When the Wilde Lake Wildecats entered the gym at Reservoir High School on Thursday, they came ready with a couple of tricks up their sleeve.

Coming into the evening, the talk was about the potential match up between Reservoir’s undefeated state-champ Mark Colabucci and Wilde Lake’s Alvin Harris, who is ranked second behind Colabucci at 171 in 3A/4A. However, Wilde Lake Head Coach Azmar Hagler had his sights set on upsetting Reservoir, no matter what it took.

Hagler weighed Harris in just above the required weight to wrestle at 171, essentially weighing him in at 189. Along with Harris, Zathy Ndiang, a 3rd place finisher at last years state tournament, weighed in at 189 as well.

“Alvin’s going to be wrestling guys like Mark all weekend at Mount Mat Madness” Hagler said about Alvin bumping up to 189. “I’m not here to impress the crowd, I’m here to win matches. I could care less about the show; we’ll get to the show when they get to the county tournament.

“The goal of the bump was to put Reservoir and Mark in a bad situation where they had to choose if he’s going to wrestle Zathy (Ndiang) or Alvin (Harris) and I didn’t think they weren’t going to wrestle him at Zathy,” Hagler said. “I’d rather get two pins than one decision.”

With the match starting at 189, the bump seemed to work out for the Wildecats as Reservoir’s Nathan Sheilds was no test for Harris, and Ndiang followed his lead and recording a fall of his own at 215, securing an early 12-0, Wilde Lake lead.

At 103, Reservoir’s Mason Kilcarr battled to a tough 8-2 decision over Ethan Eckley, continuing his phenomenal freshman campaign cutting the deficit to 12-9.

State-champion Alex Polansky locked up a pin in under a minute and says he is looking forward to this weekend’s Mount Mat Madness, possibly the toughest tournament over the course of the season for any Maryland wrestler.

“It’s definitely the hardest tournament I’ve ever been in, so I’m just looking to place,” Polansky said about his goals for this weekend. “I’m going to try to win but right now I’m just looking at placing (in the top 6).”

In another strategic move, Wilde Lake bumped Tola Morkinyo and Marcus Coffield up to avoid Reservoir’s toughest middleweights, Seth Rowell and James Mullens.

“I knew wrestling away from Bubba (James Mullens) and Seth (Rowell) was another smart thing and I know they weren’t counting on Marcus and Tola bumping up. Strategy-wise, I knew what I was doing coming in.”

While Rowell and Mullens both secured falls in 1:15 and 1:17, respectively, and put Reservoir ahead, 25-24, Morkinyo may have quietly sealed the Gator’s fate with a quick 53-second pin over freshman 140-pounder Donovan Peek.

Reservoir’s 145-pounder David Kuper stormed back with five points in the third period against Coffield, but it was not enough to overcome the early deficit.

Finally, the dual was mathematically won when Wilde Lake’s 160-pounder Jason Bitner stepped off the mat after a pin in 4:20, growing the lead to an insurmountable ten points with only Colabucci left to take the mat for Reservoir.

This isn’t the first time that Mark has been bumped away from this season. “It’s really frustrating. I haven’t had too many close matches this year, I’ve only gone six minutes one time and that was in the finals of the Tuscarora Tournament (beating 3rd ranked Greg Potemken of Wooton, 11-0).

“It’s definitely frustrating and sometimes it really bothers me because I want a real match and I get all pumped up to wrestle six-minutes and it doesn’t happen. But sometimes I think of it as a sign of respect and sometimes the other team has to do what they can to win the match and I respect it, but it is definitely very frustrating because I want to wrestle tough for six-minutes and it hasn’t happened yet.

“When it comes, I’ll be ready for it for sure because I’ve been going to Kolat on Sunday’s and lifting non-stop to be ready when it comes.”

Colabucci is looking to win the Grapple at the Brook for the third year in a row this weekend at Springbrook as Reservoir looks to win the tournament for the third year in a row, as well. Atholton, who went 0-2 in the tri-meet, will also be at the Grapple.

