Riding on the strength of 8 championships in 14 weight classes, DeMatha Catholic High School easily captured the annual Ireton Invitational wrestling title Saturday, December 15th in Father George Godley Gym. Benedictine of Richmond was second, Potomac School of McLean was third, the Cardinals earned a 4th place finish, edging Bullis. Pope John Paul the Great was 6th, while the Model School for the Deaf was 7th. Woodberry Forest withdrew days before the tourney, leaving the 8th place vacant.
Bishop Ireton’s lone champion was 285 pounder, Jimmy Keegan. The top seed in his weight class, the Cardinal tackle in football drew a bye in the first round before decisioning the Bullis School’s Goedon George 13-7 in the semifinals, who wrestled as an unscoring entrant. He faced another Bullis Bulldog, Phil Bryant for the championship. Keegan topped the second seeded Bryant with a fall in 3:15 to earn the title.
Jeff Severini fell in the finals at 145 for Ireton’s lone second place finish. A second seed, Severini decisioned Phil Moseley of DeMatha 9-6 before pinning Potomac School’s Hunter Johnson in :38 in the tournament’s semifinal round. The lanky Cardinal fell to Larry Lopez of DeMatha in the championship bout by an 8-1 count.
Bishop Ireton had three wrestlers earn third place finishes. Zach Lincoln (126), Tommy Kelly (152), and freshman Trey Lovisone (195) wrestled back successfully to earn points for the Cardinals. Lincoln was pinned in his quarterfinal match by Braxton Walker of Benedictine, but bounced back in the consolation round to pin Tim Figueroa of DeMatha in 2:22, then stopped Ayinde Calhoun of Bullis by a fall in 1:43. Bulldog Blake Mathews of Bullis was Lincoln’s final victim, a 11-7 decision for the Cardinal.
Senior Tommy Kelly, a three seed at 152, was pinned by second seed, Cope Whitney of Potomac School in his quarterfinal match, then decisioned John Paul the Great’s Paul Roder, 6-0 and pinned teammate Joe Seidlarz, wrestling unattached to Ireton scoring, in 1:39. Seidlarz had earlier pinned Don McLarson of DeMatha in 3:49.
Freshman Trey Lovisone, a number 4 seed, advanced in the quarterfinals by pinning Tristan Hower of the Model School in 1:46, before top-seeded Sean Spazoff of Potomac School decked Lovisone in 1:26. The determined Cardinal went right back to work in the consolation round, pinning Conor Fogarty of Benedictine in 78 seconds, and following that with another fall at 2:22 again defeating his first opponent, Hower of Model.
Three more Ireton wrestlers placed for the host team, including junior Conor Reilly at 106, Chris Macey at 132, and freshman Devon Reed at 138.
The Cardinals head to St Stephens/St Agnes on Saturday, December 29th for the Saints’ Holiday wrestling tournament. Wrestling begins at 9am.
Team Results:
DeMatha 256
Benedictine 170
Potomac School 133
Bishop Ireton 103
Bullis 98
Pope John Paul the Great 86
Model School for the Deaf 82
Individual Winners:
106 Logan Wilson (DeMatha) decisioned Jordan Hagood (Benedictine) 4-0
113 Eli Ulanet (Potomac) pinned Brad Freda (Benedictine) :30
120 Zach Walker (Benedictine) pinned Alex Brown (Bullis) 5:19
126 Braxton Walker (Benedictine) pinned Lewis Riggs (DeMatha) 1:31
132 Justin Couto (DeMatha) decisioned Gabe Corrochano (Potomac) 3-0
138 Shane Wilson (DeMatha) pinned Mauel Cortez (Model) 2:41
145 Larry Lopez (DeMatha) decisioned Jeff Severini (Bishop Ireton) 8-1
152 Seldon Wright (DeMatha) won by technical fall 15-0 at 5:50 over Cope Whitney (Potomac)
160 Ulysses Avgeros (Benedictine) pinned Daryl Taylor (DeMatha) 2:30
170 Cabell Thoma (Benedictine) pinned Tyler Clements (DeMatha) 2:09
182 Clay Conaway (DeMatha) decisioned Ralph Toomey (Benedictine) 4-3
195 Mike Wilkerson (DeMatha) pinned Sean Spazoff (Potomac) 1:49
220 R. Mac Meehan (DeMatha) pinned Greg Buckner (John Paul the Great) :36
285 Jimmy Keegan (Bishop Ireton) pinned Phil Bryant (Bullis) 3:15
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