BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity wrestling team tuned up for its own War on the Shore tournament this weekend with a nice win over Boys Latin last week in the Iron Horse Duals.
Decatur will host its annual War on the Shore Tournament this weekend featuring many of the top prep wrestling programs from around the mid-Atlantic region. The tournament will feature 23 teams from four states around the region with a field of teams Coach Todd Martinek is calling the toughest ever for the annual event.
For years, the War on the Shore was held in Ocean City at the Convention Center, and it moved to the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center briefly before returning to where it all began at Decatur. The Seahawks always used the War on the Shore as a barometer for how its season was shaping up when the tournament used to be held in early December. Now, it is more of a mid-season event. Last year, Decatur finished near the middle of the pack among 22 of the top high school wrestling programs in the region. Damascus finished first, followed by Mount St. Joseph and Great Bridge.
The tournament gets underway today at Decatur with first-round matches practically around the clock. The event will culminate with championship matches in each division on Saturday. Before the War on the Shore, however, the Seahawks had some important matches leading up to the annual tournament.
Decatur beat Bayside Conference rival Wicomico last week and participated in the annual Iron Horse Duals at C. Milton Wright High School over the weekend. At the Iron Horse Duals, the Seahawks beat Boys Latin, a tough private school team from the Baltimore area.
Decatur got on the board first with a win by Jeremy Danner over Brandon Kagen at 120, but Boys Latin responded with a pair of wins including Nick Malinowski over Austin Hickey at 126 and James Rice over Ryan Scafone at 132 to take an 11-6 lead. Decatur took the lead for good with a forfeit at 138 and Andy McKahan beat Boys Latin’s Kahlan Lee-Lermer at 145.
The Lakers responded with a win by Evan Gaines at 152, but Brett Kim beat Walker Santos at 160 and Tyler Vansice beat Ryan Trupia at 170 to push the Seahawk lead to 24-17. The Seahawks then won three straight bouts by forfeit to blow open the match including Caleb Bourne at 182, Gavin Payne at 195 and Jian Joobeen at 220. Ean Spencer beat Brian North at 285 and Robert Kaminski rounded out the win with a victory over Eli Shilling at 113.