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BERLIN – Bethesda Chevy Chase senior Eli Guttentag (132) built a nine-point lead during a title-winning 11-5 victory over Class 2A-1A state runner-up Jalen Jones of Dunbar of Baltimore in the January 18-19 War on the Shore Tournament at Stephen DeCatur High in Berlin, Worcester County.
Guttentag’s freshman brother, Ike (106), was a runner-up for the 12th-place Barons in the 19-team affair, with third- and fourth-place efforts from the Martinez twins, Fabio (138) and Jeo (152), and sophomore Drew Guttentag (145) being sixth.
“It’s a lot of fun having my brothers on the team this year,” said Eli Guttentag. “With the Martinez twins, it really become like a family affair.”
County champion Damascus placed eight wrestlers for fifth place, with state runner-up Elijah Baisden (220) being third; Silas Patton (106) and Nick Biava (132) both fourth; Aiden Bell (195), fifth; Isaiah Bell (152), sixth; Brodie Douglas (138) and Andrew Creedon (170), both seventh and state runner-up Michael Emerick (126) finish eighth.
The Swarmin’ Hornets were without injured state runner-up Timothy Furgeson (182), who could return later this month, according to his father and coach, John Furgeson.
“It was a tough tournament, with a lot of great wrestling, but Mount St. Joseph is on a different level than everybody else,” said coach Furgeson, of Baltimore power Mount St. Joseph (289.5 points) – the overall champion. Howard County’s Glenelg is third.
“Our kids did really well the first day, getting bonus points and getting ourselves into third place, but the next day was a lot tougher,” added Furgeson. “But now that the tournament portion of the schedule is done for us, we’ll have to take what we learned from this experience and apply it to the rest of our season.”
Eli Guttentag brought the pressure to Jones, a regional and state runner-up last year, losing the latter, 8-7, to Jared Thomas of Glenelg. Thomas won the 138-pound title at War on the Shore by technical fall on Jan. 19.
“Jones has a really strange style from his feet. His stance is really low, and he has a really good blast double so I was happy with the way I was able to counter it. I just bided my time, and when he opened up, I was able to capitalize,” said Guttentag, whose 25-3 record includes a 1-0 loss to Emerick in December.
“I got eight points off my dump — two near-fall points each time — and that’s what won me the match for me. I was up, 4-0, going into the second period where I chose down. I was up, 9-0, at one point at the end of the second period,” he added.
Eli’s triumph follows that earlier this month at his own school’s dual-meet tournament, where he pinned six of eight opponents and earned a 3-2 decision over private schools’ state champion Lorenzo Lopez of Landon.
“I’ve been working on a lot of things, and I’ve gotten better and better as the season has gone along,” said Eli. “I think I’m peaking at the right time and feeling ready for the rest of the seasons and the counties, regions and states.”
Eli had a stellar freshman year at 106 pounds, earning county and regional titles and placing third at states as a ninth grader. Guttentag also finished third at states as a junior, and during each occasion at states, his semifinal losses were to the eventual champions in Bel Air’s Brent Lorin as a freshman and Linganore’s Earl Blake last March.
“I’ve got nothing to lose; it’s my senior year,” said Eli. “I’ve done a lot of wrestling in my day so, I’m really excited, and I’m ready to go for it all.”
Ike earned a measure of revenge with his come-from-behind, 6-5 overtime semifinal victory over Silas Patton of Damascus, who had pinned Barons’ 113-pound county runner-up and fourth-place regional finishing teammate, Christian Simpson, earlier this year.
“I was down, 5-2, going into the third period. I escaped, and then, with about half a second left in regulation, I stepped over him when he was in deep on a shot at my leg. and the ref called two [points for a takedown,]” said Ike Guttentag.
“I think he was rattled after that, and he had already been called for stalling, so I got one stalling point. I rode him out for that last 30 seconds. A full day later, that match is still a blur.”
In addition to Patton, Ike Guttentag owns a 5-4 decision over Springbrook’s Pierre Jean, a third-place regional finisher who dominated his way to victory in the January 18-19 Grapple at the Brook Tournament. Patton owns an 11-3 victory over Jean.
Good Counsel placed five wrestlers at War on the Shore in Avery Miller (170, third), Drew Brenowitz (195, third), Raphael Caicedo-Borja (138, fifth), Conor Lozupone (113, sixth) and Conor Ott (152, seventh.)
In other action over the course of Jan. 18-19, defending Interstate Athletic Conference champion Landon swept six teams in two days as the Bears defeated Episcopal (53-30), Gonzaga (50-24) St Stephen’s & St Agnes School (56-21), Pallotti (59-24), Sanford (67-12) and Gilman (42-39).
Senior Axel Giron (126) pinned all his six opponents. Senior Jelani Machen (182) had four falls — none of which lasted more than 25 seconds — and Matt Amitay (138) had four pins and a major decision.
Senior Lorenzo Lopez (132) won five bouts, pinning twice and winning a third match by a technical fall. Patrick Kielb (145) was 4-0 with three pins, and Jonny Gherman (160) won five of six bous with a pin.
Marc Schermer (152) and Miles Tonkel (220) both went 4-2, with Tonkel pinning three of his opponents, and Jerrold Johnson (170) was 4-1, getting falls in all of victories.
