Hammering at the Hub



2-time Hub Cup Champion, Devan Hamrick

For the second year in a row, the Southern Rams competed in the super-tough North Hagerstown Hup Cup wrestling tournament and for the second year in a row, Devan Hamrick was crowned champion of what many call the toughest tournament in the state.  It was a long weekend of great competition, and by 8pm on Saturday night, Devan's hand was raised in front of the packed gym.

 

Hamrick with a big win over the state's #1 ranked wrestler

The tournament brackets were filled with state ranked wrestlers and strong wrestlers from Virginia, Pennsylvania and several private schools.  Hamricks bracket was no exception.  Devan's first round match was against a tough private school kid from St. Pauls.  Hamrick dominated the match, winning 5-0 to advance to the second round where he picked up a 2nd period pin.  That win over Lukas Plank from St. James earned him a spot in the semis against the #1 ranked kid in the state, Tim Null from South Carroll.  Interestingly, Null was Austin Shaffer's opponent in last year's state final match which was won by Shaffer.

 

After a scoreless first period, Null chose bottom and Hamrick was able to ride him tough and as time expired in the 2nd, the score was still tied at 0.  Devan chose bottom in the third and was able to escape to take a 1-0 lead.  As time was winding down, Hamrick scored a takedown to extend the lead to 3-0 and rode out Null for the big win.  "I love being the underdog" Hamrick said before the match.  "All the pressure is on him, nobody is expecting me to win, I can just go out and wrestle." he added.  The win against Null earned him a spot in the finals for the second straight year.

 

Jimmy Schwab in control on his way to 4th place.

In the final match, Hamrick was facing a strong, tough, funky wrestler from Waynesboro, Pa named Austin Wise.  Wise won by fall in the semis after a crazy flurry of action with Wise ending on top.  I this last match, Devan was able to score a takedown and an escape and ride his opponent while on top.  In the third period, Hamrick scored a nice reversal and put Wise straight to his back looking for the pin.  As time expired, Devan was awarded 5 points for the 8-0 major decision victory and his second Hub Cup championship.

 

Joey Embleton heading for the pin

At 138, Jimmy Schwab entered the tournament with an impressive 15-4 record and was seeded third.  Schwab won his first two bouts handily to earn a spot in the semi finals against state runner-up, Hunter Faith from the host school.  Schwab wrestled hard, but was defeated by Faith who was crowned champion of the tournament later that evening.  In the consolation round, Jimmy scored an impressive victory against a private school wrestler to advance to the consi finals where he would face Tanner Canfield from Williamsport high school.   Canfield would win this bout 3-1 and Schwab would finish in fourth place at the Hub Cup.

 

Newcomer Patrick Duggan with 2 wins at the Hub Cup

Freshman Joey Embleton was able to win 3 out of 5 matches at the Hub Cup, all by pin, but fell short of placing at the tournament.  Sophomore Patrick Duggan won 2 out of 4 and also fell short of the podium.  Jake Sweitzer, Alec Horner, Josh King, Dalton Cooper and John Mayne each won 1 match before being eliminated from the event.  Brison Dixon, Ethan Bittinger, Bernie Sislo and David Lewis wrestled but were unable to win a match.

 

Overall, the Southern Rams placed 14th out of 22 teams at the 2015 North Hagerstown Hub Cup wrestling tournament.  It was a tough event but each Southern wrestler gained valuable experience, wrestling some of the best athletes in the tri-state area.  On Wednesday evening, the Rams begin a long home-stand when the Frankfort Falcons come to town.

 

120 - Devan Hamrick 4-0  1st place

138 - Jimmy Schwab 3-2  4th place

145 - Joey Embleton 3-2

160 - Patrick Duggan 2-2

113 - Jake Sweitzer 1-2

126 - Alec Horner 1-2

132 - Josh King 1-2

182 - Dalton Cooper 1-1

195 - John Mayne 1-2

106 - Brison Dixon 0-2

152 - Ethan Bittinger 0-2

170 - Bernie Sislo 0-1

220 - David Lewis 0-2

 

Hub Cup 2015
Place	Team	Score
1.	North Hagerstown	248.00
2.	Waynesboro	164.00
3.	South Carroll	154.50
4.	Woodgrove	130.50
5.	Northern Garrett	127.00
6.	Catoctin	126.50
7.	St. Pauls School	121.00
8.	Moutain Ridge	118.50
9.	Williamsport	118.00
10.	Quince Orchard	102.00
11.	Musselman	99.00
12.	North Point	97.50
13.	James Wood	90.00
14.	South Hagerstown	79.00
	Southern Garrett	79.00
16.	Magruder	76.00
17.	Berkley Springs	75.00
18.	St. James	63.00
19.	Paint Branch	61.00
20.	Frederick	40.00
21.	Silver Oak	22.00

2015 Super Duals

Dalton Cooper, Jimmy Schwab and Brison Dixon

The Southern Rams visited Fort Hill high school over the weekend for the 2015 edition of the Super Duals wrestling tournament.  Our young team fought hard and wrestled well in the dual meet format event.  In the end, the Rams finished the weekend with 3 wins and 4 losses and 3 Southern wrestlers were unbeaten.  Two of the team's losses were by a single point and a third loss was by only 5 points.  Northern Garrett was the dominating team at the tournament, winning all 7 matches and defeating Southern for the second time in 4 days.  Allegany placed 2nd as a team and Petersburg was third.

