Takedown

Josh Grady, Severna Park's senior co-captain, first talks about how proud he is of his team.The Falcons were 3-11 in his sophomore year, his first on varsity. They improved to 6-8 last season and turned the corner in a big way this winter, finishing the regular season at 9-5 under fifth-year coach Ralph Toomey."Coach Toomey always said it takes five years to build a good wrestling program," the 125-pounder said.While building a successful program may take that long, Grady is living proof that it's not the case with a wrestler.

Curley's Paul Boettcher gave the No. 1 Friars an insurmountable lead, winning his 152-pound bout, 10-4 over Mike Swann, in a 38-19 victory over visiting sixth-ranked Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association rival Gilman yesterday.The win by Boettcher, who is ranked No. 2 in the state with a 22-1 record, put the Friars (9-0, 5-0) ahead, 35-7, with four bouts left, rendering moot victories by Gilman's No. 2-ranked superstars, Damian Davis (189) and Mike Faust (heavyweight). Davis improved to 24-0 with a 5-4 decision over J.D. Mislak, and Faust, to 31-0 with a 3-1 overtime decision over Brad Charvat.

Dave Spicer of Westminster gained a lot from last year's state tournament.Winning the Class 3A-4A state championship at 135 pounds certainly helped Spicer's confidence. But the overall success he found in that tournament convinced Spicer to change his wrestling style -- something that has led to more success this year.Wrestling at 140 pounds this year for No. 6 Westminster, Spicer is 15-1 with 13 pins, while using a style of wrestling that has changed dramatically from last year.Spicer used to be more of a defensive, counter-attacking wrestler.

The Southern Bulldogs knew they had to get busy right from the start last night against visiting county foe North County.They did just that.Winning the first four matches, including pins from Ben Thornton and Matt Bender to go with a pivotal decision from Ryan Spannare, the Bulldogs were able to survive North County's strength at the heavier weights to come away with a solid 36-34 win.With the Knights (1-2) missing a heavyweight -- yielding six points via forfeit -- the Bulldogs clinched the match at 152 when Brian Youmans' 10-0 major decision over Shawn Kisner gave them a 30-16 lead.

Second seed Matt Kunkel of Aberdeen stunned North Harford's unbeaten Jeremy Mason with a takedown and near-fall in the first 30 seconds of their 171-pound match, and went on to a 15-8 upset in the 28th annual Harford County wrestling championships at Joppatowne High School last night.Kunkel and two-time county champion James Axel led Aberdeen to its 13th consecutive team title, 19th overall, and sent retiring coach Dick Slutzky out in style. In his 25-year career, there were state championships, the second-highest number of individual state champions, and the state's only four-time champion -- his son Matt.

Coming off Tuesday's two-point loss to No. 1 Mount St. Joseph in which it had a 7-6 edge in bouts won, No. 5 Archbishop Curley was a little ticked off as a team.The Friars (9-1 league) took out their frustrations yesterday at No. 10 Boys' Latin (7-3), getting pins from Mike Frey (112), No. 4 Paul Boettcher (135), and a major decision from Greg Dennis (145) to win an interdivisional Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association match, 31-22.However, Mount St. Joseph (13-0, 10-0) clinched the league title with its 48-13 win over Gilman last night.

When Chris Combs comes to wrestle, his opponent is usually back-pedaling."I like to dictate, dominate and control the match -- go right at the guy," said Combs, Old Mill's 112-pound sophomore county champ and region runner-up."

Throughout last night's match in Hampstead, the Francis Scott Key Eagles were a little stronger, a little quicker and always able to keep a step or two in front of county rival North Carroll.The result was a 33-20 win for the No. 13 Eagles, who are getting stronger as the season progresses.The way things went all night was best depicted at 130 with Key's Matt Yinger coming away with a well-earned 6-3 decision over Dameon Davis.Yinger (21-2) got an early takedown to take a 2-1 lead before Davis (15-3)

Long after many of his teammates have hit the showers -- that's when the real work begins for Sal Aquia. For that's when the senior plants his back against a matted wall in Archbishop Curley's wrestling room and makes the most progress.He'll execute 100 stand-ups, the standard escape maneuver from the bottom referee's position. He'll execute 200 sprawls, the most common counter to an opponent's double- or single-leg take-down attack.Aquia's muscular 160-pound physique -- he's trimmed 23 pounds off a beefy frame that ballooned to 183 during the summer -- helps him to endure grueling workouts with coaching assistants Dan Lopez, Etienne Mizczak and older brother Tony Aquia, said coach Alan Gebhart.

MILWAUKEE -- Should Milwaukee catcher Jesse Levis ever find a need for another vocation, he could always try professional wrestling. He provided a fine impression of a takedown yesterday, a move that led to Milwaukee's lead run in its 6-4 win over the Orioles.The Brewers had the bases loaded with nobody out in the sixth inning, trailing 4-3, when Levis hit a sharp grounder to Rafael Palmeiro. The Orioles' first baseman turned and threw to second, where shortstop Cal Ripken caught the ball, stepped on the bag and fired back to first.