Just a week after winning the Class 1A state duals championship, No. 2 South Carroll put its dominance on display again during Saturday’s Carroll County Tournament finals at Westminster.

With more than half of the top seeds in the coed division, the Cavaliers headlined the event with eight individual champions with another — Bella Garrity (110 pounds) — capturing a crown in the girls division.

“Between this and states, this is what you prepare for all year,” South Carroll senior Michael Pizzuto said.

Pizzuto won the 145-pound coed title after dominating Manchester Valley’s Blake Ray, earning an 18-3 technical fall, in the championship match. He finished Saturday as one of three Cavaliers who finished their careers as four-time county champions, sharing the honor with teammates Gage Owen (138) and AJ Rodrigues (160).

Grayson Barnhill (106), Evan Owen (113), JoJo Gigliotti (120), Rylan Moose (182) and Manny Rodrigues (195) also captured coed titles for the Cavaliers, who outscored Man Valley (179 points) to win the coed team title with 228 points. Westminster (80), Francis Scott Key (79), Winters Mill (75), Century (74) and Liberty (69) followed in the team race.

In the girls team race, Francis Scott Key won the title with 126 points, edging Manchester Valley (118), Winters Mill (112), Westminster (31), South Carroll (16), Century (0) and Liberty (0).

The Mavericks crowned six individual girls winners — Faith Day (100), Layla Lagunas (105), Summer Shackelford (120), Bella Canby (125), Chloe Chwang (130) and Katie Martin (155). Bradyn VanDervoort (126), Jake Boog (170), Cru Boog (220) and Derek Martin (285) joined Travis Green, who defeated South Carroll’s Anthony Rodrigues in the 152-pound final, 11-2, to remain undefeated, as Man Valley’s individual coed champions.

“Just a great day all around for our program, very proud of their effort,” Man Valley coach David Dodson said. “Just hope we can build off this momentum.”

Liberty sophomore Dylan Ohler captured the 132-pound title for his second straight county crown. He beat South Carroll’s Angelo Marchany, 6-0, in the championship match.

“It feels good coming back and proving myself,” Ohler said. “I just wrestled how I liked to wrestle and didn’t force anything.”

In the girls tournament, Francis Scott Key’s Caroline Cruickshank (115), Keira Cooper (135), Mackenzie Koon (140) and Emily Arboleda (190) won individual titles to pace the Eagles to the title.

Winters Mill’s Kimora Harrid (145), Joyce Mbeboh (170) and Roan McCauley (235) won individual girls championships as well.

Hammond wins first Howard championship since 2006

Hammond coach William Yeo got a sense in the offseason this year’s group could be special, seeing many Golden Bears wrestling year-round, developing their skill set.

That all came to fruition Saturday at the 53rd Howard County Tournament, as the Golden Bears secured the county team title with 232 points, edging second-place Glenelg (182) and third-place Oakland Mills (160). Reservoir (154) and Marriotts Ridge (130) rounded out the top five. It’s Hammond’s first county tournament title since 2006.

Beyond their team success, No. 14 Hammond crowned five individual county champions: Cody Johnson (113 pounds), William Terry (126), Joseph Munyaneza (145), Jinan Khan (182) and Raynard Kanu (285). Jeffrey Acheampong (106) and Jonathan Neypes (152) were also finalists.

“It’s validation for all of the work that they’ve done,” Yeo said. “It’s validation for the sacrifices that the coaches have made, the parents have made, our athletic director has made, the school has made. It really validates everything that we’ve been preaching to them and it’s a great ending to the county season.”

Kanu was the first Golden Bears grappler up in the finals, matching up against fifth-seeded Nathan Faulkner of River Hill. Despite being the sixth seed in the tournament, the coaching staff told Kanu he’d win the whole week leading up to counties. Trailing 2-1 in the third period, Kanu reversed Faulkner’s takedown attempt and scored one himself to take a 3-2 lead he maintained the rest of the way.

Johnson was Hammond’s second county champion, with the No. 4 seed facing No. 2 seed Rocky Alabaddi of Marriotts Ridge. A close 2-1 match entering the final period, Johnson executed a takedown and two nearfall points to secure the 6-1 victory, as the Hammond faithful chanted “Cody, Cody, Cody.”

One of the evening’s best matches between Terry, the top seed and second-seeded Sam Vissers from Reservoir, came soon after. Vissers took a 4-3 lead early in the third period on an escape. However, Terry immediately bounced back, executing a quick takedown to retake a 5-4 lead, fending off Vissers’ late escape attempts.

“Go, you need to score at all costs,” Terry said of his mindset in the final period. “I knew I needed a takedown, so I just went for it. I wasn’t thinking, I just went for it.”

Munyaneza, one of the Golden Bears’ two top seeds, faced off against the No. 2 seed Jose Lazo from Reservoir. Munyaneza took control from the jump with multiple first-period takedowns, ultimately closing out the 8-2 decision victory.

Khan successfully defended his county title, beating Oakland Mills’ Brighton Barker, 7-2. He was promptly mobbed by teammates in celebration, closing out a successful county season for the Golden Bears, who will look to channel that momentum into regionals and states.

“A feeling of relief just washes over you and you look out to the crowd and realize you won the tournament,” Khan said. “I know my teammates wanted to see a good match out there, so I just went out there and wrestled my hardest giving the people what they want and it ended up a really strong win.”

— Jacob Steinberg

Broadneck puts 9 in finals to win Anne Arundel title

Broadneck coach Reid Bloomfield will come right out and tell you that his team underachieved in its pursuit of a state dual meet title. On Saturday, though, the Bruins got a little redemption.

