Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008
The Grapple at the Brook is a unique wrestling tournament, in that the championship matches of the two-day event are held on two mats. That means viewers have to pick which of two simultaneous finals to watch.
Yet all eyes appeared to be on Springbrook’s Nadjitade Badje as he pointed a finger skyward after the day’s most thrilling turn of events.
‘‘It’s like an invitational, kind of like what you see in basketball,” said Springbrook head coach Rob Wendel. ‘‘Badje’s was intense. It was a great match; the crowd went nuts.”
Badje, who held a lead for most of the 171-pound final, was put on his back by Blair senior Alhaji Janneh late in the second period, only to return the favor and pin Janneh with just 22.2 seconds left in the match. His victory was one of two for the Blue Devils — along with 145-pounder Carlo Galeano — at their annual tournament.
Springbrook finished with the top score (176.0) of eight Montgomery County participants and third overall, behind Urbana of Frederick County (225.5) and Atholton of Howard County (179.0).
Badje appeared in control for the first five minutes, earning a takedown to lead 2-0. But late in the second, Janneh caught Badje napping and bulled him onto his back, a five-point move.
Still down 5-3 with less than a minute to go, Badje made one decisive move, shooting in the blink of an eye and driving Janneh to his back. Now up 8-5, Badje relentlessly fought on to secure the fall.
‘‘Last time I wrestled him, he got me on my back in like 30 seconds, but he couldn’t pin me and I beat him,” said Badje, who calls Janneh his number-one competition in the county. ‘‘[Saturday] I got him in a body lock and took him to his back, and at that point I knew I could just let him go and run away, but I didn’t want to win like that. Coach would not advise me to do that.”
Overall, there were six champions from the county. Northwest finished seventh in the team race, but matched Springbrook with two individual winners. The first, it may not have counted on entering the tournament, as sophomore Michael Henning (119) outlasted Reservoir’s Mark Colabucci in the lowest-scoring match of the tournament. Henning escaped late in the second period for the only point.
Henning took advantage of the opportunity presented him when Watkins Mill freshman Ryan Garey didn’t make weight.
‘‘He beat me before and when he didn’t make weight, that was a big eye-opener for me, because he was the only really, really good kid in the class,” said Henning. ‘‘[The final] was an even match. That’s probably the best I’ve ever wrestled on top. I rode him pretty good.”
Senior Sean McCarty’s championship, meanwhile, was almost a given. The wiry McCarty (130) has been flawless this year; in Henning’s words: ‘‘He’s pretty much unstoppable.”
For the 18th time in 18 tries this season, he wasn’t stopped. With his 12-2 domination of Urbana’s Peter Tatanish, McCarty became the first four-time Grapple at the Brook champion in the 10-year history of the tournament. He also was named the tournament’s top wrestler.
‘‘I’m gunning for the top, always,” said McCarty. ‘‘Even when you’re a freshman, no matter what grade you are, that’s what you’re trying to do. First grade, second grade, everyone’s gunning for the top, and you’ve got to work your butt off to get there.”
Sherwood junior Steven Gamble (152) outlasted Reservoir’s Zach Coe, 6-4, despite almost losing a late lead.
The county’s other individual winner may one day follow the same path as McCarty. Wheaton freshman Randell Hernandez defeated Blair’s Haben Ghebremeshcel, 7-4, at 140 pounds to earn the Knights a first-place finisher for the second year in a row. A year ago, David Foreman (171) did the honors.
‘‘We basically grew up together; he always used to tell me that one day, you’re going to be better than me,” said Hernandez. ‘‘I’ve wrestled this kid before and he’s real, real fast so I basically had to just take away his takedown, because that’s all he really has.”
Grapple at the Brook
Finals results
103: Kevin Beck (Atholton) d. Monica Hovermale (Smithsburg), 8-0
112: Adam Krop (Urbana) d. Alex Hakspiel (Sherwood), 5-4
119: Michael Henning (Northwest) d. Mark Colabucci (Reservoir), 1-0
125: Billy Hering (Urbana) tf. Joe Galeano (Springbrook), 18-3
130: Sean McCarty (Northwest) d. Peter Tatanish (Urbana), 12-2
135: James Reilly (Smithsburg) d. Spencer Strube (Urbana), 8-5
140: Randell Hernandez (Wheaton) d. Haben Ghebremeshcel (Blair), 7-4
145: Carlo Galeano (Springbrook) d. Tucker Lowery (Urbana), 9-0
152: Steven Gamble (Sherwood) d. Zach Coe (Reservoir), 4-2
160: Steven Edmands (Urbana) p. Phine Ulysse (Blair), 5:09
171: Nadjitade Badje (Springbrook) p. Alhaji Janneh (Blair), 5:38
189: Malcolm Stennet (Atholton) d. Tyler Scott (Smithsburg), 5-1
215: Mike Massarelli (Atholton) d. Paul Milano (Springbrook), 11-6
285: Brian Nance (Atholton) d. Luis Jiron (Wheaton), 6-1
