Archbishop Spalding’s National Preps runner-up and private schools state titlist, K.K. Smith, built a three-point lead on Southern Garrett’s three-time Class 2A-1A state champion, Bubba Scheffel, and then used a tie-breaking escape with a minute left for the difference in Saturday night’s 4-3 victory in their 189-pound featured match of the Maryland State Wrestling Association’s All-Star Super Matches at Mount St. Joseph.
“I decided to go at him right away, so I was able to get the first takedown,” said Smith, who yielded a third-period escape, followed by Scheffel’s bout-tying dump for a takedown that made it 3-3 before earning the match-winning escape with 62 seconds left.
“I saw that he had a good high crotch and a good dump, and I was trying to avoid it. And that worked for the most part. But that one time, because he timed it well, I got caught and I went over,” said Smith. “But I knew that it was still going to be a great match because he’s a good wrestler.”
Smith had already defeated Wilde Lake’s 189-pound state champion, Zathy Ndiang, 8-6, earlier in the evening when he fought off of his back after being cradled for three nearfall points during a second period when he trailed by as much as 5-1.
Down, 5-2, Smith began and finished a lateral drop against Ndiang for a takedown and two nearfall points with about six seconds left in the second period for a 6-5 lead heading in to the third. Tied at 6-6, Smith finished off a deep, single-leg takedown for the win against Ndiang.
“It was as good thing that I was able to get that lateral drop. I felt his shot, and I was able to hit it,” said smith. “I wasn’t aware of how much time was left in the period, but he had really good hips and he was good on his feet.”
A three-time winner of the prestigious Mount Mat Madness Invitational, Scheffel had earlier beaten Reservoir’s two-time state titlist, Mark Colabucci, 5-2, after having led, 5-0.
Scheffel and Colabucci wrestled at 171-pounds during the season, so Scheffel was competing at the higher weight class against Smith.
“K.K. was a little stronger than I was, but I wrestled hard. I should have taken more shots at the beginning, but I got that takedown in the third period and tried to get a Navy tilt,” said Scheffel, whose holds the public school record for career wins with 167 against only five losses.
“I couldn’t ride him and he just wrestled better than me. I tried to pick an ankle, but he was so strong that he just came up,” said Scheffel. “That forced me to try to lift him and drop him back to the mat, and I couldn’t do it. I tried to do it as quick as I could, but he ended up getting the one [for an escape.] I just couldn’t finish it.”
A third place finisher at states during his freshman year when he lost, 4-3, in the semifinals to repeat state titlist, Lester Andrews, of Mardela, Scheffel has split victories with John Carroll’s National Preps champ, Matt Miller, lost another bout to a Pennsylvania state finalist Logan Shelton as a freshman, and, yet another when he suffered a torn meniscus.
Two-time Delaware state champion, Josh Snook (171) decisioned Colabucci, 4-3, and Wilde Lake’s fifth place state finisher, Alvin Harris, 7-3. Harris rebounded to defeat Owings Mill’s third place, Class 2A-1A state finisher, Mohammad Ali, 8-4.
Although he lost a clash of returning Class 4A-3A state champions, 11-3, to Centennial’s three-time titlist, Nathan Kraisser, Magruder’s Parke Overmiller (125) completed perhaps the most dramatic comeback victory when he decked Pallotti’s MIAA runner-up and third place private schools state placewinner in five minutes.
Overmiller was lateral dropped for a total of 13 points, seven of which were nearfall points, and trailed by as much as 9-2 in the first period.
But Overmiller was within, 14-10, when he nailed a takedown and three nearfall points of his own, this, before planting an exhausted Chenault with a simple half nelson with a minute left in the match.
“I knew that I had to stop working a lot up top because all he was doing was tying up. He wasn’t even trying to shoot on me at all, so I knew that if I shot in and got to his legs, that he would be done. He wasn’t even trying to protect his legs, but just trying to stay away from me as much as possible and to go for my head,” said Overmiller.
“The only thing that I needed to do was to work his legs and not his upper body. He had gone all out in the early going and got that lead, and then he didn’t really have anything left,” said Overmiller. “He couldn’t pull anything else out of his sleeves. He sort of just ran out of moves. He knew that I wasn’t going to quit, and he knew that I wasn’t going to stop going after him, so I guess that he just gave up on himself.”
Class 4A-3A state runner-up Josh Hamilton (285) built a 4-1 lead on two-time private schools champion and third place National Preps finisher, Steve Snyder, of Good Counsel, in an eventual, 7-3 victory.
A runner-up as a junior, Hamilton was favored to win this year’s states before being upset by an overtime pin against LaPlata’s eventual runner-up, Jon Boarman, whom Hamilton had pinned during a previous meeting.
“This felt good. I’ve been running and working my butt off all week, which is something that I hadn’t been doing all year. I’m doing that especially because I’ve got the high school nationals coming up, and I want to mess some people up and make a name for myself,” said Hamilton.
