Taming The 'Cats

Alec Horner starts us off with a pin!

The Southern Rams returned to action on Saturday and put their 15 match win streak on the line in a match at Williamsport Wildcats' home gym.   The St. James school brought their JV wrestlers so it was a full afternoon of great wrestling action.

 

Joey Embleton wins again!

Following the host school's senior night celebration activities, the match against Williamsport began at 138 pounds.  Alec Horner took the mat and quickly gave the Rams a 6-0 lead with a first period pin.  Jimmy Schwab followed with another quick pin and Southern's lead was 12-0.  At 152, senior Corey Horner faced off with one of the Wildcat's returning state qualifiers, a senior co-captain, Tanner Canfield.  Horner went right to work and controlled the whole match en-route to a solid 7-2 decision.

 

Impressive win for freshman Hunter Park

Williamsport got on the board with a pin at 160 and Joey Embleton got it right back with a pin of his own at 170 to bring the team score to 21-6 in favor of the visiting Rams.  The match at 182 saw the return of another Williamsport state place winner, Kobe Baker.  His win closed the gap to 21-12.  At 195, freshman Hunter Park won with a dominating 8-2 decision and at 220, the Wildcats were able to secure a pin, making the team score 24-18 in Southern's favor.

 

Jake Sweitzer coming back to pin!

Cole Sweitzer (285) and Brison Dixon (106) both picked up wins to stretch our lead to 33-18, heading into the final four bouts.  At 113, freshman Nate Tasker fell behind early but came storming back, scoring 10 points in the third period to capture an exciting 14-13 last second victory.  Tasker's win was enough to clinch the victory for the Rams, but the excitement was not done for the afternoon.

 

At 120, Jake Sweitzer also fell behind early and shocked the crowd with a reversal and pin late in the third period for the victory.  Jace Guy lost to Williamsport's top wrestler in a tough, bloody battle and the stage was set for the final match of the day.

 

Devan Hamrick in search of history

Devan Hamrick took the mat in the final bout of the afternoon in search of his 150th career victory.  The list of wrestlers who have earned that many wins is very short and quite exclusive.  Hamrick left no doubt that he deserved to be on the list, dominating his opponent, scoring 14 points before decking him with a pinning combination in the third period.  Hamrick joins Brutus and Bubba Scheffel, Lex Ozias and Austin Shaffer as Rams who have 150 career wins.  This is indeed a huge accomplishment. 

 

The win was the 30th of the season for the Southern Rams.  With two more matches on the schedule, Southern is still in a position to qualify for the prestigious, post season "regional duals".  Next up for the Rams is a dual meet at home on Thursday night against our rivals from Frostburg, the Mountain Ridge Miners.  Wrestling is set to begin at 7pm on Thursday in the Ram Arena in Oakland.

Michael Hollingsworth with a pin!

Southern 48 - Williamsport 23

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) dec Bryce Palamar (W) 4-3
113 - Nate Tasker (SG) dec Luke Nalley (W) 14-13
120 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) pins Cody Crawford (W) 5:16
126 - Justin Beckley (W) tech Jace Guy (SG) 16-0
132 - Devan Hamrick (SG) pins Trent Gross (W) 4:32
138 - Alec Horner (SG) pins Nate Anderson (W) :35
145 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) pins Hayden Pendley (W) 1:38
152 - Corey Horner (SG) dec Tanner Canfield (W) 7-2
160 - Jerry Moschel (W) pins Brad Davis (SG) 3:22
170 - Joey Embleton (SG) pins Connor Thomas (SG) 4:46
182 - Kobe Baker (W) pins Bernie Sislo (SG) 3:30
195 - Hunter Park (SG) dec Kai Holman (W) 8-2
220 - Dylan Anderson (W) pins Scotty Tichnell (SG) :25
285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) pins Sean-Cole Ruth (W) 1:22

An Epic Battle

Nate Tasker gets us started with a big win!

 
As far as high school wrestling matches go, it doesn't get much better than last night's clash between county rivals, the Northern Huskies and the Southern Rams.  Both teams entered the match on big winning streaks.  The Rams have not lost since December and are on a 15 match win streak.  The Huskies entered the match unbeaten, with a perfect 14-0 record.  The gym was packed with enthusiastic fans, one side all dressed in red and the other side in blue.  Strategy played a big part in the outcome and even the coin toss was important.  The first nine bouts of the evening were hard fought, exciting matches and the place was electric.  In the end, the Rams were able to come out on top, winning 9 of the 14 bouts to take the 37-24 victory and knock the Huskies from the ranks of undefeated.


Jake Sweitzer vs Devin Wilhelm, another great Ram win!



