty standards, the lightweights handled business as expected to power St. Joe to the early lead and eventual win.
Thomas Davis (106) and Corey Brown (113, No. 1 at 106 and No. 21 in the nation by Sports Illustrated) put pins in the book to kick things off for the visitors. Davis had the quickest fall of the two as he registered his in 54 seconds over Seth Radomski and Brown decked Bradley Alexander in 3:07.
“Thomas Davis, freshman, had an opportunity to get his first varsity match in this evening and he did not disappoint” offered Barnabae. “He was the spark to the teams’ string of victories by securing a fall. The momentum continued in our favor, and I felt our wrestlers capitalized on it.”
The closest match of the dual occurred at 120lbs when No. 12 James Wright blanked No. 13 Kamren Griffin, 3-0, to run the Gaels advantage to 15-0. Two consecutive forfeits to Chad “CJ” Votta (126) and No. 14 Ben Scheiner (132) grew the lead to 27-0.
“I’m thinking, give my talents up to God and kinda let him take the wheel,” Wright said. “I’m the wrestler but, I mean, all my talents from God, so I go out there and just put my faith in him. (I) Get all my strength from Jesus and that’s pretty much my mindset when I go out there.”
“I think I could have wrestled a little better. I think I got a little fatigued earlier, so I just got to work on my conditioning before my next matches. I think we wrestled pretty good. We’re all supporting each other. I think everyone of us, our heads are in each match and we’re just supporting each other.”
A run of four straight falls gave the Gaels the aforementioned 51-0 tally. At 138, Connor Allison beat Davis’ fall time by dropping Kendall Mason in just 20 seconds. No. 5 Tyler Stephens (144) planted No. 10 Noah Shird in the second period, 2:39, in a battle of guys who are ranked at 138lbs.
St. Joe’s usual 144lber, No. 3 Brooklyn Pickett, came out at 150 and gained the fall in the back half of the second frame, 3:39, over No. 6 Braxton McAvey. No. 2 Cameron Cannaday waited until the third period to post his pin in 5:19 over Derrick Grant (No. 23 at 165).
“I honestly like the challenge of wrestling up,” remarked Pickett. “He felt a little strong. He’s an older guy but honestly the challenge excites me. I think I wrestle better when I know there’s a little more pressure on me. It adds a little more drama to our match. So, I think it just elevated my wrestling going out there and wrestling a tough kid. I performed how I wanted to. I think I performed really well.”
“Everyone did their part. Everyone was engaged,” Pickett said regarding the win. “I think, as much as this is an individual sport, you gotta go out there and wrestle your match. The team was involved, and it just boosts our morale and had us wrestle better.”
On a night when seniors Shird and Chase Carpintieri being honored as founding members of the Panther wrestling program was the biggest highlight for the home team, Carpintieri snapped the St. Joe win streak with a 16-0 technical fall of Will Hudson at 165. Carpintieri is ranked tenth at 157lbs.
Leo Ennis collected the Gaels’ final points when he received a forfeit at 175bs, increasing the St. Joe edge to 57-5. The Panthers closed the opener in a positive manner with three wins in a row to leave the final count at 57-20. No. 4 Elijah Josey (190) and No. 10 Douglas Johnson (215) were given forfeits, while Evan Smith downed St. Joe’s Thomas Brandel, 7-2, at 285.
“Unlike past seasons we have a very young team,” reflected Barnabae. “This being true we have a very seasoned group of wrestlers that come into each match well prepared and focused. I was pleased with the team's overall performance tonight. We still have plenty of room for improvement as we get into the thick of the season and tomorrow's match against Gilman will certainly be a test.”
After a brief intermission that basically equated to Archbishop Spalding warming up, the nightcap began to unfold in much the same manner as the matinee had. The difference this time was the Cavaliers’ count being halted at 36 before the Panthers put points up.
“It’s kinda like our first competition of the year as far as dual meets,” said Spalding coach Mike Laidley. “It’s been a slow start for us, so we didn’t know how we’d be as a dual meet team. We know we’re a good tournament team. We got a lot of young guys in the lineup. We do fill a lineup, but we got a couple of little nagging injuries we’re trying to get through.”
“Some of our boys are just getting into the lineup that were injured all year. I know Ryder (Kolat) has only been in the lineup for two weeks now, so he’s not at his best. Dylan (Briles) is nursing an injury. We’re just hoping to keep everybody healthy and improve.”
No. 5 Charlie Mutschler used a first period pin over Radomski, 1:21, at 106. No. 3 Eli Chesla followed that up with a second period flattening of Alexander, 3:40.
