Catonsville recorded nine pins, including six in a row, and won three forfeits on the way to a 76-3 victory at Woodlawn on Tuesday night.
Several Comets got their first wins of the season, none more thrilling than Brayden Godwin, who rallied from a 6-0 deficit to pin David Dixon in the 190-pound match.
“He was breathing pretty heavy into that second period and I figured, ride him out a little more and take advantage,” Godwin said. “I buckled down and tried to bring it back to my fundamentals and bring the win home. It feels great, it feels great.”
Godwin, a senior who also plays lacrosse and football, is in his first season on the mat.
“That just shows he’s got a lot of fight and desire and he’s not giving up,” Catonsville coach George Dunn said. “He’s definitely learned a lot and he’s a smart guy.
One of the highlight matches featured Catonsville’s Toby Eveleth against Kyron Britton at 126 pounds.
Eveleth, a senior, finished fourth in the Class 4A-3A state championships and went 33-5 last year, but he missed the Baltimore County tournament because of illness. Britton, fourth at the county championships as a freshman, and fifth at regionals, but qualified for states because of a scratch and won a match there to finish 26-13.
Their match Tuesday was scoreless after one period, but Eveleth got a takedown 35 seconds into the second period and added six near-fall points to take an 8-0 lead into the third. With 20 seconds left in the period, he got the pin.
“He was strong and he gave me a good match and it’s always good to get a good match, so I’m forced to wrestle,” Eveleth said. “The whole goal is to get these good matches in before counties and states so I can prepare.”
Eveleth, ranked seventh in the state at 120, improved to 12-1. His only loss came in the Grindstone Duals at 126 and it was a learning moment.
“I’ve got to prepare myself better for matches. I came out a little slow in that match and stuff happens,” he said. “I went up a weight class and I’m just trying to get as many hard matches as I can.”
Woodlawn’s first-year coach Dartainian Grandpre’ was happy to see his sophomore get a tough early match.
“He [Britton] is tough and that’s what I wanted to see,” Grandpre’ said. “I wanted to get him experience with a ranked kid because he doesn’t get that many looks, so he needed look and experience of what it is going to be like at states.”
In addition to the pins by Eveleth and Godwin, the Comets also got falls from Jaiden Asncombe (106), Davontae Malone (132), Jaden Cudzilo (144), Pau Muang (150), Shilone Robinson (157), Marquis Gary (165) and Dylan Stevenson (175).
Woodlawn’s Charles Iman ended the Comets’ pinning streak at six and got the Warriors on the scoreboard when he scored a 10-6 decision over Alex Sepney at 215.
“He’s a tough kid and he started late, so he’s the one with the least experience,” Grandpre’ said. “I’m proud of him because this is his first match at 215. He had to wrestle his last two matches at 285 because he wasn’t certified.”
Granpre’, the former JV coach, took over when Justin Wildy left to become head women’s wrestling coach at Marymount University. He’s also familiar with Dunn.
“I’ve got nothing but respect for Coach Dunn. Coach Dunn was my coach in high school [2006-07] at Woodlawn,” he said. “I’m very proud of Catonsville, very proud of Coach Dunn and we are going to get better and we will come harder next time.”
Dunn, whose squad has seven first-year wrestlers, was happy to see a convincing victory his young squad can build on.
“That’s our best team win of the year, for sure,” Dunn said. “The whole team came together, our young guys stepped up and got some big wins.”
106: Jaiden Asncombe (C) fall Joy Dembi-Ajadi (W) 1:09
112: Eric Taylor (C) won by forfeit
120; Evan Butler (C) won maj. decision Nysia Reid (W), 10-0
126: Toby Eveleth (C) fall Koran Britton (W) 5:40
132: Davontae Malone (C) fall Nyree Hammond (W) 3:57
138: Cameron Lewis (C) won by forfeit
144: Jaden Cudzilo (C) fall Jaybriel Britton (W) 1:20
150: Pau Muang (C) fall Herbert Kennedy (W) 1:30
157: Shilone Robinson (C) fall Kani Ingram (W) 1:41
165: Marquis Gary (C) fall Marvin Strong (W) 3:37
175: Dylan Stevenson (C) fall Danson Grant (W) 3:49
190: Brayden Godwin (C) fall David Dixon (W) 3:27
215: Charles Iman (W) dec. Alex Stepney (C) 10-6
285: Elias Clark (C) won by forfeit