Alec Horner gets the pin we needed with 5 seconds remaining

The action started at 120 and the chess match was on.  We decided to bump Nate Tasker (113) to wrestle the first match and the move paid off.  Tasker was able to score a 4-1 decision over the bigger Husky to get Southern on the board first.  Next up was Jake Sweitzer, who also pulled off a huge win for the Rams, defeating Devin Wilhelm 7-6 to bring the team score to 6-0.  Northern picked up a decision at 132 to close the gap to 6-3.

At 138, the chess match continued.  We sent out Alec Horner in a "must win" match and he came through in a big way, earning a pin with only 5 seconds left.  The bumping up continued as Devan Hamrick scored a decision at 145 and Jimmy Schwab earned a major decision at 152 to bring the team score to 19-3 in favor of the Rams.  As nice as it was to have a 19-3 lead, we knew we had to win more matches to finish off the Huskies.  Northern picked up a win at 160 to tighten things up a bit.

 

Jimmy Schwab with a major decision

Next up was a huge match at 170 with sophomore Joey Embleton facing senior Kyle Beard.  Both wrestlers are having great seasons and with the entire match hanging in the balance, Embleton rose to the occasion and dominated Beard for all six minutes to earn an impressive 7-2 win.  With the team score now 22-6, we knew we needed one more win to close the deal.  At 182, we sent out Patrick Duggan in a pivotal match and he was able to score a late, match winning takedown to put the contest out of reach and clinch the victory for the Rams over the Huskies.

Devan Hamrick in control as usual

Northern was able to win three in a row at 195, 220 and 285 to bring the team score to 25-24, but with a forfeit awaiting us at 113, it was just not quite enough for the Huskies.  Brison Dixon made quick work of his bout a 106, pinning his opponent in the first period.  Evan Paugh was given the forfeit at 113 and the match was over with the Rams victorious for the 15th time in a row.

Here are some interesting and exciting facts about the Rams and last night's match.  Our lineup against Northern consisted of 5 freshmen, 4 sophomores, 3 juniors and only 2 seniors.  Look out!  Also, Devan Hamrick moved to 35-0 on the season and now has 149 career wins.  We have 9 wrestlers with more than 20 wins this season and 8 with more than 25 wins.

Joey Embleton dominates Kyle Beard

Next up for Southern is our annual match against the Williamsport Wildcats.  This year the Rams will travel off the mountain on Saturday for an afternoon contest with wrestling set to begin at 1pm at Williamsport High School.  Photos courtesy of Bev Rasel.

Southern 37 - Northern 24

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) pins Nick Opel (NG) 1:21
113 - Evan Paugh (SG) via forfeit
120 - Nate Tasker (SG) dec Jarrett Kelly (NG) 4-1
126 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) dec Devin Wilhelm (NG) 7-6

Patrick Duggan clinches the win for Southern

132 - Tyler Thomas (NG) dec Jace Guy (SG) 9-5
138 - Alec Horner (SG) pins Richard Ravenscroft (NG) 5:55
145 - Devan Hamrick (SG) dec Luke Lowery (NG) 5-2
152 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) m dec Jordon Grove (NG) 14-3
160 - Brysan Day (NG) dec Corey Horner (SG) 4-3
170 - Joey Embleton (SG) dec Kyle Beard (NG) dec 7-2
182 - Patrick Duggan (SG) dec Sam Beeman (NG) 5-4
195 - James Lewis (NG) pins Hunter Park (SG) :32
220 - Riley Brick (NG) pins Scotty Tichnell (SG) 1:42
285 - Ben Beeman (NG) pins Cole Sweitzer (SG) 5:01
 

3 Big Wins

Brison Dixon with a pin vs. Keyser

The Southern Rams had a busy week heading into the big weekend storm.  After the rescheduled match at Frankfort on Monday, Southern had a tri-match at Keyser on Wednesday and a home match vs. Catoctin on Thursday.  When the dust settled, the Rams picked up 3 more big wins to run the team's win streak to 14 in a row.

Jake Sweitzer with a 1st period pin against Fort Hill

Wednesday was the showdown with Keyser and the rematch with Fort Hill in Keyser.  Despite some snow, we made the trip off the mountain to face the Golden Tornado and the Sentinals.  The matches were wrestled using the split mat format.  Against Fort Hill, the Rams jumped out to a big lead and never looked back.  Picking up 6 pins and one forfeit in the first 7 matches, we carried a 42-0 lead into the upper weights.  At 160, sophomore Joey Embleton won a big decision against a Fort Hill wrestler who he had never beaten.  In the end, Southern dominated Fort Hill winning by a final score of 51-21.

