Rob Sherrill’s Feb. 14 High School Notebook

By Rob Sherrill

Weather postpones state tournaments, throws Massachusetts into chaos

            The winter storm which dropped record snowfalls on much of the Northeast last weekend also wreaked havoc on state wrestling tournaments. The Maine state tournament, scheduled to be an all-class event last Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center, was snowed out and will be held separately at three high schools this coming Saturday.

Class A will be held at Sanford High School, Class B at Fryeburg Academy and Class C at Dover-Foxcroft Foxcroft Academy.

But the state in total chaos is Massachusetts. The Bay State saw the first stage of its three-week state tournament series, sectional tournaments, wiped out by the storm. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s (MIAA) initial response was to postpone the entire series one week, with sectionals now slated for next weekend, the Division I, II and III state tournaments Feb. 22-23 at three sites and the All-State Tournament Mar. 1-2 at Salem High School.

The problem: Due to the postponements, the All-State Tournament and the New England Championships, for which the All-State meet serves as a qualifier, now are scheduled for the same weekend. So the New England meet could take place without New England’s biggest state participating. The six All-State place-winners advance to the New England meet at the Providence (R.I.) Career and Technical Center.

The other four New England states weren’t affected by the storm … not as drastically, at least. Connecticut and New Hampshire wrestle the first leg of their state championships as scheduled this weekend while Rhode Island and Vermont take the mat for their state championships the following weekend. A final decision by the MIAA on the reshuffled state tournament series is pending, but a New England Championships without Massachusetts just wouldn’t be the same.

Canon-McMillan, Bethlehem Catholic repeat in Pennsylvania;

At least they met in the finals this year.

Canonsburg Canon-McMillan, ranked No. 18 by WIN, got by No. 20 Harrisburg Central Dauphin, 34-31, to win the 3A dual state title last weekend at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Last year, when the two teams were ranked in the top 10, they met in the state semifinals and the Big Macs also prevailed on that occasion by three points, 28-25. Canon-McMillan won its other three matches by an average of 34 points, while Central Dauphin won its other four by an average of 26 to finish third.

Each team had a close call this time. Central Dauphin got by Allentown Parkland, 32-27 in the quarterfinals, while the Big Macs held off Easton, 37-35 in the semifinals.

While the final score was close, the individual matches were not. Canon-McMillan 106-pounder Brendon Price’s 4-3 decision over Zach Elvin was one of just four decisions, and the only one decided by less than five points.

No. 21 Bethlehem Catholic was even more dominant in repeating in AA, winning four duals by an average of 44 points. That included a 43-16 victory over Greenville H.A. Reynolds in the final as Luke Karam (106), Darian Cruz (120), Zeke Moisey (126) and Ryan Todora (138) had pins.

St. Edward, Graham roll in Ohio

Division I’s Fab Four lived up to the hype, with No. 5 Lakewood St. Edward, No. 15 Massillon Perry, No. 16 Brecksville-Broadview Heights and No. 25 Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller, winning their state quarterfinal matches by an average 39-point margin. The Eagles won 10 matches in the semifinals as they blasted Brecksville, 48-15, while Perry got past Moeller, 41-23 on pins by Tommy Genetin (106), Isaac Bast (145) and Stefano Millin (Hwt). St. Edward outlasted Perry, 28-21, for the title. But the Panthers scored a pair of big wins, with Jose Rodriguez edging L.J. Bentley, 3-1, at 106 and Casey Sparkman upsetting Colin Heffernan, 5-4, at 138.

Micah Jordan (132), Bo Jordan (160) and Anthony Welty (195) had pins to pace No. 4 St. Paris Graham over Uhrichsville Claymont, 36-24, in the Division II final. Freshman Alex Marinelli’s technical fall at 152 sparked a five-match run for the Falcons, who overcame Eli Stickley’s 7-4 loss to Tyler Warner at 106. Delta breezed in Division III, 52-17 over Massillon Tuslaw as Christian Valentine (138), state runner-up Tyler Fahrer (145), Todd Miller (152), Seth Colvin (170), Mark Francis (195) and Devon Richards (220) had pins in an eight-match run.

Triple crowns for Edmond North’s Dixons in Oklahoma

Junior triplets Lance, Joel and Andrew Dixon pinned eight of their nine opponents at 182, 195 and 220, respectively, to lead Edmond North to the 6A dual state title. The three had first-period sticks in a 43-25 final win over Muskogee. The Roughers had upset Broken Arrow, 28-27, in the semifinals as Jacobee Smith blanked Paden Bailey, 2-0 in a match-up of state placewinners at 152.

Collinsville, on pins by Christian Moody (106), Davion Jeffries (113) and Gary Wayne Harding (138), outlasted Lawton MacArthur, 31-24 in 5A. Tuttle won three times by an average of 45 points to take 4A and Perry survived upset bids by Vian, 42-27 and Newkirk, 30-25 to win in 3A, their 14th dual state title and 52nd overall. Perry’s state titles in all other sports combined: one (boys golf in 2006).

Myers leads Lexington in South Carolina

Lexington, which lost in the state finals by a point last year, used state champion Jackson Myers’ technical fall at 113 to start a five-match run, breaking a 3-3 tie and going on to beat Rock Hill, 36-21 in the 4A final. State runner-up Andrew Szalwinski (120), Blake Risinger (126), Trev Comstock (132) and Brandon Shepherd (138) followed with consecutive major decisions for a 24-3 lead.

State champion David Walker (113) and two-time state champion Clay Walker (132) had pins as Taylors Eastside beat Hanahan, 38-27, in the 3A final. A reduction in the dual state series from four classes to three bumped Hanahan, the 2A champion last year, up a class in the realignment. Bamberg-Ehrhardt, the 1A champion last year, won the combined A-2A title, 48-22 over Liberty on the strength of seven pins.