No. 9 Broadneck placed nine wrestlers in the finals en route to capturing the Anne Arundel County Tournament championship in its home gym, defeating second-place Chesapeake, 224-178.5. Old Mill finished third with 177 points while South River (175) and Crofton (172.5) rounded out the top five.

“This was a goal since November,” Bloomfield said. “We didn’t quite get it done for the state duals, but they rebounded well and they were the best team here tonight, for sure.”

Although Broadneck placed nine in the finals, the Bruins only got victories from Liam DeBaugh, who beat Crofton’s Jacob Speed, 5-3, at 152 pounds, and Jake Chambers, who defeated Meade’s Obina Onyeson, 5-2, at 182.

The biggest upset of the night came at 145 pounds, where Annapolis’ Nik Antonelli managed to get an escape on South River’s Sam Ditmars and record a 1-0 win. Ditmars was 42-1 entering the match.

“I wanted to move down from 152 so I could wrestle him again,” Antonelli said. “I was 0-6 against him lifetime, and I just knew I couldn’t leave high school without beating him at least once. I couldn’t live myself if that happened. Now it’s on to [regions and] states where I might see him again.”

At 113, South River’s Alex Szkotnicki became only the second girl to win an Anne Arundel County title — following Arundel’s Nicole Woody in 2007 — as she defeated Broadneck’s Cam Williams, 1-0, for the crown. Szkotnicki, one of the country’s highest-ranked girls, scored the escape with just 28 seconds left in the second period.

“I knew that I had to get a point, and I knew I had to get up and get out,” Szkotnicki said of her escape. “It was a great match. He’s a really solid opponent. I have a lot of respect for him.”

— Mike Frainie, for Baltimore Sun Media

Sparrows Point captures 3rd straight Baltimore County crown

Sparrows Point crowned four champions and won its third straight Baltimore County Tournament title at Saturday evening’s tournament at Dundalk.

The Pointers won their first county tournament in school history in 2017 and have won five of the past six tournaments.

No. 7 Sparrows Point finished with 220 points, well ahead of second-place Hereford (134.5). Owings Mills (120.5), Perry Hall (115.5,), Woodlawn (99), Eastern Tech (89.5), Dulaney (89), Parkville (86), Milford Mill (84) and Catonsville (70.5) rounded out the top 10.

“We work the kids hard all year, we try to find the toughest tournaments to prepare, I thought we came in extremely prepared and ready to rock and roll,” Sparrows Point coach Mike Whisner said.

The Pointers’ four champions were Christian Manley (112 pounds), Dom Ambrosino (132), Damon Nelson (182) and Hunter Petrovia (285).

Nelson (46-1) had the fastest pin of the night when he stunned Eastern Tech’s Anthony Oge (30-3) in 39 seconds. Petrovia (44-3) had a first-period pin over Parkville’s Simeon Bryant (33-3) and Ambrosino had a third-period pin over Tahikwa Theophile of Overlea. Manley (40-7) won a 21-6 technical fall over Kenwood’s Kelly Bailey.

The win was especially sweet for Ambrosino (45-2) because it was his 100th career victory and he missed the county tournament last year because of a concussion but went on to win regional and state titles.

“I decided to go [132] because I thought it was unhealthy to go [128], cutting all that weight. I feel a lot better at 32, but this match I didn’t wrestle too well because we didn’t get a warmup and I wasn’t ready for it,” said Ambrosino, who was winning 8-2 when he got the pin with 10 seconds left in the third period.

The senior used a loss in last week’s Class 2A state dual championship as fuel for this tournament. Ambrosino (ranked fifth in the state at 126) lost to Stephen Decatur’s Logan Intrieri (ranked seventh in the state at 138), 11-5.

“For me, that was big motivation because I’m bumping up to [132] to hopefully see Logan Intrieri again,” he said.

— Craig Clary

Depth lifts Bel Air to UCBAC championship

Savion Ricketts came back to the Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference wrestling championship with a vengeance.

The Bel Air senior overpowered C. Milton Wright’s Hayden Goscinski for much of Saturday’s 170-pound final, shutting him out in an 8-0 victory by major decision. Ricketts heard the final buzzer sound, shook his opponent’s hand and walked off the mat, sagging his shoulders in joyous relief after achieving the win that eluded him a year ago.

“I needed that win. I really wanted to place first last year,” Ricketts, now 33-7 overall, said of his 2022 finals loss to Rising Sun’s Mason Testerman. “It didn’t happen so I’ve just been training for this. ... My head is pretty high. But it’s regionals now and that matters even more, so I gotta win there, too.”

The difference-maker for top-seeded Ricketts on Saturday? He worked the neutral position well, staying predominantly in the center of the mat. Ricketts said he noticed Goscinski looking to throw him around, so he was adamant about keeping his hips beyond arm’s length.

“I think [170] is a great weight class for him,” said 30-year Bel Air coach Craig Reddish. “He’s really good on his feet. He’s just peaking at the right time.”

Reddish hoped to leave Saturday’s UCBAC finals improving off last year’s 1-8 finish in individual finals.

Although his group did win the team trophy with 230 total points — besting Rising Sun’s 211 and C. Milton Wright’s 205 — the Bobcats similarly lost one of six individual finals. Ricketts was Bel Air’s lone individual champion. However, the team’s overall depth powered it to the top spot.

“We pulled out the title with all our wrestlers placing and earning points, so that’s rewarding when everyone contributes,” Reddish said. “I think they’re all close [individual] matches to begin with. Some we were underdogs or we weren’t favored. It’s the finals you have to go get it ... These are pressure times. You got to do what got you there and that’s just keep wrestling.”

— Sam Cohn