Wilde Lake will be at this weekend’s Mount Mat Madness tournament at CCBC in Catonsville, Md.

“Mount Mat Madness is harder than any other tournament we will be at this year so that’s the reason we’re going,” Coach Hagler said. “Legitimately, I think we can place five or six and if we don’t, the hell with it; they get the experience, go 2-2, and we’ll be good to go.”

Wilde Lake 39, Reservoir 35
189 – Alvin Harris (WL) pin Nathan Sheilds (R), 3:44 [6-0]
215 – Zathy Ndiang (WL) pin Matt Herlihy (R), 3:00 [12-0]
285 – Josh Hamilton (R) pin Jones (WL), 0:31 [12-6]
103 – Mason Kilcarr (R) dec. Ethan Eckley (WL), 8-2 [12-9]
112 – Alex Polansky (WL) pin Hans Wicklein (R), 0:54 [18-9]
119 – Eric Lee (R) maj. dec. Jordan Trihn (WL), 16-7 [18-13]
125 – Ethan Trihn (WL) pin Michael Ponton, 0:26 [24-13]
130 – Seth Rowell (R) pin David Lewis (WL), 1:15 [24-19]
135 – James Mullens (R) pin Jodi Faulkner (WL), 1:17 [24-25]
140 – Tola Morkinyo (WL) pin Donovan Peek (R), 0:53 [30-25]
145 – Marcus Coffield (WL) dec. David Kuper (R), 8-6 [33-25]
152 – Brendan Herberger (R) maj. dec. Raheem Brown (WL), 13-2 [33-29]
160 – Jason Bitner (WL) pin Brian Glueck (R), 4:20 [39-29]
171 – Mark Colabucci (R) pin John Pearlman (WL), 1:07 [39-35]

Wilde Lake 51, Atholton 25
215 – Zathy Ndiang (WL) wbf. [6-0]
285 – Brackett (A) pin Jones (WL), 1:35 [6-6]
103 – Ethan Eckley (WL) wbf. [12-6]
112 – Alex Polansky (WL) wbf. [18-6]
119 – Johnson (A) dec. Jordan Trihn (WL), 10-8 [18-9]
125 – Ethan Trihn (WL) pin Frazier (A), 2:58 [24-9]
130 – Shin (A) maj. dec. David Lewis (WL), 13-5 [24-13]
135 – Jodi Faulkner (WL) wbf. [30-13]
140 – Marcus Coffield (WL) dec. Brett Kaufman (A), 3-2 [33-13]
145 – Raheem Brown (WL) wbf. [33-19]
152 – Altamirano (A) wbf. [39-19]
160 – Jason Bitner (WL) pin Stennet (A), 1:58 [39-25]
171 – Muhlbock (A) pin Pearlman (WL), 0:28 [45-25]
189 – Alvin Harris (WL) pin Fields (A), 2:10 [51-25]

Reservoir 60, Atholton 18
285 – Josh Hamilton (R) pin Brackett (A), 2:15 [6-0]
103 – Mason Kilcarr (R) wbf. [12-0]
112 – Hans Wicklein (R) wbf. [18-0]
119 – Eric Lee (R) pin Johnson, 0:17 [24-0]
125 – Michael Ponton (R) dec. Frazier (A), 11-5 [27-0]
130 – Seth Rowell (R) pin Shin (A), 2:32 [33-0]
135 – James Mullens wbf. [39-0]
140 – Donovan Peek (R) dec. Brett Kaufman (A), 13-8 [42-0]
145 – David Kuper (R) wbf. [48-0]
152 – Altamirano (A) pin Brandan Herberger (R), 1:20 [48-6]
160 – Stennet (A) pin Brian Glueck (R), 1:28 [48-12]
171 – Mark Colabucci (R) pin Muhlbock (A), 2:50 [54-12]
189 – Fields (A) pin Nathan Sheilds (R), 3:44 [60-18]
215 – Matt Herlihy (R) wbf. [60-18]