“I knew going in that it was going to be a tough match, even though I had beat him last year. I pinned him in like 30 seconds,” said Hamilton. “The last time, I caught him in a lateral drop, but I knew that I wasn’t going to catch him again. He was ranked, like, No. 2 in the state, and I was ranked like number seven.”
In other bouts, two-time Class 4A-3A state champ Bernard Wolley (215) of Seneca Valley scored a 4-2, overtime decision over Mount St. Joseph’s third place private schools state finisher, Tyler Tippett; Aberdeen’s Class 4A-3A state champion, Shayduan Velez (112) downed Georgetown Prep’s third place private schools state finisher, Matt Laux, 7-2; Good Counsel’s private schools champ Shane Arechiga (135) edged Magruder’s Class 4A-3A state runner-up, Jordan Tolbert, 4-2; and Class 4A-3A state champ Conner Zimmerman (160) blanked third place private schools state finisher, Randell Hernandez, 3-0.
Also, Mount St. Joseph’s state champ Brady Massaro (145) downed Northwood’s third place Class 4A-3A state finisher Luke Stocky, 17-6; Class 4A-3A state runner-up, Daniel Brannon (140) of LaPlata overcame Class 2A-1A state champ, Tyler Hinton, 16-9; Class 2A-1A state runner-up, David Volz (160) of Joppatowne edged Class 4A-3A state runner-up, Mike Meekins of Stephen Decatur, 6-4; and Mount St. Joseph’s private schools runner-up, Kevin Johnson (130) edged Glenelg’s Class 2A-1A third place finisher, Nick Caffrey, 2-1.
In still other match ups, Class 2A-1A runner-up Steve Cross (140) of Bel Air edged Pallotti’s Joe Flrenzo, 4-3; Northern-Garrett’s third place Class 2A-1A finisher Matt Thomas (140) decked Arschbishop Spalding’s Brady Gaynor in 5:56 of a bout that was tied at 1-1; Tuscarora’s third place Class 4A-3A placewinner Jake Cummings (160) won, 5-3, in overtime against Kombeh Karoma of Virginia’s Lee High; and Class 2A-1A third place finisher Jon Sweeney (103) of Catoctin decked Anne Arundel County champion Dale Keith of South River in 51 seconds.
Omar Makinassi (135) of T.C. Williams decked Class 2A-1A runner-up Keith Steine of Winters Mill in 4 minutes, 59 seconds, and Ryan Garey (145) of Bullis blanked Nick Skurda of St. Paul’s, 16-0.
2011 Maryland State Wresling Association All-Star Super Matches.
Featured Match
189- K.K. Smith (Archbishop Spalding) d. Bubba Scheffel (Southern-Garrett), 4-3
All-Star Match Ups
103- Jon Sweeney (Catoct
in) p. Dale Keith (South River), 0:51
112- Shayduan Velez (Aberdeen) d. Matt Laux (Georgetown Prep) 7-2
125- Parke Overmiller (Magruder) p. John Chenault (Palotti), 5:00
130- Kevin Johnson (Mount St. Joseph) d. Nick Caffrey (Glenelg), 2-1
135- Shane Archiga (Good Counsel) d. Jordan Tolbert (Magruder), 4-2
135- Omar Makinassi (T.C. Williams, Va.) p. Keith Steine (Winters Mill), 4:59
140- Steve Cross (Bel Air) d. Joe Florenzo (Pallotti), 4-3
140- Daniel Brannon (La Plata) d. Tyler Hinton (Carver), 16-9
140- Matt Thomas (Northern-Garrett) p. Brady Gaynor (Archbishop Spalding), 5:56
145- Brady Massaro (Mount St. Joseph) d. Luke Stocky (Northwood), 17-6
145- Ryan Garey (Bullis) tf. Nick Skurda (St. Paul’s), 16-0
160- Conner Zimmerman (La Plata) d. Randell Hernandez, 3-0
160- Jake Cummings (Tuscarora) d. Kombeh Karoma (Lee High, Va.), 5-3, OT
160- David Volz (Joppatowne) d. Mike Meekins (Stephen Decatur), 6-4
171- Bubba Scheffel (Southern-Garrett) d. Mark Colabucci (Reservoir), 5-2
171- Josh Snook (St. Mark’s, Del.) d. Mark Colabucci (Reservoir), 4-3
171- Josh Snook (St. Mark’s, Del.) d. Alvin Harris (Wilde Lake), 7-3
171- Alvin Harris (Wilde Lake) d. Mohammad Ali (Owings Mills), 8-4
189- K.K. Smith (Archbishop Spalding) d. Zathy Ndiang (Wilde Lake), 8-6
215- Bernard Wolley (Seneca Valley) d. Tyler Tippett (Mount St. Joseph), 4-2, OT
285- Josh Hamilton (Reservoir) d. Steve Snyder (Good Counsel), 7-3
