Rammin' the 'Roaders

Joe Embleton in control of his match at 182

It was a long, sloppy trip yesterday to Brunswick, MD for an afternoon match between the home-standing Railroaders and the visiting Southern Rams.  After a slight little problem with Old 42 (our school bus that likes to give us trouble) we arrived, weighed in and were ready to put our 26-4 season record on the line.

Scotty Tichnell with the 1st period fall

The match started at 132 and we went straight to work.   Junior Jake E Sweitzer took the mat and ran up the score to 12-1 before securing a 3rd period pin to give the Rams a 6-0 lead.  Nate Tasker, Jimmy Schwab, Alec Horner and Patrick Duggan scored pins of their own while Jace Guy won by tech fall and the rout was on.  Southern took a 35-0 lead into the match at 182. 

At 182, Joe Embleton churned out a dominating victory to stretch our lead.  Hunter Park was awarded a forfeit while Scotty Tichnell and Cole Sweitzer added pins to bring the team score to 56-0 heading into the lower weights.

Brunswick was able to score victories at 106 and 126 and we were given forfeits at 113 and 120 to bring the final match score to 68-9 in favor of the visiting Southern Rams.  Prior to the varsity match there were two JV bouts.  Brandon Mersing did a great job wrestling against his Brunswick opponent and Gunnar Ward had a victory in his grasp but was not able to put it away.  Both wrestled great!

Southern returns to action tonight in a match against the Frankfort Falcons that will be wrestled at Northern High School at 6pm.  The Rams are now 27-4 on the season.

Gunnar Ward going for the pin

Southern 68 - Brunswick 9
106 - L. Bartholomew (B) dec Evan Paugh (SG) 10-3
113 - Brison Dixon (SG) via forfeit
120 - Joey McComas (SG) via forfeit
126 - Shane Cockerham (B) pins Jake W Sweitzer 5:19
132 - Jake E Sweitzer (SG) pins Roland Rohrback (B) 4:55
138 - Nate Tasker (SG) pins Anthony Pecora (B) :37
145 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) pins Eston Conner (B) 1:35
152 - Jace Guy (SG) tech Cody Cooper (B) 22-4
160 - Alec Horner (SG) pins Quinn Lear (B) :36
170 - Patrick Duggan (SG) pins Aiden Christie (B) 1:24
182 - Joe Embleton (SG) dec Brady Kerns (B) 10-4
195 - Hunter Park (SG) via forfeit
220 - Scotty Tichnell (SG) pins Chance Curry (B) 1:21
285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) pins James Marker (B) 2:50

An Instant Classic

Ram v Huskies in front of a packed house

As far as high school wrestling matches go, it doesn't get much better than last night's clash between the Southern Rams and the home-standing Northern Huskies.  The match had it all; a packed house, two excellent teams, no forfeits, great wrestling and a 2+ hour barn-burner that came down to the final bout of the evening.

Ram Fans had a lot to cheer about

Just like the old days, the match started at the 106 pound class and ended with the heavyweights.  It didn't take senior Brison Dixon long to get the Rams on the board as he scored a second period fall to remain undefeated (20-0) on the season and give Southern a quick 6-0 lead.  Freshman Joey McComas dropped a decision at 113 to set up a clash at 120 between Northern's undefeated senior Steven Yutzy and Southern's undefeated freshman Jake W Sweitzer.  The Huskies were able to get the 9-1 win at 120 and took the lead 7-6.

The Huskies made a big move in their line-up from 126 to 152 in an attempt to get the upper hand in this tight battle by inserting Jarrett Kelly in at 126 and bumping the rest up one weight class.  The Rams thwarted this move and took back the lead 9-7 at 126 with junior Jake E Sweitzer winning by a 4-3 decision.  The Huskies returned the favor at 132 with a win by decision of their own to bring the match score to 10-9 in favor of Northern.  They stretched their lead to 16-9 with a pin at 138 to set up two tough bouts coming up at 145 and 152.  The match at 145 saw sophomore Jace Guy defeating senior Luke Lowry 5-2.  At 152, the Huskies score a decision of their own and the match score stood at 19-12 in Northern's favor.

Southern can storming back win big pins at 160 by Alec Horner and at 170 by Joe Embleton to give the Rams the lead.  That lead did not last long when Northern scored a fall at 182 to go up 25-24 with only three bouts remaining.  At 195, sophomore Hunter Park picked up a huge win by pin for the Rams to give his team a 30-25 lead going into the final two matches.

At 220, the Northern wrestler dominated but Scotty Tichnell fought hard but ended up losing a 16-8 decision setting up the final, winner-take-all bout to determine the overall match.  Sophomore heavyweight Cole Sweitzer took the mat as both sides of the gym were chanting and cheering for their respective wrestler.  The atmosphere was amazing and in a flurry of action in the second period, Sweitzer put the Husky grappler to his back and scored the epic win by pin.

The Rams move their overall record to 18-4 on the season and will travel to Fort Hill this weekend for the annual Fort Hill Super Duals tournament.

