5 in the Finals!

Memorable Moments in SG Wrestling History

2009 State Qualifiers.  Front L to R: Lex Ozias, Brutus Scheffel, Davey Stewart, Jordan Skipper, Bubba Scheffel.
Back L to R: Kody Lewis, Ryan Fitzwater, Ryan Bennett, Josh Arnold

On Saturday, March 7, 2009, Southern Garrett Wrestling made history by going 5 for 5 in the semi-final round to send a state record 5 wrestlers to the MPSSAA tournament finals that evening.  By the end of the evening, the Rams were back in the record book, crowning individual 4 state champions and winning the school's first ever state tournament championship.

The tournament started with 9 Southern wrestlers earning a trip to Cole Fieldhouse for the MPSSAA championships.  The Rams needed all nine to contribute as we were in a dog-fight for the title with River Hill High School, coached by All-American Brandon Lauer.  All nine Southern wrestlers were able to win matches, scoring valuable team points and the four champions put us over the top, finishing the tournament 10 points ahead of River Hill.

Junior Davey Stewart (112) and senior Ryan Fitzwater (215) each went 1-2 in the tournament, and senior Kody Lewis (171) was 2-2.  Senior Josh Arnold (125) went 4-2 at Cole to earn 5th place, earning valuable team points along the way.

Our five finalists that afternoon were Lex Ozias (130), Brutus Scheffel (140), Bubba Scheffel (145), Jordan Skipper (152) and Ryan Bennett (189).  Brutus was a junior, going for his third straight title, Lex was a sophomore making his second trip to the finals after placing 2nd as a freshman.  Jordan, Bubba and Ryan were all in the finals for the first time.

2009 Parade of Champions, state record 5 wrestlers!

The traditional "parade of champions" is always an exciting event for the wrestlers, their families, the fans and the coaches.  I can't describe the pure joy I felt leading five of our wrestlers into the stadium that evening.  At the time, the pure magnitude of the situation had not sunk in.  We were simply headed out to wrestle and were trying somehow to win the tournament along the way.  Entering the finals, River Hill lead Southern by 9 points and had two finalists of their own.  We knew it was possible, but we had to win matches.

The championship finals started at 285 that evening and worked it's way down in weight classes.  The boys were fired up and were on the floor getting ready.  First up for Southern was Ryan Bennett at 189.  Ryan was up against Lance Lepard from Harford Tech.  They had wrestled before and it was a close match.  On this night, Lepard was better.  He was big and strong and dominated Bennett on his way to a 14-2 victory.  We were still down by 9 points and River Hill had a finalist in the next match.

At 171, Middletown's Brandon Johnson helped out the Rams by cruising to a major decision over the River Hill wrestler to keep the team score the same.  Garrett County had wrestlers in the finals in the next six weight classes which is a pretty amazing feat for a small county with only two schools.  Northern's Dustin Stough and Adam Moranduzzo joined Jordan, Bubba, Brutus and Lex in this Garrett County streak.

Jordan Skipper, Maryland State Champion!!

After Northern's Dustin Stough lost a tough match to Pat Downey at 160, it was time to take the mat for three straight matches.  At 152, Jordan Skipper faced Zach White from Walkersville.  They had met the previous week in the regional finals where Skipper pulled out a close win.  On this night, it

looked to be just as close and exciting.  White controlled the first period and took a slight lead into the second.  After the flip of the coin, White was given the choice of position and for some crazy reason we will never understand, he chose bottom.  Choosing bottom against Jordan Skipper is like choosing the Titanic over a Carnival cruise.  It's a death sentence and it proved to be just that.  In the second period, Jordan turned Zach three times with his cradle for nine points and cruised to a 10-3 victory.  Jordan's win scored 4 team points, shrinking River Hill's lead to 5.

Bubba Scheffel on top of the podium

We stayed on the mat for Bubba Scheffel at 145 against Zach White's twin brother Tyler.  Again, they met the previous week at regionals and Bubba prevailed.  In the state finals, Bubba was dominate and controlled the entire match before winning by pin late in the third period to capture his first (of 3) state championships.  The pin scored 6 team point and put Southern in the lead by 1 over River Hill.  We had two finalists remaining and River Hill had one.  We felt we were in pretty good shape, but there was still work to do.

Brutus Scheffel in the semis vs. Nathan White from River Hill

At 140, two-time state champion Brutus Scheffel was looking for his third straight individual title and had the opportunity to lock up the team championship for the Rams.  Like the two previous final bouts, this was a rematch of the regional finals as he faced Gus Mohlhenich from Winters Mill.  Brutus scored early and often and scored a huge 10-1 victory for his third state championship.  It also gave the Rams 5 big team points to extend our lead to 6 over River Hill. This guaranteed the Southern Rams at least a tie for the team title with each team having one finalist still to compete.

Lex Ozias controls Josh Duckworth from Northern in the
semis to earn his second straight trip to the finals.

We had to give up the corner briefly as Adam Moranduzzo from Northern wrestled at 135 and won his first state championship,  It was then time to get back to work and wrap up the team title with Lex
Ozias taking the mat at 130.  A win of any kind would secure the first ever team championship for Southern.  Lex was only a sophomore and was facing Rion Reiter, a senior from South Carroll.  This was also a regional final rematch.  Reiter fought hard and kept the match close, but Ozias was too strong and too technical.  Lex pulled away and earned a 7-3 victory, his first of three individual titles and secured the team championship for the Rams.  There was nothing River Hill could do in their final match (they lost) but accept the second place trophy and watch us hoist the championship plaque.

