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| Junior Brison Dixon remained unbeaten |
The Southern Rams made the long trip to Westminster, MD this weekend to compete in the Grindstone Duals at Winters Mill High School. The tournament saw some great competition and outstanding wrestling teams, big and small, from all over the state. As the dust settled on Saturday evening, the Rams found themselves in a 4 way tie for second place with a solid 6-2 record. After the criteria was calculated, Southern finished in third place behind Leonardtown and the host school.
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| Freshman Nate Tasker was 8-0 at the tournament |
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| Junior Jimmy Schwab went 7-1 this weekend |
On Friday, the Rams opened the tournament with a dominating effort against Lackey High School, winning 48-22. Southern followed that match with an equally solid 50-27 victory over Mardela High School from southern Maryland. For the final round on Friday evening, the Rams faced the eventual tournament champions Leonardtown High. Southern started fast and built a 15-3 lead, but Leonardtown was able to win six straight bouts to take a commanding 36-15 lead with four matches remaining. The Rams picked up pins in the next three bouts to close the gap to 36-33 heading into the last bout. Unfortunately, Leonardtown would win the final match and take the dual meet by a 42-33 score.
On Saturday, the Rams started with two big wins, 66-18 over Dulaney and 78-0 over AACS to bring the team's record to 4-1 on the weekend. Next up was the host school Winters Mill, a team all too familiar to the Rams. It was a tight match throughout and the intensity level was high. In the end, the Falcolns were able to secure a 39-33 victory over the Rams. The Rams stood at 4-2 with two tough matched remaining.
Up next was Owings Mills, another team with a lot of history and familiarity to the Rams. The last time Southern and Owings Mills met head to head in a dual meet was in the state finals in 2009. On that day the Ram prevailed 48-24, on this day the Rams prevailed 42-19. That win gave the Rams a 5-2 record heading into the final match against 6-1 Paint Branch.
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| Sophomore Joey Embleton was the hero on Saturday |
The final match started out on a somber note as the whole team was a little down after losing one of their captains to a broken ankle that occurred in the previous match. Paint Branch took advantage and built up a solid 29-0 lead before the Rams got their first win of the dual. From there, Southern reeled off win after win, most by pins, to storm back to tie the score at 34 with one match remaining. In the final bout, sophomore Joey Embleton took the mat and soon found himself down 4-0 in the third period with the clock running. As has been his trademark throughout his short career, Joey never quit wrestling and was able to storm back and pull off the amazing 9-6 stunning victory to propel his team to a 6-2 record for the tournament. Photos courtesy of Bev Rasel.
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| Senior team leader Devan Hamrick in charge |
8-0 - Brison Dixon (106)
8-0 - Nate Tasker (113)
8-0 - Devan Hamrick (138)
7-1 - Jimmy Schwab (145)
7-1 - Joey Embleton (160)
6-2 - Jake Sweitzer (126)
6-2 - Jace Guy (132)
5-3 - Corey Horner (152)
4-3 - Ethan Bittinger (170)
Zach Burgess, Hunter Park and Cole Sweitzer each earned 3 wins and Patrick Duggan won twice.
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| Senior Ethan Bittinger gets a pin prior to his injury |
Match Scores
Southern 48 - Lackey 22
Southern 50 - Mardela 27
Leonardtown 42 - Southern 33
Southern 66 - Dulaney 18
Southern 78 - AACS 0
Winters Mill 39 - Southern 33
Southern 42 - Owings Mills 19
Southern 37 - Paint Branch 34
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