Southern 36 - Northern 29

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) pins Jesse Harman (NG) 2:53
113 - Hunter Wilhelm (NG) dec Joey McComas (SG) 5-0
120 - Steven Yutzy (NG) m dec Jake W Sweitzer (SG) 9-1
126 - Jake E Sweitzer (SG) dec Jarrett Kelly (NG) 4-3
132 - Devin Wilhelm (NG) dec Nate Tasker (SG) 8-4
138 - Tyler Thomas (NG) pins Erik Fike (SG) 2:06
145 - Jace Guy (SG) dec Luke Lowry (NG) 5-2
152 - Jordon Day (NG) dec Jimmy Schwab (SG) 6-4
160 - Alec Horner (SG) pins Randall Ganoe (NG) 3:12
170 - Joe Embleton (SG) pins Tony Walker (NG) 5:20
182 - Sam Beeman (NG) pins Patrick Duggan (SG) 3:12
195 - Hunter Park (SG) pins James Lewis (NG) 2:48
220 - Riley Brick (NG) m dec Scotty Tichnell (SG) 16-8
285 -  Cole Sweitzer (SG) pins Brian Tiermersma (NG) 3:15

Just Bear-ly

Jace Guy working for points

It was an afternoon filled with action on the mats at Southern High School yesterday afternoon as the Oakdale Bears and the Keyser Tornados made the trip to Oakland for a tri-match.  While the JVs wrestled on mat 2, the varsity action began on mat 1 with Oakdale facing Keyser.  The Bears cruised to a dominating win and the stage was set for Southern vs. Oakdale.

Last season, Oakdale won big by the score of 52-27 and the Rams were prepared to make sure that didn't happen this season.  The match started at 113 where freshman Joey McComas took the mat and made quick work of his opponent, scoring a first period fall and giving the home team an early 6-0 lead.  Joey was followed by another freshman, Jake W Sweitzer who also scored a quick pin to give the Rams a 12-0 lead.  Junior Jake E Sweitzer added a win by decision and we were up 15-0.

Hunter Park in control

Our lead evaporated in a hurry as Oakdale sent out the strongest part of their line-up in the next 5 bouts.  Oakdale won by pin at 132, 138 and 152 and added wins by decision at 145 and 160 to take a 24-15 lead.  Junior Alec Horner picked up a big pin for Southern at 170 to close the gap to 24-21.  Joe Embleton lost a decision at 182 and Hunter Park won a decision at 195 and we trailed 27-24 with three matches remaining.

Jimmy Schwab looking for two!

At 220, Scotty Tichnell faced one of Oakdale's best wrestlers and lost by fall.  After receiving a forfeit at 285, the match came down to the final bout, sophomore Evan Paugh at 103.  Evan wrestled a tough match and it was close throughout, but in the end, he was unable to turn his opponent and lost a 5-0 decision to bring the final team score to 36-30 in favor of the visiting Oakdale Bears.

The final match of the day found the Southern Rams facing off against the Keyser Golden Tornados.  The match started at 120 and the Rams won 5 of the first 6 bouts by pin to open up a 30-6 lead.  Southern won 5 of the next 6 bouts as well, this time with 4 pins and the rout was on.  We led 57-9 with the final two bouts going in Keyser's favor by decisions.  In the end, the Rams defeated Keyser 57-16 in dominating fashion.

Next up for the Southern Rams is the big cross-county clash with the Northern Huskies next Wednesday, January 4th starting at 7pm in Accident.

Oakdale 36 - Southern 30

113 - Joey McComas (SG) pins Patrick Thomas (O) 1:15
120 - Jake W Sweitzer (SG) pins Liam Popkin (O) :31
126 - Jake E Sweitzer (SG) dec. Ramy Freeman (O) 5-1
132 - Wyatt McCoy (O) pins Nate Tasker (SG) 3:26
138 - Zac Leskoski (O) pins Erik Fike (SG) 2:49
145 - Kyle McDonald (O) dec. Jimmy Schwab (SG) 4-2
152 - Logan McCoy (O) pins Mikey Greene (SG) :34
160 - Chase DeMaille (O) dec. Jace Guy (SG) 2-1
170 - Alec Horner (SG) pins Logan Carey (O) 1:32
182 - Mario Goings (O) dec Joe Embleton (SG) 5-2
195 - Hunter Park (SG) dec. Joe Thomas (O) 13-7
220 - Bryce DeMaille (O) pins Scotty Tichnell (SG) :14
285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) via forfeit
106 - Jeremy Welch (O) dec. Evan Paugh (SG) 5-0

Alec Horner vs Keyser

Southern 57 - Keyser 16

120 - Jake W Sweitzer (SG) pins Brendan Pattison (K) 1:01
126 - Jake E Sweitzer (SG) pins Justin Davis (K) 4:23
132 - Nate Tasker (SG) pins Ezra Parks (K) 1:41
138 - Dalton Wilt (K) pins Erik Fike (SG) 2:30
145 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) pins Tyler Mason (K) 5:30
152 - Jace Guy (SG) pins Austin Kitzmiller (K) 1:04
160 - Shayden Daugherty (K) dec. Alec Horner (SG) 7-0
170 - Joe Embleton (SG) pins Adam Kephart (K) :27
182 - Patrick Duggan (SG) pins James Haywood (K) :44
195 - Hunter Park (SG) dec. Hugo Perez (K) 6-4
220 - Scotty Tichnell (SG) pins Jacob Biser (K) 3:01
285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) pins Matthew Stewart (K) 1:56
106 - Tanner Staggs (K) dec Evan Paugh (SG) 10-0
113 - Tyler Staggs (K) dec Joey McComas (SG) 7-0