No. 5 Quentin Bailey picked up a 7-4 decision against Griffin at 120lbs. No. 1 Sean Garretson (126) and No. 1 all over the world in girls’ rankings and World Champion, Taina Fernandez (132) received forfeits.
“I didn’t really wrestle to well,” Bailey said. “I just came back from an injury last weekend. Give it some time and I’ll be back better than ever.”
No. 1 Zane Leitzel came out at 138 like gangbusters and made quick work of Mason, picking up the fall in 29 seconds. No. 8 Henry Gessford won a battle of ranked foes, 8-4, with Shird at 144 to reach that 36-0 start.
“I’d like to get some more action going on my feet as well as on top,” relayed Gessford. “I have stuff to work on in the room, but I think it was a good match. It was hard fought.
There’s been a lot of good matches. I think it (the team’s win) was deserved. We put a lot of work in this season. Some of the newer guys are getting to show what they worked on and a lot of it is showing on the mat. It was a good dual.”
The Panthers showed some life by taking the next three bouts to cut the Cavalier’s advantage down to 21, 36-15. McAvey pitched an 8-0 shutout for a major decision versus No. 13 Ryder Kolat at 150. Grant pinned Nicco Stellar in the second period, 3:08. At 165, Carpintieri collected his second win of the night with an 18-3 tech fall of Josh Taylor.
St. Frances couldn’t add to that momentum as they forfeited the 175lb weight class to James Ford. Josey then racked up a 22-5 tech over Owen Bunker at 190 for what would be the Panthers’ final points.
That those were the final St. Frances points was a surprise because Johnson was set to face the unranked Luke Barulli at 215lbs. There was a flurry of activity midway through the first frame that saw Borelli end up in an awkward position with Johnson on his back. Barulli felt the flow of their movement and leveraged himself in a manner that led to a shocking pin in 1:30.
“I was trying to watch film on him earlier today, but I didn’t see anything,” Barulli said. “Honestly, I didn’t know he was ranked. I got mad, I’m not going to lie. I went out there, I wanted to put pressure on him. I saw he looked stronger than me. I adjusted my move, you know, he was on me with something, and I was turning a little bit, and I adjusted and pulled his legs in, and I got him. I couldn’t get him pinned when I was highly contorted, I switched to a regular sort of pinning position then I got him.”
Heavyweight Michael Burns added three more to Spalding’s total with a 4-2 decision of Smith to leave the final score at 51-20 in favor of the Cavaliers.
“The next two weeks will be big,” added Laidley. “I’m very happy with the way the guys wrestled. I think everybody came out and did a good job. I don’t think anything was a surprise to us. They have a couple of tough kids in the lineup. We got Gilman next week at home, number one and number two. The following week we got St. Joe, so the next two weeks will tell the story.”
Mt. St. Joseph 57, St. Frances Academy 20
106-Thomas Davis (MSJ) pinned Seth Radomski, :52
113-Corey Brown (MSJ) pinned Bradley Alexander, 3:07
120-James Wright (MSJ) dec Kamren Griffin, 3-0
126-Chad “CJ” Votta won by forfeit
132-Ben Scheiner (MSJ) won by forfeit
138-Connor Allison (MSJ) pinned Kendall Mason, :20
144-Tyler Stephens (MSJ) pinned Noah Shird, 2:39
150-Brooklyn Pickett (MSJ) pinned Braxton McAvey, 3:29
157-Cameron Cannaday (MSJ) pinned Derrick Grant, 5:19
165-Chase Carpintieri (SFA) tech-fall Will Hudson, 16-0
175-Leo Ennis (MSJ) won by forfeit
190-Elijah Josey (SFA) won by forfeit
215-Douglas Johnson (SFA) won by forfeit
285-Evan Smith (SFA) dec Thomas Brandel, 7-2
Archbishop Spalding 51, St. Frances Academy 20
106-Charlie Mutschler (AS) pinned Radomski, 1:21
113-Eli Chesla (AS) pinned Bradley Alexander, 3:40
120-Quenti Bailey (AS) dec Kamren Griffin, 7-4
126-Sean Garretson (AS) wo by forfeit
132-Taina Fernandez (AS) won by forfeit
138-Zane Leitzel (AS) pinned Kendall Mason, :29
144-Henry Gessford (AS) dec Noah Shird, 8-4
150-Braxton McAvey maj-dec Ryder Kolat, 8-0
157-Derrick Grant pinned Nicco Stellar, 3:08
165-Chase Carpintieri tech-fall Josh Taylor, 18-3
175-James Ford (AS) won by forfeit
190-Elijah Josey (SFA) tech-fall Owen Bunker, 22-5
215-Luke Borelli (AS) pinned Douglas Johnson, 1:30
285-Michael Burn (AS) dec Evan Smith, 4-2
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