Lancers turn tide, roll past Bears in wrestling
Dec. 21—For a brief moment Tuesday night, it was looking dicey for both sophomore Brennan Considine and the Linganore High wrestling team.
Considine was on his back on two separate occasions in a wild, back-and-forth bout at 126 pounds with Oakdale's Jayden Stokes.
Linganore, meanwhile, gave up bonus points in three of the first four bouts to fall into an early nine-point hole before turning the tide and winning nine of the final 10 matches on the way to a 58-20 home win over the undermanned Bears.
The final bout of the night was Considine's entertaining, topsy-turvy affair with Stokes at 126, with both wrestlers scoring points and trading the lead at a frenetic pace.
After fighting off his back, Considine led 16-14 when he was able to turn Stokes and pin him in 5 minutes and 11 seconds for a well-earned victory.
"Just had to keep on pushing," said Considine, who placed third as a freshman at 126 in both the county and regional tournaments last season.
He walks around at less than that, however. And he may try and squeeze down to 120 as the season goes on, according to Linganore coach Ben Arneson.
With the holiday break coming up and the rest of the season in mind, Arneson used the occasion of Tuesday's match to bump most of his wrestlers up a weight class to provide them with a bit of a test and some variety.
By wrestling up a weight class, the Linganore wrestlers weren't just able to "muscle kids around," according to Arneson. In most cases, they actually had to employ some wrestling technique and figure out a way to win.
Plus, "I didn't want them to wrestle the same kid five times this year," Arneson said, referring to a possible series of matchups in postseason tournaments.
Oakdale got off to a good start with major decisions by Cooper Van Scoyk at 132 and Matt Sandy at 152 sandwiched around a pin by Joe Hathaway at 145 to lead 14-5.
Sandy scored a takedown with seven seconds left in his bout with Linganore's Nathan Husted to pick up an extra point for his team by turning a three-point decision into a four-point major decision at 12-3.
But Peyton Pickett's pin at 160 for Linganore in 57 seconds changed the momentum and started a string of four straight victories for the Lancers that handed them a 28-14 lead.
Oakdale, which was missing some key wrestlers in its lineup due to injury, had to forfeit three bouts, which was too much for the Bears to overcome.
"Linganore is a really good team. You can't give them three forfeits and keep it too close," said Tim Tao, who is in his first season as Oakdale's head coach after spending the last eight seasons as the head coach at Poolesville High.
Arneson is hoping that a third-place finish out of 24 teams over the weekend at the Musselman Duals in Inwood, West Virginia, and Tuesday's victory over the Oakdale will help carry the Lancers through the Christmas break, which will feature eight consecutive days without any outside competition and an interrupted practice schedule.
"I think it's still early [in the season]," he said. "I don't think we ever really find our groove until after the Christmas break."
Linganore 58, Oakdale 20
132 — Van Scoyk (O) maj. dec. Rohn, 11-2; 138 — Dickinson (L) tech. fall over Walker, 5:43 (21-6); 145 — Hathaway (O) pinned Matthews, 5:25; 152 — Sandy (O) maj. dec. Husted, 12-3; 160 — Pickett (L) pinned Gladhill, :57; 170 — Lawn (L) tech. fall Palermo, 5:25 (24-9); 182 — Arneson (L) by forfeit; 195 — Witmer (L) pinned Whilhite, 1:12; 220 — Kauser (O) pinned Engel, :41; 285 — Hopkins (L) by forfeit; 106 — Arthur (L) by forfeit; 113 — C. Wheat (L) pinned Steimetch, :28; 120 — J. Wheat (L) pinned JK Hathaway, 1:49; 126 — Considine (L) pinned Stokes, 5:11.
Follow Greg Swatek on Twitter: @greg_swatek
