Last Saturday’s Hawks’ Duals at Hanover High School drew 16 teams from high schools near and far for a contest that was not for the faint at heart…even for the fans.  Beginning at 9 a.m., wrestlers from teams making it to the finals wrestled a total of five matches by the day’s 10 p.m. conclusion. 

  “This kind of competition takes a toll on you,” said Hawks’ head coach Aaron Bradley.  “It wore some of the freshman down who weren’t used to getting so many matches.  All the guys reacted well, nobody backed down.”

  Chantilly’s Westfield high School Bulldogs, a juggernaut of indomitability, continued their rumble to victory through the duals with Hanover finishing second. The short-handed Lee-Davis team finished ninth.

  To their dismay, the Confederates had the bad luck of drawing Westfield at the outset of the contest. 

  “We had a bad draw in the pulls and we hit the No. 1 team (Westfield) early, which knocked us down into the consolation bracket,” said Lee-Davis head coach Thomas Riley. Lee-Davis later fell to Deep Run. “I think if we did things a little bit different we could have beat Deep Run, and be wrestling for 5th and 6th instead of 9th.”

  Coming into the contest two men down was no added comfort for Riley.  “We’ve got two people out injured and some weight issues so we were missing a couple key spots.  Our three-pounder got hurt halfway through the game because he pulled his back and it’s too early in the season to risk a further injury just for something like this.  We had a few injuries earlier in the week that stopped our varsity guy from getting in the line-up.  So, [the strategy was to] get the big points where we were missing the better wrestlers.  Getting the key points where we needed to get them worked tonight.  And our backups were wrestling hard and not giving up.  We need to work on pinning a little bit better.”

  C-Fed, John Alexander at 189 earned his match over Hayfield the hard way.  Working from the bottom and after frequently having his left leg jammed at an impossible angle by his opponent, the match was repeatedly interrupted due to injuries to the leg.  The referee finally conceded the win to Alexander after his opponent tried the same tactic one too many times. 

  “It was just the other kid trying to gain advantage by manipulating a joint that doesn’t bend that way,” Riley said.  “It looked to me like he just kept trying to hurt him.”

  Though down in numbers, Riley believed his team could have turned in a better performance. “I think we could have done a little bit better,” he said. “Overall I think a few guys stepped it up to do what needed to be done for the team, but as a team we could have done a lot better.”

  Likewise, the Hawks were down a man, having to forfeit at 285.  “In heavy-weight we had some injuries,” Bradley said, “but at this time everybody has gotten bumps and bruises.  I think Westfield was one of the few teams that didn’t have any holes.” 

  It wasn’t until the finals that Hanover faced off with Westfield…but they did not go quietly into the night.  Gabe Lavey and Brock Buchanan, at 135 and 145 respectively, surprised the Bulldogs with pins in the first period, Patrick Foxworth held on to a 3-0 lead he had earned with an escape and a takedown, and Zach Nussbaum, at 215, closed the finals by pin in the second period.

  “Concentrating on their techniques and wrestling at the same time, one of the players did very well today,” Bradley said with a smile.  “[Nussbaum] got five pins in the day at 215.  It was a great way to end the night.  It’s good to get a win and a pin on the same night.”

  Bradley was pleased with the Hawks’ second place finish, which is their best in the event. “It went well,” he said. “We had tough opponents here in the last round.  First round we defeated Tabb 72 -to-6.  Next round we defeated Hickory 47-to-24 which got us into the final four, where we first competed against Millbrook which we won 46 to 22.”

  In the next round, Hanover defeated Central Region foe James River 51-to-25 to reach the finals against Westfeild.

  Against the Bulldogs, the Hawks fell 47-21.

  “There are a tough group of teams here,” Bradley said. 

  Hanover, Lee-Davis, Atlee and Patrick Henry will take to the mats on Wednesday evening at 6 when the four teams face off in the Hanover Quad at Hanover High School.