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| 2003-2004 Southern Rams |
Memorable Moments in SG Wrestling History
Our second "Memorable Moments" post could also be called the most infamous moment in Southern Garrett Wrestling history.
In early February 2004, Southern Garrett had qualified for our second straight Regional Dual Meet Tournament. The top four teams in the region qualify and it was the second straight year we made it in. In all, we would run that streak to 9, qualifying for the event every year through 2011. We are not sure if that is a state record, but it is an accomplishment of which we are very proud.
On that cold winter night in 2004, we made the long trip to Carroll County for regional duals. As luck would have it, we drove the whole way to wrestle Beall High School from Frostburg in the first round. The winner would advance to the finals, the loser would get on the bus for the long, cold, snowy ride home.
Beall was a strong team who had won the regional duals the previous year and hosted the event the year before that. We had wrestled in a dual meet during the regular 2003/2004 season and the up-and-coming Rams pulled off a big upset. At that time, they had been on a 24 match win streak dating back to 2002. No one expected us to win that match and it shocked most state wrestling fans that we were also in the duals. After our heated regular season dual meet, Beall was out for blood but we were ready to beat them again.
We had a good team, but we really didn't know how good we were. We were just having fun winning for a change. Not only had we beaten Beall a few weeks earlier, we crushed Northern Garrett twice. These wins against the Huskies were the first wins for Southern vs. our county rivals in 18 years. It was shaping up to be a great season.
The "Up Side the Head" incident had it's roots in our first meeting of the season with Beall. Freshman Daniel Carr, who couldn't even make the line-up at his own weight class, bumped up a class to defeat the undefeated Travis Dixon from Beall. It was a close heated match, but Carr prevailed. Dixon continued winning for the remainder of the regular season and entered the duals with only the one loss. The rematch at regional duals was epic. It was high scoring with wild scrambles and in the end, Carr pulled off a 10-9 victory. When the final whistle blew, Carr thought he lost and Dixon thought he won but a review of the scorebook confirmed Daniel's victory.
The Rams went on to dominate the remainder of the match, winning 43-20 to earn a spot in the regional finals against Walkersville. We were thrilled with our performance and were ready to win it all. After the final bout vs. Beall, we started the traditional hand-shake line up across the mat. "Good match, good job, good match, good job" while shaking hands with the Beall wrestlers and their coaches. Everything was going smoothly until Travis Dixon reached Daniel Carr in the center of the mat.
Obviously, Travis Dixon was not very happy being knocked from the ranks of the undefeated, and then beat again, by our little, skinny, under-sized freshman. His looping swing caught us all off guard and caught Daniel Carr "Up Side the Head" and the place went crazy. Our fans and our administrators rushed in to pull people apart and we quickly gathered our composure and gathered our wrestlers and headed out of the gym to the locker room.
We had the regional finals ahead of us and we tried very hard to settle our kids down and get them ready for Walkersville. In the end we fell just short and will forever blame Travis Dixon for screwing up our Mo-Jo and costing us the regional title.
In the end, Dixon never wrestled another match while Carr went on the qualify for states all four years and advance to the state finals twice, proving once and for all - crime doesn't pay. This was the beginning of our rise to the pinnacle of wrestling in the state of Maryland and the Southern Rams would dominate Beall for the final years of the school's existence.
Southern Garrett State Place-Winners and Qualifiers on the 2004 Roster
- Scott Wildesen - 04 - 1st
- Justin Ratliff - 06 - 1st
- Justin Ratliff - 07 2nd
- Daniel Carr - 06 - 2nd
- Daniel Carr - 07 - 2nd
- Scott Wildesen - 05 - 3rd
- Josh Armstrong - 07 - 3rd
- Nathan Sines - 04 - 4th
- Daniel Goulart - 04 - 6th
- Jason Weeks - Q
- Jeremy Gregory - Q
- Justin Fitzwater - Q
- Chris Bennett - Q
103 - Josh Armstron (SG) dec Alex Tenaglio (B) 15-14 ot
112 - Brent Walker (B) pinned Greg Graham (SG) 1:54
119 - Justin Ratliff (SG) dec Nathan Jackson (B) 11-9
125 - Daniel Carr (SG) dec Travis Dixon (B) 10-9
130 - Chris Lewis (B) pinned Andrew Pritts (SG) 1:05
135 - Nathan Sines (SG) dec Jeff Brant (B) 13-2
140 - Jeffrey Gregory (SG) pinned Ryan Lewis (B) 1:15
145 - Jeremy Gregory (SG) dec Dave Winner (B) 9-2
152 - Scott Wildesen (SG) pinned Kyle Parry (B) 1:43
160 - Christopher Tepper (SG) dec Paul Sagal (B) 7-6
171 - Cody Miller (B) dec Jason Weeks (SG) 11-6
189 - Chris Bennett (SG) pinned Elliot Simmons (B) :34
215 - Chris Lindeman (B) pinned Justin Fitzwater (SG) 5:49
285 - Dan Goulart (SG) pinned Jason Laber (B) :15
Daniel never bragged about his accomplishments, he has always been very humble and let his wrestling prowess due his talking on the mat for him. Daniel has gone on to become the most successful wrestler in Southern Garrett High School history by becoming a 3X All American for UMBC and holds UMBC's single season win record and their all time win record holder. We love you Daniel!
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