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.