With Thursday’s dual tied, tied, Sparrows Point senior Gabe Dorsey trailed Dulaney sophomore Steven Delgado in the 132-pound match with 45 seconds left in the first period. Dorsey turned the tide and rallied for a decision to give the Pointers a three-point lead.
First-period pins by William Schoo and Ryan Whisner extended the lead before Dulaney’s Ashton Fitch closed the night with a pin, but it wasn’t enough in a 45-36 Sparrows Point win.
“It was very important to the team, Dorsey said. “My goal, obviously everybody’s goal out there is to go get six for the team; go get a pin. But the main goal when you are that close, you’ve got to get your team to start cheering. You’ve got to show leadership. You need them to also be on the positive with you for support to help you win the match.”
Delgado, once up 3-0, gave up a point on an illegal hold and escape late in the first period and Dorsey took the lead 45 seconds into the second with a reversal. Delgado tied it at 4 with an escape, but Dorsey earned a takedown with two seconds left for a 7-4 lead. An illegal hold gave Delgado a point, but he fell, 7-5.
“I wasn’t expecting to go in there and start losing, but once I was, obviously it’s going to turn anybody up. You have to start doing better. You’ve just got to improve when you are down,” Dorsey, a team captain, said.
“It’s early in the season and these matches can go either way,” Sparrows Point coach Mike Whisner said. “We are trying to develop everybody for the end of the season.”
Delgado was wrestling his first varsity match after winning a JV county championship last year,
“He’s coming off a concussion and he just haven’t had much practice time, so it was part of that,” Dulaney coach Scott Asher said. “This was really his first match. I think he will get much better as the year goes on, but that was a little disappointing.”
Whisner was most impressed with his lighter weights, which helped the Pointers erase a 30-6 deficit.
“I think everybody battled,” he said. “The lighter weights battled and we have some work to do with the upper weights.”
After forfeit wins at 106 and 113, Brandon Wunder pinned Gavin Hess at 120 while trailing 7-3 late in the third period. Hess, third in the Baltimore County tournament last year, trailed 3-0 after the first period, but rallied with an escape, takedown and three back points. But after a reversal, Wunder pinned him with eight seconds left.
“Our captain at 120, that was a tough match. He lost to that guy twice last year. I thought it would be different,” Asher said. “He had a nice sequence to get ahead and then he just made one bad move and the guy made him pay for it.”
Dulaney opened the middle match of the tri-meet with a pin from Antonio Suarez Munoz (157 pounds) with 42 seconds left in the first period. Sparrows Point’s Russel Fary (165), an undefeated state champion last season, pinned Parker Bridges in the first period to even the score.
Dulaney answered with pins from Anthony Rostek (175), Jackson Zearfoss (190), Charlie Lakatta (215) and D’Lani Grayson (285) for its 30-6 lead.
“We’ve got some guys in the upper weights that can get it done,” Asher said. “We decided to bump our 215-pounder [Grayson] up to heavyweight and that was a nice surprise. That guy was pretty big, our guy was 210 against 270.”
In the final match of the evening, Dulaney lost to Milford Mill, 50-30. It was the second win of the night for the Millers, who defeated Sparrows Point, 46-36, in the opener.
The Pointers used that loss as motivation for the Lions.
“We haven’t lost to Milford Mill in I believe 11 years,” said Dorsey, who won with a pin over Milford Mill. “Every loss hurts, that one really hurts especially when you have a lead like that, but that just means it gets everybody motivated, you’ve got to work harder.”
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