Southern 60 - Frankfort 24
Southern 51 - Fort Hill 30
Southern 40 - Hyndman 39
Allegany 42 - Southern 41
Petersburg 37 - Southern 36
Buckhannon 41 - Southern 36
Northern 44 - Southern 24



Sophomore Jimmy Schwab unbeaten this weekend

Jimmy Schwab (138) led the Rams by winning all 7 matches on the weekend, bringing his record this season to 15-4.  David Lewis (220) also did not lose at the Super Duals, winning 5 matches before pulling out of the tournament with an injury.

 

Junior Devan Hamrick (120-126) won 6 out of 7 this weekend to extend his team leading record to 16-3.  Additionally, he avenged his Tuesday night loss to Rounds from Northern by beating him in Friday's first round.  Senior Dalton Cooper (195) also won 6 out of 7 at Fort Hill.  Senior Josh King and sophomore Brison Dixon won 5 out of 7 and freshman Jake Sweitzer won 4 out of 7.  Patrick Duggan wrestled only Saturday and won 2 out of 3.

7-0  Jimmy Schwab
6-1  Devan Hamrick
6-1  Dalton Cooper
5-2  Josh King
5-2  Brison Dixon
5-0  David Lewis
4-3  Jake Sweitzer
3-4  Joey Embleton
3-4  Matt Jones
2-1  Patrick Duggan
2-5  Ethan Bittinger
2-5  Jake Zimmerman
1-3  Bernie Sislo
1-6  Zach Burgess
0-2  John Mayne
0-1  Alec Horner



Senior David Lewis goes 5-0

This Thursday evening, the Rams return to action with a tri-match at Meyersdale and a rematch with Hyndman.  Then on Friday, Southern travels to North Hagerstown for the Hub Cup, one of the toughest tournaments in the state of Maryland.  After that, the Rams will have 5 straight home matches to finish out January.

Rough Night Camping

Dalton Cooper got the Rams on
the board with a quick pin

When the Southern Rams entered the gym at Allegany High School on Saturday evening to face the Campers in the opening match of the season, we knew it would not be a repeat of last season's dominating shut out performance.  With two forfeits in our lineup and 8 wrestlers who had never wrestled a varsity match, it was apparent this would be a much more tightly contested match.  Allegany had not beaten the Rams in recent memory, but they looked like, and wrestled like, a team on a mission to change that course.

The match started at 170 with first year wrestler Matt Jones taking on one of Allegany's experienced co-captains.  Jones did a nice job in the first period and it ended with a 2-0 lead for the Camper grappler.  In the second, Jones was on bottom and fought off numerous pinning attempts, but finally was turned and stuck to give Allegany a 6-0 lead.  The 182 pound class featured another first year Ram wrestler against a more experienced Allegany foe (and coach's son).  Bernie Sislo fought hard and in the end dropped a 7-0 decision to extend the Campers lead to 9-0.

Devan Hamrick with the pin

Jimmy Schwab with a dominating win

Dalton Cooper got the Rams on the board at 195 with a first period pin, but he was followed with two more young Rams, David Lewis and Jake Zimmerman, losing by pin to two more Allegany wrestlers and suddenly, the Rams were in a pretty big hole, trailing 21-6 heading into the lower weights.

At 106, Allegany received a forfeit to stretch their lead to 27-6.  After a double forfeit at 113, Southern started the comeback with four straight wins.  Jake Sweitzer was awarded a forfeit at 120 and state runner-up Devan Hamrick picked up a big pin at 126 to close the gap.  Alec Horner won by forfeit at 132 and Jimmy Schwab scored a dominating major decision at 138, and suddenly, the Rams had a 28-27 lead with three bouts remaining.

Max Bittinger pins and
his teammates celebrate

The bout at 145 featured another of our wrestlers competing in his first varsity match against one of Allegany's seasoned veterans.  Freshman Joey Embleton wrestled very well against his senior opponent, but lost a 6-2 decision to give the Campers a 30-28 lead.  Next up, Ethan Bittinger lost an 8-0 major decision and the team score was 34-28 with one bout remaining.  It would all come down to this.  If Corey Horner could score a pin, the team score would be tied and the winner would be decided by criteria.

Horner wrestled well and was in control of the entire match, but in the end, he was not able to turn his opponent and came away with a 3-1 decision, bringing the final team score to 34-31 in Allegany's favor.

The Allegany Campers are a much improved squad and wrestled tough and with a lot of heart.  Our inexperience showed and the two forfeits played a big part in our loss.  This is just the first match of the season and we will work hard in practice to get better every day and we now look forward to our rematch with the Allegany Campers at Southern in January and our chance to avenge this tough loss.

On a positive note, our JV wrestlers dominated the mats last evening.  Trenten Friend, John Mayne, Luke O'Brien, Max Bittinger, Michael Duggan and Zach Burgess all picked up wins in their JV matches al Allegany.

170 - Caleb Cornwell (A) pins Matt Jones (SG) 2:40
182 - Aaron Lancaster (A) dec Bernie Sislo (SG) 7-0
195 - Dalton Cooper (SG) pins Caleb Wilt (A) :39
220 - Diego Thompson (A) pins David Lewis (SG) 1:52
285 - Cody Lynn (A) pins Jake Zimmerman (SG)
106 - Damian Sudac (A) via Forfeit
113 - Double Forfeit
120 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) via Forfeit
126 - Devan Hamrick (SG) pins Brennan Ives (A) 2:30
132 - Alec Horner (SG) via Forfeit
138 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) m dec Matt Murphy (A) 10-2
145 - Christopher Stosick (A) dec Joey Embleton (SG) 6-2
152 - Karson Robinette (A) m dec Ethan Bittinger (SG) 8-0
160 - Corey Horner (SG) dec Jordan Pattrerson (A) 3-1