Jace Guy with another pin!

Against Keyser, our light-weights also gave us a big early lead, winning 5 of the first 6 matches to bring the score to 25-4.  From there, the match was fairly even with wins going both ways.  The final team score against the Golden Tornado was 43-28 in front of their home crowd.  The top bout against Keyser was our state champion Devan Hamrick against one of their top wrestlers, Ethan Whitlock.  Hamrick was able to build a big lead and hang on in the end to take the 11-7 decision to keep his undefeated season in tact.

 

Corey Horner cradles his Catoctin foe

On Thursday evening, the Catoctin Cougars made the trip from Frederick County to Oakland to face off with the streaking Ram wrestlers.  We knew Catoctin had a couple forfeits, but we also knew that every wrestler on their team was tough and would offer us a great challenge.  The match started at 152 where senior co-captain Corey Horner started thing off with a big second period pin.  Joey Embleton followed with a solid decision and the Rams were out to a 9-0 lead.  Catoctin forfeited the next two bouts to extend Southern's lead to 21-0.  The Cougars came roaring back, scoring four straight pins to take a 24-21 lead heading into the 113 pound class.

Joey Embleton in control

 

At 113, Nate Tasker was facing a state ranked wrestler who had just won the Hub Cup tournament.  Tasker took the early lead with a first period takedown and appeared to pin his opponent, but the official call it out of bounds and the match continued.  In the end, Tasker dropped a 6-2 decision and Catoctin stretched their lead to 27-21.  After that, it was all Southern, winning each of the final 5 bouts to complete the 43-27 win over the visiting Cougars.

Southern 51 - Fort Hill 21

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) pins Jacob Diehl (FH) 1:36
113 - Nate Tasker (SG) pins Zach Farris (FH) 1:40
120 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) pins Robbie Twigg (FH) 1:51
126 - Jace Guy (SG) pins Seth Trimble (FH) 1:00
132 - Double Forfeit
138 - Devan Hamrick (SG) pins Braeden Askins (FH) 3:00
145 - Alec Horner (SG) via forfeit
152 - Corey Horner (SG) pins Wyatt Brehm (FH) :39
160 - Joey Embleton (SG) dec Brad Winter (FH) 3-2
170 - Noah Hillegas (FH) pins Patrick Duggan (SG) 1:44
182 - Carson Driver (FH) pins Bernie Sislo (SG) 4:44
195 - Hunter Park (SG) pins Eric CLayton (FH) 2:59
220 - Richard Hess (FH) pins Scotty Tichnell (SG) :56
285 - Aaron Spence (FH) dec Cole Sweitzer (SG) 5-2

Southern 43 - Keyser 28

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) pins Tyler Staggs (K) 2:32
113 - Nate Tasker (SG) via forfeit
120 - Bryant Dixon (K) m dec Jake Sweitzer (SG) 16-4
126 - Jace Guy (SG) pinsEzra Parks (K) :36
132 - Devan Hamrick (SG) dec Ethan Whitlock (K) 11-7
138 - Alec Horner (SG) m dec Tyler Mason (K) 14-1
145 - Darko Valencia (K) via forfeit
152 - Shayden Daugherty (K) dec Corey Horner (SG) 1-0
160 - Beau Horner (K) pins Brad Davis (SG) 1:42
170 - Joey Embleton (SG) pins Ryan Duvall (K) 5:00
182 - Patrick Duggan (SG) via forfeit
195 - Hugo Perez (K) dec Bernie Sislo (SG) 9-2
220 - Jacob Biser (K) pins Hunter Park (SG) 5:00
285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) pins Steven White (K) 1:27

Nate Tasker with a beautiful double

Southern 43 - Catoctin 27

106 - Ethan Fuss (C) pins Brison Dixon (SG) 4:00
113 - Zachary Bryant (C) dec Nate Tasker (SG) 6-2
120 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) via forfeit
126 - Zach Burgess (SG) via forfeit
132 - Jace Guy (SG) dec Josh Small 4-3
138 - Devan Hamrick (SG) m dec Wyatt Payne (C) 8-0
145 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) dec Gage Randall (C) 7-6
152 - Corey Horner (SG) pins Jarryd Rosenberry (C) 3:16
160 - Joey Embleton (SG) dec RJ Mohaghan (C) 5-3
170 - Patrick Duggan (SG) via forfeit
182 - Bernie Sislo (SG) via forfeit
195 - Dennis Pittinger (C) pins Hunter Park (SG) :43
220 - Ryan Springer (C) pins Scotty Tichnell (SG) 2:23
285 - Payne Harrison (C) pins Cole Sweitzer (SG) 1:24