Broadneck visited South River Wednesday evening, hoping to take out its second defending state champion this season.

Put another state champion on Broadneck’s hitlist after a 40-25 upset of the reigning Class 4A champ Seahawks, winning nine of the 14 matches in an Anne Arundel County dual match. The Bruins, ranked No. 26 in the Maryland State Wrestling Assocation rankings, recently bested reigning 3A champion and No. 9 Chesapeake-Anne Arundel, 39-27.

“It’s a nice win,” Broadneck coach Reid Bloomfield said. “They are very well coached and have solid wrestlers. We prepare for every team the same. Our wrestlers are self-motivated, they work hard in practice, and they want to go through whoever is in front of them. This team has a focus that sets them apart from other teams I have coached. We are preparing for Southern tonight the exact same way we prepared for South River.”

The Bruins started out in a 9-0 hole Wednesday after the home team’s Trent Shipley made quick work of Luke Podkrajac at 106 pounds, decking him in 36 seconds. Alex Szkotnicki (No. 19 in MSWA individual rankings) upset returning 3A/4A state placer, and No. 9 Cam Williams at 113.

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Two matches later, Broadneck was holding a 10-9 lead. No. 17 Branden Whyte-Taylor (120), also a returning state placer, picked up a first period fall of Cole Peeples at 1 minute, 27 seconds. Peter Saroch (honorable mention at 126) posted a major-decision, 12-4, over Jon Titow (HM at 120).

“We got off to a slow start,” Bloomfield offered. “Getting pinned at 106 to a solid freshman and then dropped a close decision at 113. We wrestled pretty poorly at those two weights and hats off to them, they took advantage of it. Branden Whyte-Taylor, who has been wrestling great, got us a quick pin and our senior Peter Saroch got a big major. After that our seniors did what they have been doing all year. From 138 to 285 we only lost 2 matches. We did a nice job of taking advantage of bonus points.”

The two squads traded wins over the next three bouts resulting in a 19-16 Seahawk lead. At 132, Ben Ford used a quick 53 second pin of Justin Henschen for South River. Broadneck’s Ben Durkin almost equaled Ford’s pin time, using 57 seconds of the clock to end Sam Travis’ evening. The Seahawks’ state runner-up, No. 4 Sam Ditmars, put a 12-1 major-decision of No. 22 Rylan Woodward on the docket at 145.

Broadneck had four state ranked wrestlers in line to compete next, while none of South River’s proposed opponents graced those rankings. Things played out as expected with the Bruins posting a four-match win streak to take control of the dual.

No. 15 Peyton Miller started the momentum swing at 152 with a 9-2 win over Ismael Tamayo. No. 6 Liam DeBaugh (160), second in the state last year, blanked Zach Gliencke with a 15-0 technical fall. No. 14 Max DeMella booked a 10-2 major decision of Brent Phillips at 170. After No. 21 Jake Chambers’ 37 second pin of JR Ritter at 182, the Bruins enjoyed a 34-19 edge.

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No. 10 Aidan Healey did what he could to rally the home crowd with a 39 second pin over Dom Ascione at 195. With the score at 34-25, South River needed six points from each of the last two bouts to come out ahead.

Dax Avilla (No. 11 at 195) snuffed those thoughts out and sealed the victory for the Bruins with a 8-1 win over Busayo Balogun (HM) at 220. Heavyweight Caleb Callazo kept the good times rolling for Broadneck, posting a 5-3 win against Antonio Strong, 5-3.

“Chesapeake is a lot like South River. They have a great coaching staff, good feeder program, and have had a lot of success. We have had some great matches with them over my tenure and we always look forward to wrestling them,” said Bloomfield.

Bloomfield downplayed the victory as the Bruins are focused on building momentum for the upcoming state dual meet championship and Anne Arundel County championships.

“It might be something fun to think about when the year is over, but it really doesn’t mean much now. The wins were solid because they are over really good teams but not because they won states last year. Their teams are not the same personnel wise as last year and neither is ours, so in that way, from a competition standpoint it doesn’t mean much.

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“We just love wrestling them because they are tough, well coached, and we can continue to learn, test ourselves and get better from matches like that. We had a similar match with Sparrows Point at a recent tournament (Category 5 Hurricane Duals), they were tough and a lot of fun to wrestle as well. I have really enjoyed wrestling in Anne Arundel County over the last 6 years because you are constantly being tested.”

BROADNECK 40, SOUTH RIVER 25

(match started at 106)

106-Trent Shipley (SR) pinned Luke Podkrajac, :36

113-Alex Szkotnicki (SR) dec Cam Williams, 5-2

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120-Branden Whyte-Taylor (BR) pinned Cole Peeples, 1:27

126-Peter Saroch (BR) maj-dec Jon Titow, 12-4

132-Ben Ford (SR) pinned Justin Henschen, :53

138-Ben Durkin (BR) pinned Sam Travis, :57

145-Sam Ditmars (SR) maj-dec Rylan Woodward, 12-1

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152-Peyton Miller (BR) dec Ismael Tamayo, 9-2

160-Liam DeBaugh (BR) tech-fall Zach Gliencke, 15-0

170-Max DeMella (BR) maj-dec Brent Phillips, 10-2

182-Jake Chambers (BR) pinned JR Ritter, :37

195-Aidan Healey (SR) pinned Dom Ascione, :39

220-Dax Avilla (BR) dec Busayo Balogun, 8-1

285-Caleb Collazo dec Antonio Strong, 5-3

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