High School Sports |

Spalding wrestling captures Cavalier Duals title as it gears up for tough schedule

A ton of first-period dominations cleared the way for Archbishop Spalding wrestling to capture the title of its own tournament, the Cavalier Duals, on Saturday.

Five consecutive falls, the speedy finish to an eight-pin landslide over Oakton (Va.), gave the semifinal win to the hosts in less than 30 minutes. When St. George’s saw this, and remembered its own thrashing by the Cavaliers’ hands at the Beast of the East tournament in December, the other finalist surrendered the championship match and skedaddled back to Delaware.

But despite all those triumphs, the match that brought a smile to Spalding coach Mike Laidley’s face was one of the few defeats his team suffered this weekend. The regular 215-pound entry, Peter Jerdal, missed the tournament to recover from coronavirus. In his stead, freshman Luke Barulli stepped in — and almost had his Oakton opponent under lock.

He bucked around Wes Lattus like an upstart horse and knotted the score at 3-3. Barulli twisted the Cougar, grappling for the right moments but not quite reaching it. Still, the two remained even; Barulli’s teammates hollered approval.

And then, in a flash, Lattus maneuvered Barulli beneath him and swept him up for a pin.

“I wish he would’ve pulled that one out, but he’s won three matches this weekend. We’re excited for him,” Laidley said. “The future’s bright for that young man. He was supposed to wrestle the JV tournament at Old Mill this weekend and he weathered the storm here. He’s not shy from competition and that tells us he has a lot to offer in the next couple years.”

The unexpected six points for Oakton stitched the margin to 22-18. A Cavalier on the sideline bitterly remarked how “embarrassing” it would be to fall as a team in the semifinal on their own ground. But Barulli’s teammates had his back.

Beginning with heavyweight Delmar White, the Cavaliers mailed Cougars back to their sideline via fall at the 113 (Rock Zang), 120 (Henry Gessford), 126 (Sean Garretson), 132 (Vincent Paolucci) and 137 (Zane Leitzel), with only a forfeit to Oakton at 106 breaking the streak.

It was good to see that kind of output, Laidley said, considering how bruised his squad is right now. A few players, including rising star freshman Taina Fernandez, are nursing injuries. Zang’s dealing with a bad shoulder. Sophomore Ryder Kolat used his first match back from receiving stitches to tally the only non-fall win, a 16-2 major decision at 144.

“It’s good for us to have a tournament where we can work on some things and heal our bodies,” Laidley said. “Considering we have a pretty good tournament in Virginia Beach next week.”

After the Ocean Lakes tourney, Spalding returns home to welcome beast after beast in Old Mill before Gilman, St. Mary’s Ryken and Cedar Crest leading into the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference tournament.

White can’t wait to face some real competition at heavyweight — especially his old nemesis, RJ Duncan. The two bettered each other for the the past two years, most recently swapping victories in the county title match (a 1-0 decision by White) and state with Duncan emerging as Class 4A/3A champion.

In the meantime, White tries not to feel too overconfident. His bout against Oakton lasted seconds.

“Just be humble. Just calm down,” White said. “I’m having a lot of fun at Spalding. They treat me really well here.”

Annapolis and Northeast did not last quite as long Saturday. Both Anne Arundel public squads exited in the quarterfinals, though the Eagles challenged DeMatha to a subsequent exhibition match and lost by six points.

Like Spalding, the Panthers faced Oakton. Unlike Spalding, Annapolis couldn’t execute the results it wanted, quick or not. After the 190-pound match, the Panthers lagged perilously by 17 points.

The Annapolis wrestlers pressed closer to the mat in anticipation as Chris Smotherman (215) wrangled Oakton’s Lattus beneath him and kneaded him like dough. The moment the official’s hand slapped the mat, the Panthers were back in contention, leaping to their feet and celebrating.

With Annapolis trailing 21-16, heavyweight Grayden Stramanak narrowed the gap with his own fall. Forfeits bumped the Virginia squad up, but 113-pound Carmine Zimmerelli wrenched them right back to a five-point margin with another fall.

“They’re just starting to get their lungs underneath them and their technique a little sharper,” Annapolis coach Tom Skafiyanudis said. “It makes a big difference.”

Pressure befell the 120’s Olivia Goldinger to not get pinned. There were still two rounds left, and three and six points for the next two were not insurmountable asks.

In the third period, Goldinger trailed by 14. She glanced up at the clock and pulled out two last-ditch points to limit Oakton to a major decision.

But closing that gap was not to be. At 126, Annapolis’ Conrad Femrite couldn’t shape his opponent as he wanted and dropped a 7-1 decision. With Oakton ahead 40-28, nothing Teddy Sfakiyanudis could do at the 132 would change the result — despite the formerly ill wrestler securing his own six points by pin.

“If we’d gotten 126, things would have come out a little differently. But we’re just getting kids back from injury and we’re starting to get into our groove,” Tom Sfakiyanudis said. “We went 4-2. We had a great tournament for where we’ve been.”

Annapolis isn’t in the best position for a full rebound just yet. It’s still missing its best wrestler, Davis Ruhf, who qualified for the state tournament last year and placed fourth at 132 in the county championship. Even when he does return from his concussion, Skafiyanudis knows he won’t be at full health for weeks.

“We’ve had some bad luck,” Skafiyanudis said. “But on the bright side, guys are starting to gel a bit. Our backups are coming along — getting the chance to compete them now will be big for us.”