This past Wednesday, in their first match of the season, the Titan Wrestlers beat an historically dominant team from North Hagerstown. In an absolutely fantastic precursor to a hopefully even more fantastic season, our Titan Wrestlers have gone up against one of the best teams in the state in recent years, and came away with the win. North Hagerstown has had a long history of being a tough team; with a tough line up all the way through, good coaching, and in the past having some true heavy hitters such as Aaron brooks who was the cadet world champion at 76kg for 2017, the team has always been a state contender and in past years has seemed almost unbeatable by Tuscarora. But last year Tuscarora put itself on the map with a solid wrestling season which culminated in the winning of the regional championship by the Titans. In the 2017-18 season the Titans put up good resistance against North Hagerstown– this year, the tables truly turned and the team came out pinning.

The Titans set the tone of the match securing early wins with Kooper Clark pinning at 132 in the first match of the dual. Conner Herron came in next at 138, majoring against his opponent with a score of 8-0 and adding another 4 points to the team score. In a challenging match Conner Preston also won a by lifting up and returning his opponent to the mat after they had escaped, gaining a 1 point lead for the win in the last 30 seconds of the match.

Other heavy hitters Alex Westbrook and Andrew Chavarria, wrestling at 170 and 180 respectively, also demolished their opponents, both of whom were some of the best North has to offer this year. Having started at 132 and moving up in weights it was not until late in the match that lighter weights, and wrestlers newer to the team, went out to wrestle. In stunning upsets Sotir Markoff and Jhondy Fuller pinned both of their North Hagerstown opponents despite the fact that it was the first official match in Jhondy’s history.

The Titan Wrestlers became overwhelmingly ecstatic with the final score tallying out to 43-35 giving the Titan’s their first win in recent history against a notoriously fierce opponent. Wrestling Coach Trey Coates and New Assistant Coach Steven Jennings where also excited, cheering and yelling with the rest of the team. Upon reflection head coach Trey Coates, like many on the team, believes that this is the start of an amazing season. Last year was the first year in school history that Tuscarora became the regional wrestling champion team, and with any luck they will do it again. Please come out and support your team and it’s wrestlers at the upcoming Boonsboro tournament this Friday and Saturday and at their dual meet this Monday at 6:00 pm at South Hagerstown High.

Go Titans!