Pioneers take title in Wildcat Scramble

View larger image Strasburg’s Nic Campbell, top, has Dominion’s Joey Betts wrapped up during the Wildcat Scramble on Saturday in Front Royal. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Central’s Kaleb Orndorff, right, has control of the right arm of Warren County’s Tyler Peterson during the Wildcat Scramble on Saturday in Front Royal. Andrew Thayer/Daily

By Dennis Atwood - sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Spotswood's withdrawal Saturday morning from the Wildcat Scramble Duals wrestling tournament required a last-minute change of the event format. The tournament switched from a 12-team, two rounds of pooled teams structure, to five one-on-one matches for each team.

In the final format, host Warren County had only four matches, and didn't face Millbrook or Strasburg. Strasburg didn't take on Central, and Central didn't face Millbrook.
The remaining 11 teams included Group AAA schools JEB Stuart, Orange County and North Stafford.

Millbrook's 5-0, 290-point outing garnered first place, Warren County took second (4-0, 247 points), Strasburg was fourth (3-2, 200), and Central came in 11th (0-5, 95).
Winning all their matches for the Pioneers were freshman Dylan Wisman (138), PK Jessen (152), Jake Crawford (160), Joe Jessen (195), and DeAndre Johnson, who wrestled in both the 220 and 285 classes.

In a surprise move, Millbrook, which took sixth in Group AA last year, forfeited the 106, 113, and 120 matches against Strasburg, even though the Pioneers entered wrestlers in those weight classes against other opponents.

Although Millbrook easily won the team scoring, 52-6, the development rankled Strasburg coach Trey Kirkland.

"I just think it shows a lack of class by the coaching staff," Kirkland said.

Strasburg, which came in at 33-1, and was third at the Group A last year, forfeited the 160, 195, and 285 classes (18 points) throughout the match due to illness and injury.
Kirkland's involvement with his team was evidenced by a blackened right eye and a cut lip, results of practice contact with two of his wrestlers.

"I don't think we had our best performance of the year," Kirkland said. "We had a lot of tough competition with a lot of tough teams here today. All in all, the purpose of this tournament was a tune-up, final competition before the postseason.

"I think we realized a lot, we took a couple of losses. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I think it got us more prepared for the postseason, which is our number one goal."
Strasburg freshman Nic Campbell (113) validated his Group A No. 1 ranking, with four pins and a forfeit.

"[I'm emphasizing] technique and conditioning, so I can go after [opponents] all three periods," Campbell said.

Winning all their matches for the Wildcats were Terrace Thompson (106), Kyle Montague (113), Jeffrey Budwash (195), and Zach Poehler (285).

"[My goal was] just to get some work for districts and regions, as the main thing, and get the wins," Budwash said. "Dominion's [Emile Khattar] was pretty good. I had to use more strength and it took longer than my other matches."

"For us, [the tournament] was good," Warren County coach Matt Wadas said. "We went 4-0 and I got the kids some good, tough matches, but yet, I got the team some wins and some confidence going into the districts.

"I would have liked to wrestle Orange County, which was on our original schedule, but as a host, we took one less match, because we wanted all the other teams to be happy. So, we didn't get exactly what we wanted out of the day, but it ended up good for us."

Due to illnesses and injuries, Central forfeited six classes (36 points), against every opponent.

Skylar Wolf (132) and Kaleb Orndorff (138) went 4-1 for the Falcons, and each pinned his Warren County opponent in the final round of the day.