2009 State Champions!  Jordan Skipper (1st), Josh Arnold (5th), Bubba Scheffel (1st), Lex Ozias (1st),
Brutus Scheffel (1st), Ryan Bennett (2nd) with Coach Taylor and the championship plaque.

Memorable Moments

Beating Mt Ridge in 2013, very memorable!

Memorable Moments in SG Wrestling History

Justyce Fulmer gets the pin vs. Winters Mill

As we head into another season, we thought it would be interesting and fun to post stories about some of the most memorable moments in Southern Garrett Wrestling history.  These stories will be in no particular order and will not all be about great successes.  We hope this series of posts will be fun and informative and we encourage our followers to share their thoughts and share these stories with their friends.

 

Ten different SG wrestlers have won 18 individual state championships and the team has won three state titles.  We have earned some great wins and have taken some tough losses.  There have been individual success and failures and each has left powerful memories. 

 

Scott Cooper bumps up just so he can lift the monsters.

Even though we have had some of the state's greatest all-time wrestlers in our program and our team has reached the pinnacle of success, some of the most memorable moments involve the regular, everyday team members, coaches and their families.  We hope you enjoy our journey down memory lane.

 

2013 States

The MPSSAA State Tournament is the biggest event in Maryland wrestling and it took place at Cole Fieldhouse at the University of Maryland on March 1st and 2nd.  The Southern Rams have been on quite a roll over the last 10 years, with 21 wrestlers reaching the state finals and 13 winning the state championship.  As a team, the Rams won the tournament twice, placed 2nd twice and placed 4th twice.  We hold state records by placing 5 wrestlers in the finals twice and crowning four champions twice.

This season, the Rams qualified 3 wrestlers for the tournament coming out of the super-tough west region.  Juniors Austin Shaffer and Tanner Massey and senior Scott Cooper qualified for Cole Fieldhouse by placing 2nd, 4th and 3rd respectively at the regional tournament held last week at Oakdale High School in Frederick.

Austin Shaffer entered the tournament as the defending state champion and the favorite to win his second title.  Austin lost in the finals at regionals to Tim Nordan of Catoctin and most people expected a rematch in the finals at states.  Shaffer started the tournament by pinning his opponent from Sparrows Point in only 24 seconds.  In his quarter-final match, Shaffer dominated his opponent from Bo manor, finally pinning him late in the third period, earning a spot in the state semi-finals.

In the semis, Austin faced Naiheen Knight from Snow Hill, a tough, fast kid who knocked off another highly ranked kid in the quarters.  It was a wild, high scoring match that came down to a last second takedown.  In the first period, during a flurry of action, Knight was able to throw Shaffer to his back and take a 4-0 lead.  Shaffer fought back tying the score and keeping it close.  At one point, Shaffer came down funny on his elbow and had to take an injury time-out.  In obvious pain, Ausitn got up and said "this is the state semi finals, I'm wrestling" and went back to work.  The remainder of the match was tight and as time was running out, Knight was able to get a deep shot that Austin could not stop.  Knight was awarded the takedown and the 11-9 victory.

 

 

 

Austin dropped into the consolation round and was faced with the decision of continuing or pulling out and placing 6th.  We advised him to rest his arm and avoid further injury, but he was determined to continue and do his best.  In his first consolation match, Shaffer faced McAleer from Manchester Valley.  In a gutsy performance, Austin won 2-0, advancing to the consolation finals vs. Stevan Smith from Kent Island.  In the final match of the day, Shaffer dominated the action throughout and came away with a 6-2 decision to finish the tournament in 3rd place.  After returning home and seeing the doctor, Austin was placed in a cast with a torn ligament in his right elbow.  He is out of action for six weeks.  Shaffer's season ends with an impressive 43-2 record.

At 138, Tanner Massey entered the state tournament for the first time.  As a #4 placewinner at regionals, Tanner's first match was against a #1 seed, Connor Furst from Patuxant High School.  Massey wrestled well, but in the end, he was caught in a nasty move known as the spladle and was pinned, dropping him into the consolation round.  In Friday night's round, Tanner faced Nelson Phillips from Rising Sun.  The match was tight and Tanner wrestled well, but in the end, Phillips won 5-0 and Tanner was eliminated.

Senior Scott Cooper was also wrestling in the state tournament for the first time.  He entered the tournament with a 23-2 record and we knew he had a great chance.  His first match of the weekend was against Robby Happy from Oakland Mills.  Scott got into a little trouble early, but was able to fight out of danger and win the match by pin near the end of the first period.  In his quarter final match, Scott faced a regional champion with an impressive 36-1 record from Dunbar named Aaron Savage.  In the quarter final match, Scott did what he has done all year long.  Scott wrestled tough and stayed in good position then took advantage of an opportunity and pinned the kid in a wild scramble of action, earning his spot in the state semi finals.

In Saturday morning's semi final round, Cooper would face Matt Olauson from Queen Anne's who boasted an outstanding 42-1 record entering the match.  Unfortunatly, Olauson set the pace early and scored repeatedly, building a big lead and staying in great position, earning a 12-4 win over Scott.  Scott entered the consolation round with his sights set on third place.  In his first consi match, Cooper faced Robby Happy for the second time in the tournament and the result was the same, Scott winner by pin.

In the final bout for third place, Scott faced Payton Beachum from Western Tech.  After a scoreless first period, Scott scored 4 points in the second and was able to control the rest of the match to pull out the 4-0 win and finish in third place, ending an outstanding season and a great career at Southern.