Broadneck Dominates Severna Park On The Mat, 56-19

Story and photos by Colin Murphy. Purchase high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. 

The Broadneck wrestling team made swift work of rival host Severna Park on December 20 as the Bruins jumped out to a big early lead, stacked up victories and ran away with a 56-19 victory over the Falcons to move to 6-0 on the season.

Broadneck coach Reid Bloomfield praised the execution of his lineup, which dominated the majority of the matches and didn’t relent throughout a convincing team win.

“I was very happy,” said Bloomfield. “We were super aggressive on our feet. That’s what we preach in the room, that’s the position we want to dominate, and we did that.”

The night started with the 106-pounders, and the Bruins’ Will Donahoe needed only 59 seconds to pin Severna Park’s Andrew Truell and give Broadneck a 6-0 lead.

With injuries sidelining Severna Park’s 113 and 120 starters (Jack Chadwick and freshman Ty Daniels, respectively), the Falcons had to forfeit consecutive weight classes, and Broadneck’s lead was 18-0 within minutes of the dual meet starting.

The Bruins pushed the lead to 24-0 behind Jacob Miller, who pinned Severna Park’s Ryan Campbell in 51 seconds at 126.

Matthew Thompson painstakingly plugged the bleeding for Severna Park at 132, grinding down Broadneck’s Aidan Stewart to win an 11-1 decision in a grueling three rounds, and the Falcons were on the board, trailing 24-4. Even then, the victory was small; Stewart did well to fight off getting pinned, wrestling through a battered nose and two blood timeouts to make it the full six minutes and surrender only a four-point major decision.

The 138 matchup pitted two of the county’s top contenders in Severna Park’s Colin Shadowens and Broadneck’s Nick Schardt. Schardt led 2-0 after the first round, 8-2 after the second and 17-4 when he pinned Shadowens late in the third round to give Broadneck a 30-4 lead.

“Before my match I just told myself to go out and keep moving in neutral,” said Schardt. “I’m tying to work on my neutral a lot more this year, so I just kept thinking about my movement and setting up angles for takedowns.”

Schardt is a perfect 13-0 this season, and Bloomfield said he should figure into state contention.

“Nick is a top-ranked kid in the state, and he’s believing it, and it’s starting to show,” said Bloomfield.

At 145, Broadneck’s Michael Garlington kept the rout going with a 21-5 tech fall victory over Severna Park’s Collin Ryan. After Broadneck’s Dylan Rupert pinned Severna Park’s Jimmy Hopper in the first round of the 152 match, the Bruins led 41-4. At 160, Broadneck’s Kyle Keller took 59 seconds to pin Severna Park’s Keith Powell to make it a 47-4 Bruin lead. Giavon Meiklejohn led Severna Park’s Matthew Haskell 6-0 early in the second round when he pinned Haskell to win the 170 matchup and give Broadneck a 53-4 lead.

Ron Schilpp momentarily slowed Broadneck’s steamrolling in the 182 match. Schilpp secured a first-round pin on Broadneck’s A.J. Maltese at 182 to make the score 53-10.

Severna Park banked three hard-earned points at 195 on the strength of Carson Gotimer, who slogged through three rounds of 0-0 wrestling with Broadneck’s Aiden Doyle before winning a 2-0 minor decision with an overtime takedown of Doyle. Broadneck led 53-13.

At 220, Vinny Facciponti got Broadneck back scoring with a well-fought 8-2 decision over Severna Park’s Ty Broadway to give the Bruins a 56-13 lead.

Facciponti is the faceoff man for the Bruins’ lacrosse team and said the interplay between the two sports has helped him in both.

“[Wrestling] helps [faceoff] a lot,” said Facciponti. “It helps with your balance. It’s a big thing. I’ve been wrestling and playing lacrosse since I was five. I’ve always been a faceoff kid. What really started it was wrestling to give me that balance and hand-eye coordination, and also the stamina.”

More importantly, Facciponti moved to 13-0 on the season in helping the Bruins stay unbeaten.

“As a team, we wrestled really good tonight,” he said. “We had a tough one on Tuesday against Southern which we ended up winning, so this one was good to come in and win and punish our rivals.”

In the heavyweight match, Severna Park’s Conor Bowes led 5-1 in the second round when he caught Broadneck’s Luke Del Rosario for a pin to end the dual, get six more points for the Falcons and wrap up the meet with the final score of Broadneck 56, Severna Park 19.

“It was a little different as a match because that kid was a lot lighter as a heavyweight, so I had to chase him around a little bit,” said Bowes, who improved to 11-1 on the season. “He got in on shots pretty quick, but in the end I [pinned him].

For the Falcons (3-3), a return to health and increased practice time in the coming new year bode well for an upward surge in the county standings.

“The beginning of the season has been a meat-grinder for us, but it’s a process,” said first-year head coach Trevor Bryden. “The second half of the season opens up for us. We’re going to have long stretches where we’re going to be able to practice, and that’s when we’ll see some growth.”

There are reasons for optimism: Broadway placed first overall at 220 in the Boonesboro Tournament, where many of the Falcons wrestled upwards of eight matches. Daniels didn’t wrestle against Broadneck but took third at Boonesboro and gives the Falcons strength at 120. Bowes placed second at Boonesboro, Schilpp took fourth, and Ryan wrestled 10 matches at Boonesboro. Shadowens, Griffin Strickler at 145 and Mike Hamlett at 170 should give the Falcons a strong lineup as the season progresses and they build toward counties and regions

“The future is bright for us, we just need the time to get into the room and work,” said Bryden.

For Broadneck, team goals have the Bruins’ eyes on the county with a mind for region dual qualification, while several individuals should contend at the county, region and even state level. With Old Mill and South River on the schedule in 2019, the Bruins have their work cut out for them, but Facciponti said they are confident in their progress.

“We’re going into Christmas break 6-0, and we’ve got Old Mill and South River, so definitely the hardest part of our schedule is coming up,” said Facciponti. “But, we control our own destiny, and we just have to keep doing our thing.”

Story and photos by Colin Murphy. Purchase high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery.