Decatur wrestlers ‘move on’ following losses; beat Wi-Hi

(Feb. 6, 2015) After suffering Bayside Conference losses to the North Caroline Bulldogs and the Kent Island Buccaneers in the past week, the Stephen Decatur wrestling team bounced back with a 56-16 victory over the Wi-Hi Indians Wednesday evening in Berlin.

Before the competition with the Indians, Decatur Coach Todd Martinek said “we’re going to move on” after falling to two conference opponents.

“With all the injuries and all the problems we’ve had, we’ve got to be upbeat with the guys we have left and I think they lived up to it tonight,” he said. “The guys are getting better.”

The six Decatur seniors were honored before the team’s final home meet Wednesday night.

Wi-Hi forfeited the first two matches of the night at 113 and 120 pounds. Senior TJ Scafone scored a 17-0 technical fall victory with nine seconds left in the second period of his 126-pound match.

Sophomore Andy McKahan pinned his 132-pound opponent with 1:48 left in the third period of his bout to boost Decatur’s advantage to 23-0.

Wi-Hi earned decisions at 138 and 145 pounds and a major decision at 152 pounds to cut Decatur’s lead to 13 points (23-10).

Junior Tyler Vansice pinned his 160-pound opponent with 48 seconds left in the second period of his match. Brett Kim, a junior, stepped on the mat next and pinned his 170-pound competitor with 1:14 remaining in the third period of his competition to increase Decatur’s lead to 35-10.

“Up a weight class, I thought Brett Kim looked really good,” Martinek said.

Wi-Hi forfeited the 182-pound match, but won at 195 pounds by pin.

Ean Spencer, a sophomore, outscored his 220-pound opponent 6-2 then Gavin Payne, also a sophomore, pinned his competition with 27 seconds left in the first period of his 285-pound match to give Decatur a 50-16 advantage.

“Gavin Payne at heavyweight, going up 45 pounds and beating that kid, that’s a great win for him. He’s been wrestling better,” Martinek said. “Ean Spencer winning a 4-2 match. Tight matches this year he was losing, so he’s learning from that.”

Josh Lawson, a sophomore, finished the meet, earning a pin with 18 seconds remaining in the first period of his 106-pound bout.

“I thought everybody wrestled very well. Overall I was pleased. We’re moving on from the loss of some personnel and we’re winning and we look good,” Martinek said. “I think we wrestled with some intensity and we weren’t getting pinned. If we got in trouble we got off our backs. We just keep plugging away and working hard.”

Decatur will head to Salisbury today, Friday, to take on the James M. Bennett Clippers at 5 p.m.  The Seahawks’ final meet of the regular season is Monday on the road against the Cambridge Vikings and the Mardela Warriors at 5 p.m.

The Bayside Conference championship is scheduled for Feb. 20 in Cambridge.