Patterson wrestlers pinned seven opponents, five of them in the first period, and overcame two forfeits in yesterday's 46-27 Baltimore City dual-meet victory over visiting Poly.
Ed Kempa (140) had the fastest pin, improving to 17-4 after flattening Lucas Seip-Williams with a headlock in 36 seconds. City champion Thorn Brown (103, a 21-2 record), Angelo DePasquale (119), Jimmy Walker (135, 15-3) and Kennard Wheeler (189) also had first-period pins.
First-year wrestler Caleb Moore (152) and third-ranked Leonard Bridgeforth (171, 23-1) both scored pins in the second period as the defending Baltimore City champion Clippers (8-4, 5-0) ran their two-year unbeaten streak against city opponents to 13-0, and their overall record under third-year coach Troy Stevenson to an impressive 38-6.
Bridgeforth (171), a region runner-up and fourth-place finisher at states last year, built a 17-4 lead before pinning Khari Parker in 2: 25, giving the Clippers an insurmountable lead of 40-24.
In another Patterson victory, Richard Johnson (145) overcame a 2-1 first-period deficit in hammering Lonnie Williams, 11-3. Johnson, a sophomore second-year wrestler, was trailing by one point in the second period. Then he scored a takedown and five nearfall points to pull away and improve to 20-4.
"It [the city championship] is not wrapped up yet. We have two more matches," said Stevenson, whose team can secure its second straight city dual meet title with victories over Mervo and Edmondson.
The biggest of Poly's five victories was a 6-4 overtime decision by junior Dennis Scott over Patterson's sixth-ranked heavyweight, Tyrell McClaurin. Scott improved to 20-3, and McClaurin slipped to 23-1.
"I was looking forward to the competition, and I respected him as an athlete," said Scott, who overcame deficits of 2-0 and 4-3.
"Tyrell's been taking his wins for granted," Stevenson said, "so he wasn't prepared for the match he got."
Other winners for the Engineers (7-7, 5-1):
Sean Gallagher (112) trailed all the way against Antonio Patterson before pinning him at 3: 26 with the score tied at 8-all. After teammate Chonan Bell (125) received one of the Engineers' two forfeit wins, Marcellous Carrington (130) flattened Patterson's Michael Saunders in 1: 11.
Stevenson praised 25-year-old Poly coach Kirk Stehman, a former two-time state champ in Pennsylvania.
"He's where I was three years ago, except he's inherited less," said Stevenson. "We won't be able to touch them next year."
"We've got a lot of first-year guys, so this is good experience for us," said Stehman. "They [Clippers] were aggressive and physical. But we weren't as good at the beginning of the year as we are now. I'm proud of our progress."
Pub Date: 2/06/98
