Glenelg wrestling turns to freshmen for pivotal late pins in 43-31 regional quarterfinal victory over Oakland Mills

Feb. 8—Glenelg freshmen Phil Key and Jonathan Sexton knew it was possible Tuesday night's wrestling match could come down to them.

With the match tied at 31 and a spot in the Class 2A West regional semifinal on the line, both freshmen stepped up in the final two weight classes at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively. Key and Sexton executed back-to-back pins, closing out the No. 4 seed Gladiators' 43-31 regional quarterfinal victory over No. 5 seed Oakland Mills.

Glenelg advances to Thursday's regional semifinals at Hammond.

"We have a lot of confidence in them," Glenelg coach Matt Bichner said of Key and Sexton. "They're some of our hardest workers, they work really hard with each other. We know they're willing to put the effort in to get it done. We don't like putting them in those spots if we don't have to, but when they're the last two guys you always feel good knowing that they'll at least give you the best effort they have."

Wrestling the most important match of his young career, Key felt the pressure. However, his familiarity with his opponent, Mathew Cowen, helped alleviate some of that stress, as he pinned Cowen in the opening period of their previous match.

"Going up against him before I knew him and I was ready for it" Key said. "I knew what he liked to do, so for a lot of my moves I stopped thinking and just went for them."

Key's first-period pin gave the Gladiators the lead back, but the match wasn't over.

Sexton wasn't as familiar with Michael Cowen, having faced a different wrestler during the regular season. That didn't matter as Sexton established early control and gained momentum, earning the pin 34 seconds into the second period.

"I just went out there like it was any other match," Sexton said. "I hadn't wrestled him before, so I wasn't expecting anything really. I just wanted to go out and win."

Jada Fowler (120) started the dual strong for the Scorpions with an 11-0 major decision victory over Brandon Carballo. The momentum didn't last long, however, as the Gladiators responded with back-to-back wins. Ben Schott (126) pinned Jeremiah Ashby-Gambo 27 seconds into the opening period, shortly followed by a victory by forfeit at 132.

Then it was Oakland Mills' turn to answer with consecutive victories. Raul Rodriguez (138) battled back from an early deficit to establish control for much of the second and third periods, ultimately defeating Isaac Choi, 13-7. Malichi Patterson kept the Scorpions' surge going, pinning Griffin Thurfield 26 seconds into the opening period.

Needing to respond, Glenelg turned to two of its most experienced wrestlers: seniors Sam Schott (152) and Ethan Sotka (160). After a scoreless first period, Schott struck quickly in the second to pin Diego Gambrill, giving Glenelg the lead back. Sotka extended that advantage, surging as the match progressed in his 17-3 major decision over Brayden Fisher.

"They're our leaders," Bichner said. "We would love to be up a lot at the end of the first period if we could, but it doesn't always work out like that. We just try to get to our hand fight, work hard and get these guys breathing a little heavy and then we know things are going to open up as they progress."

The teams split the next two bouts, giving Glenelg a 28-19 lead entering the 195-pound match. With Oakland Mills in need of a spark, Levonte Kama and Brighton Barker delivered, earning pins that energized the Scorpions and gave them a 31-28 lead with three matches remaining.

"Those guys going up weight classes wrestled well," Oakland Mills coach Bradley Howell said. "That put us back in position. We knew it was going to be a sea-saw type of battle. We watched the lead switch hands several times throughout the dual. We just we were trying to stay positive and stay in our game and hopefully we'd be there positioned in the end. They're a good team, we know trying to get some matchups was going to matter. Unfortunately, we lost the flip and they got the choice on some matchups, so we just had to wrestle as well as we could in the matchups we could get."

However, that proved to be their final victory of the night. In the following match, Travis Goodwin (285) earned an early escape against Tori Smith, fending off Smith's efforts to tie it. With the score tied at 31, Key and Sexton's clutch pins ended a back-and-forth match.

Glenelg 43, Oakland Mills 31

120: Jada Fowler (OM) defeats Brandon Carballo (G) 11-0 by major decision; 126: Ben Schott (G) win by pin 27 seconds into period 1 over Jeremiah Ashby-Gambo (OM); 132: Travis McCoy (G) win by forfeit; 138: Raul Rodriguez (OM) wins by decision 13-7 over Isaac Choi (G); 145: Malichi Patterson (OM) wins by pin 26 seconds into period 2 over Griffin Thurfield (G); 152: Sam Schott (G) wins by pin 36 seconds into period 2 over Diego Gambrill (OM); 160: Ethan Sotka (G) 17-3 major decision over Brayden Fisher (OM); 170: Joe Clark (OM) win by forfeit; 182: Leo Conti (G) win by pin 30 seconds into period 1 over Anthony Ruppert (OM); 195: Levonte Kama (OM) wins by pin in 37 seconds over Peter Danko (G); 220: Brighton Barker (OM) wins by pin 1:01 into period 2 over Max Dail (G); 285: Travis Goodwin (G) wins by decision 1-0 over Tori Smith (OM); 106: Phil Key (G) wins by pin 1:31 into period 1 over Mathew Cowen (OM); 113: Jonathan Sexton (G) wins by pin 54 seconds into period 2 over Michael Cowen (OM).