No holds barred: Strasburg sweeps county rivals

View larger image Stonewall Jackson’s Ricky Tisinger, top, tries to turn Massanutten Military Academy’s Issac Eiler during their 220-pound match at Wednesday’s Shenandoah County meet in Quicksburg. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Central’s Cody Neal, left, and Strasburg’s Thayer Norris try to get control during their 285-pound match. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Tony Whetzel of Central, right, tries to control Michael Capone of Strasburg during their 126-pound match at Wednesday’s Shenandoah County meet. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Randy Stokes of Strasburg, left, tries to turn Thomas Peacemaker of Central in their 145-pound bout. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Skylar Wolf of Central, top, tries to control Marco Gallagher of Strasburg in their 132-pound match at the Shenandoah County meet on Wednesday. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Stonewall Jackson's John Michael Pirtle prepares to pin Duncan DeLoach of Massanutten Military Academy during their 195-pound match at Wednesday's Shenandoah County meet. Dennis Grundman/Daily View larger image Steven Salinas of Stonewall Jackson, right, grabs Massanutten Military Academy's William Bard and attempts a takedown in their 182-pound match at Wednesday's Shenandoah County meet in Quicksburg. Dennis Grundman/Daily

By Brad Fauber - sports@nvdaily.com

QUICKSBURG -- Strasburg continued its impressive regular season by sweeping the Shenandoah County wrestling meet at Stonewall Jackson High School on Wednesday.

The Rams, last year's third-place finisher in the Group A state tournament, finished the evening a perfect 3-0, picking up wins over Central, Massanutten Military Academy and Stonewall Jackson. The sweep improves Strasburg to 27-1 in duals competition this season.

"We expected to come out strong -- we've beaten every team here except Central, this is the first time we wrestled them," Rams co-captain Todd Dean said. "We just had to come out and be strong."

Dean and the Rams flexed their muscles early, picking up a 53-18 win over rival Central in the first match of the evening for both teams. Five Strasburg wrestlers recorded victories via pin in the match.

After beating MMA, 46-15, in the second round, the Rams faced Stonewall Jackson in what turned out to be a showdown for the county title.

Strasburg freshman Marco Galligher (132 pounds) got things rolling in the third round with an 8-2 victory over Generals sophomore Nathan Jones. Dean followed that up with a first-period pin against sophomore Christopher Delaughter.

Dean got a quick takedown to open the bout, but Delaughter gathered a point on an escape to make the score 2-1 in the early going. Dean was able to score another takedown late in the first period, which he used to pin Delaughter at the 1:50 mark to give Strasburg a 9-0 lead.

Strasburg senior Michael Capone put the stamp on a solid team effort for the Rams when he pinned Generals sophomore Andrew Good at 1 minute, 39 seconds, giving Strasburg a 48-29 win over Stonewall Jackson and the sweep.

"We've got a lot of tough kids -- we're starting to pick back up and really starting to come out and wrestle well," Rams coach Trey Kirkland said. "We're right where I expected to be by this time this season. We've just got to keep it up, work harder and continue to get better."

Stonewall Jackson rolled to a 61-6 victory over MMA in its first match of the evening, and followed that with a 45-27 win over Central.

The Generals got strong performances from defending state champions Ricky Tisinger (220) and Lucas Ryan (285), who combined to go 6-0.

Ryan picked up a victory by forfeit in the match against MMA before dominating his next two bouts. Ryan pinned Central's Cody Neal just 10 seconds into the match, and Strasburg's Thayer Norris lasted a mere two seconds longer than Neal, falling victim to a powerful bear hug and takedown that Neal couldn't escape.

Ryan said the Generals were disappointed about falling short in Wednesday's meet, but he is confident Stonewall Jackson can build upon last year's fourth-place finish at the Group A state tournament.

"The only time we've beaten [Strasburg] was last year at the Bison Duals, so we wanted to take them at county, but we didn't come out on top," Ryan said. "But we haven't lost many people who placed [at states] last year, so we're pretty confident."