BERLIN- Despite yet another bomb threat that briefly evacuated the Stephen Decatur High at mid-day last Friday, the annual War on the Shore wrestling tournament went off without a hitch last weekend with an expedited schedules and the dedication of event organizers.
Around mid-day last Friday, a bomb threat was called into Stephen Decatur for the second time in three days as the Seahawk wrestling program was preparing to host one of the largest high school tournaments in the region. Most of the participating schools were traveling to Berlin from two- to three-hours away and many had already arrived in the area in advance of the event, so the only thing to prevent it from going off as planned was the availability of the venue.
Around 5 p.m., Decatur High was declared all clear and the tournament could proceed as planned, but the schedule was altered to make up for the lost time earlier in the afternoon. As a result, hundreds of varsity and junior varsity wrestlers were weighed in and registered and the preliminary bouts got underway just slightly later than planned. Matches were held throughout the evening on Friday and all day on Saturday, culminating with championship bouts in each of the categories by Saturday night.
For the record, Good Counsel finished first in team scoring, while Mount St. Joseph was second and Spring Grove was third. Host Decatur finished in the middle of the pack in team scoring and turned in several outstanding individual performances.
At 138, Decatur’s Andy McKahan beat Adam Funkhouser of Milford in his opener, followed by wins over Andrew Corris of Grassfield and Max Tolson of Sussex Tech to reach the final. In the championship bout, McKahan was battling Ryan Lawrence of Damascus to a dead heat, but suffered an injury and time expired before the bleeding could be stopped. As a result, McKahan finished second and Lawrence was named champion.
At 182, Caleb Bourne fell to Ryan DeLoach of Freedom in the first round, then went on a run in the loser’s bracket. Bourne beat Jared Townsend of Middleton, Nate Neverson of Brook Point and Rastin Baghari of Lake Braddock to earn a rematch with DeLoach. Bourne lost to DeLoach, but earned an eighth-place finish in the bracket.
At 220, Jian Joobeen lost to Nate Young of Spring Grove in the first round. Joobeen then beat Andrew Hawkins of Sussex Tech and Michael Bradshaw of Damascus before falling to Dominic Hovington of Milford. Joobeen then beat David Lavoie of Huntingtown to finish seventh in the bracket.
At 106, Decatur’s Robert Kaminski beat Yony Perez of Sussex Tech in his opener, then fell to Seth Hoopes of Octarara in the second round. Kaminski beat Mount St. Jospeh’s Joel Turner, but then lost to Brandon Morales of Great Bridge. Kaminski beat Middletown’s Luis Estrada to take seventh place in the bracket.
At 285, Ean Spencer beat Clayton Gage of Middetown, but fell to Victor Cruz of Sussex Tech. Spencer then beat Sajed Abdelmomin of Damascus before falling to Dejaun Marble of Huntingtown. Spencer beat Mario MacIntyre of Freedom to finish eighth in the bracket.
At 113, Josh Lawson lost to Josh Montague of Brook Point in his opener, but beat Jaxson Al-Chokhachy of Middletown in the second round before falling to Cord Richardson of Good Counsel.
At 120, Decatur’s Jeremy Danner lost to Nate White of Dematha, but won two matches over Frank Leslie of Octarara and Nathaniel Moskunas of Curley before falling to Nicholas Rhodes of Great Bridge. At 126, Carl Echols fell to Kyle Trybus of Mount St. Joseph in his opener, then lost to Daniel Goodwin of Grassfield. At 160, Brett Kim beat Garrett Schneider, but fell to Colin McLaughlin of Damascus and Dajon Wiseman of Huntingtown. At 170, Tyler Vansice beat John Van Houten of St. Mary’s Ryken in his opener, but fell to Daniel Medcalf of Severn in the second round.