Separated by just 2.7 miles and only eight minutes of travel with traffic, the Glen Burnie Gophers and the North County Knights battled for town bragging rights, Tuesday night, and the Knights prevailed, 59-12.
Allowing the Gophers to have their arms raised three times in the dual meet, the Knights went on a six-match winning streak through their middle weights and ended the night with four more consecutive wins for the final.
“We had some pretty good wins and pins out there, and there were a couple more matches where we would like to get the extra points,” North County coach Don Foderaro said. “They are right down the road, so there is a little bit of a rivalry. That gave us extra motivation for tonight.”
The motivation was seen early in the match, as Josh March and Mico Flores notched tech falls for the Knights at 112 and 130, respectively, and five other wrestlers earned bonus points in their individual wins.
North County’s Cordell Blair earned a 17-7 major decision at 152, and falls were won by Collin Alexander (145), Brandon Ballard (189), Lorenzo Maddox (215) and Pat Hyde (285).
“It is definitely important to get the pin because one point can be a lot,” Ballard said. “We had a criteria win over Chesapeake, and one more point would have been huge in that situation. Six is always better than five, so I always work hard to get the six.”
The Gophers battled closely with the Knights in the early goings of Tuesday’s match-up, even holding a lead after Allre Good worked a decision at 119 and Thomas Darden broke an 8-8 tie with Tavon Lane for the 10-8 decision at 125.
But the 6-5 lead would be the only glimpse of hope for Glen Burnie, and even the James Prescott fall at 171, where he held a 15-0 score at the time of the fall, would fall short of the North County final.
“We had some pretty close ones and some pretty tight ones, but we have to keep working hard at practice, keep up the pace at practice and work harder everyday,” Foderaro said. “We have a very strong county which will prepare us for the regions and states, and we are looking forward to the strong competition when we get there.”
North County will next head to the Seahawk Invite at South River this weekend, while Glen Burnie prepares for Arundel, Jan. 11.
North County 59, Glen Burnie 12
112- Josh March (NC) tech fall 15-0 Tyler Moore (GB) [5-0]
119- Alrre Good (GB) dec 10-4 Nick McMullen (NC) [5-3]
125- Thomas Darden (GB) dec 10-8 Tavon Lane (NC) [5-6]
130- Mico Flores (NC) tech fall 20-3 John Wiedenhoft (GB) [10-6]
135- Dave Boyd (NC) dec 4-1 Horane Williams (GB) [13-6]
140- Zack Jones (NC) forfeit [19-6]
145- Collin Alexander (NC) fall 5:25 Brad Tenicela (GB) [25-6]
152- Cordell Blair (NC) maj dec 17-7 Kyle Howard (GB) [29-6]
160- Connor Ostrowski (NC) forfeit [35-6]
171- James Prescott (GB) fall 2:25 Malcom Johnson (NC) [35-12]
189- Brandon Ballard (NC) fall 3:08 Will Paul (GB) [41-12]
215- Lorenzo Maddox (NC) fall 1:02 Dumuna Keller (GB) [47-12]
285- Pat Hyde (NC) fall :46 Isaiah Hall (GB) [53-12]
103- Evan Benitez (NC) forfeit [59-12]
