Oakdale's Van Scoyoc upsets state champ to reach semis
Mar. 3—UPPER MARLBORO — On Thursday, while doing some last-minute experimenting at practice, Oakdale junior wrestler Cooper Van Scoyoc acquired a new move heading into the state tournament.
It was an arm bar half tilt. He wasn't sure he'd be comfortable enough to use it on the big stage. But he tucked it into the recesses of his mind anyway, just in case.
On Friday evening at The Show Place Arena, trailing returning state champion Alex Bellarin, of Laurel, by three points with time about to run out in a Class 4A-3A quarterfinal bout at 126 pounds, Van Scoyoc thought: Why not?
He threw in an arm bar half tilt. And not only did he make up his point deficit, he pinned Bellarin just as time was expiring to stun those watching and secure arguably the biggest win of his wrestling life.
"It was my last hope," Van Scoyoc said of his new move.
Van Scoyoc (40-6) was one of 16 Frederick County wrestlers to advance to Saturday's state semifinals, which are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the same site. There were 39 who qualified for the tournament, including 10 girls.
Similarly to Van Scoyoc, Middletown senior Oliver Graham kept his wits about him as time was about to expire in a close match and scored a last-second takedown to trump Huntingtown's Tyler Hayden, 7-5, in a 2A-1A quarterfinal at 152 pounds.
Hayden had scored the tying escape with a little more than 10 seconds left before Graham came through with his takedown off a restart, using a low single-leg takedown.
"When people lose their composure, they tend to lose," Graham said. "So, I knew I had to keep mine."
Graham (44-5) advanced to his first state semifinal and will be joined by Middletown teammates Alex DeVriendt (48-4) at 126, Alex Hoy (51-1) at 195 and Kieran Hofgesang (49-2) at 220.
The other Frederick County wrestlers to advance to the state semis in the 2A-1A bracket were Brunswick freshman Seth Crawford (36-5) at 106 and Catoctin senior Nathan Kovalcik (38-5), who pinned a one-loss wrestler from Calvert in 2 minutes, 31 seconds in his quarterfinal match at 182.
Meanwhile, Linganore sent five of its county-high 11 state qualifiers to the 4A-3A semifinals, as Josh Arthur (36-5) at 106, Brennan Considine (33-7) at 120, Garhett Dickenson (39-1) at 132, Ethan Arneson (38-3) at 170 and Joel Hopkins (33-4) at 285 all advanced to the final four of their respective weight classes.
"The kids have been working hard all week to make sure we are ready to push this thing through," said Lancers coach Ben Arneson, who had never brought so many wrestlers to a state tournament before in his long and successful coaching career.
"Any time you get about half of what we brought into the semis and they are guaranteed to place, you feel pretty good about it."
The other Frederick County wrestlers to get through to the state semis were Tuscarora's Cooper Cammarata (32-6) at 4A-3A 113, Urbana's Vince Corso (38-4) at 4A-3A 145 and Cole Kuhar (41-5) at 4A-3A 160 and Catoctin's Emma Taylor (17-27), the lone girl to make it. She wrestles at 105 pounds.
Van Scoyoc's upset pin over Bellarin was more or less a microcosm of what he described as his "on and off" season. He placed third in last week's 4A-3A West regional tournament at 126.
Bellarin had him on his back twice. Van Scoyoc battled back. At one point, Bellarin led 11-6, and it looked like he was going to be able to run out the clock, up 11-8 with only a few seconds left before Van Scoyoc somehow found a way to turn him onto his back for the decisive pin.
"I just had to go out there and try my best," Van Scoyoc said. "There was really no pressure on me. He was expected to win. I was just very happy at the end of the match."
Follow Greg Swatek on Twitter: @greg_swatek
