Takedown

In a charged atmosphere before a capacity crowd at Hammond, 119-pound Ethan Cohen delivered a soul-satisfying victory for the No. 4-ranked Bears wrestling team last night. The senior captain scored a two-point takedown on River Hill's David Heckman with 12 seconds left and then held on for a 6-4 decision that gave the Bears a 30-27 triumph, their first over No. 5 River Hill since 1999. "This was the biggest match of my career in an incredible atmosphere," said Cohen. "Even though there was a lot of pressure, I was real happy it came down to me. I wouldn't want that pressure on anyone else.

Still a bit banged up and tired from the Mount Mat Madness Tournament over the weekend, the Boys' Latin wrestling team didn't get any sympathy from visiting McDonogh last night. Instead, No. 5 McDonogh took full advantage of favorable matchups and didn't let up for a second in an unexpectedly easy time over No. 10 Boys' Latin. Heavyweight Luis Gimenez, Joe Breen (119 pounds), Ricky Tippett (140) and Jesse Sataloff (160) scored pins, but it was the effort of Luke Rebertus (145) that best summed up the Eagles' 54-18 victory.

Most of the attention in yesterday's 18th annual Overlea Invitational Wrestling Tournament was focused on the 152-pound final. It's a match Fallston's Nathan Bachmann would rather forget. Bachmann, a two-time defending state champion, was outlasted by Aric Fuhrman of Delone Catholic, 5-0. Delone, of Hanover, Pa., won the team championship by 34 1/2 points over runner-up Fallston. Host Overlea finished third. Fuhrman, who finished eighth in last year's Pennsylvania Catholic Championships, controlled the match from start to finish.

Owings Mills wrestler Eric Vinores scored a significant dual- meet victory with last night's 6-1 decision over previously unbeaten Eric Robinson at Kenwood. His win sparked a 52-18 rout, the 38th straight win by second-ranked, defending 2A-1A state dual and tournament champion Owings Mills (9-0), but it doesn't rank nearly as high as another battle Vinores has been winning. Diagnosed with juvenile diabetes four years ago, the 125-pound junior wears a detachable insulin pump on either his leg or hip 24 hours a day. "When he was first diagnosed at 13 years old, he couldn't cut weight at all," said his father, Stan.

Teammates nicknamed her "Pinky" - the color she crochets into delicate blankets. But on the mat, very little is soft about Western Tech's Jade Hendricks. The sophomore has had her hand raised in victory six times and has been pinned only once in five losses. Three coaches have forfeited bouts rather than risk their athletes' losing to Hendricks, a defensive wrestler whose balance helps her control male opponents. Her coach once watched Hendricks pin someone, return to the bench and begin crocheting.

From the tight decisions to pins and everything in between, things went South Carroll's way last night against visiting Glenelg. The No. 8 Cavaliers took the initiative throughout, continually a move ahead of the No. 15 Gladiators and the reward was a convincing 45-18 win. With 119-pounder Mike Horbey getting things started with a 7-6 decision over Dave Brindza on a last-minute takedown, the Cavaliers won the next six matches - including back-to-back pins...

As they quietly filed out of the Harford Tech gymnasium, many Eastern Tech fans shook their heads in disbelief. For their Mavericks, the loss nearly defied description. But the scoreboard told the story: No. 4 Harford Tech 54, No. 10 Eastern Tech 9. "It was a really bad night," said a nearly speechless Chris Clark, a former state runner-up who was taken down with 26 seconds left in his 5-3 loss to unbeaten Josh Taylor. "They came with a lot of intensity," said Clark, ranked sixth at 152 pounds.

Mount St. Joseph's Andrew Gold avenged a loss of a year ago with Tuesday's 3-2 victory over Jordan Brown of Solon High (Cleveland), earning the PowerAde Tournament crown at Trinity High in Trinity, Pa. Gold (9-1), a 112-pound senior who was pinned by Brown in last year's title bout, had not been scored upon in his four previous matches - two pins, a shutout technical fall and a 12-0 decision. Sophomore 152-pound teammate Mack Lewnes (16-2, eight pins) recorded four pins to reach the final, where he lost, 6-2, to Mike Pucillo of Walsh Jesuit (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)

With the 2A-1A South regional duals less than a week away, Centennial and top-ranked 145-pounder Mark Nakasone got just the preparation they needed yesterday against Fall-ston. Nakasone major decisioned third-ranked Nathan Bachmann in the most intriguing subplot of the nonconference match, which the eighth-ranked Eagles won, 39-26, over the 15th--ranked and host Cougars. "I'm glad we wrestled them when we did," said Centennial coach Todd DeCrispino, whose Eagles improved to 12-1 with the regular-season closing victory.

Mount Hebron's Andrew Benicewicz simply had no choice: He would either get the first takedown against Russell Tebeleff or receive a lesson similar to the one he endured in an earlier loss to the Hammond wrestler. Benicewicz scored the first takedown for an early lead on the way to a 7-2 victory over fifth-ranked Tebeleff last night as the third-ranked Vikings routed both host Hammond (43-8) and Wilde Lake (57-9) in a Howard County tri-meet. Benicewicz had lost a match earlier that night, 7-3, to Wilde Lake's Matt Ennis (17-2, 11 pins)