Delaware Military Academy (DMA) wrestling posing with the division II state championship trophy, photo courtesy of DMA Athletics Twitter
Smyrna – Delaware Military Academy rode six pins enroute to a 38-32 victory over St. Mark’s to capture the DIAA Division II state championships. The title was the second for the Seahawks in consecutive years.
The championship match began at 113 pounds, the Seahawks reeled off three straight wins to begin the match all earning bonus points. Cole Perrin got it started pinning Adelynne Till in 45 seconds at 113 pounds. Tyler DelCollo followed at 120 pounds pinning James Holmes in 1:24. Gavin Mundy capped off the fast start at 126 winning a 16-1 technical fall over Aaron Menickella as DMA jumped out to a 17-0 lead.
“We were counting on pins early, we knew the bonus points were going to be huge,” DMA head coach L.A. Collier said.
Chris Foster got the Spartans in the win column at 132 winning a 2-0 decision over Dylan DelCollo, but Piero Papili answered quickly for the Seahawks pinning Jack MacDonald in 1:02 at 138 pounds.
St. Mark’s cut in the DMA lead winning the next two bouts as Alex Baxley (144) won a 10-5 decision over Jackson Grandel and Ben Ranauto pinned Charles Perrin in 2:11 at 150 pounds narrowing the lead to 23-12 midway through the match.
Then came the big match within the match at 157 pounds where two of the top wrestlers in the state met between DMA’s Malcolm Roy and Brayden Raunato. After two periods the match was tied 4-4 when Roy threw Raunato with a lateral drop and the pin in 4:28.
“I was surprised by the pin, Malcolm can be lights out and he was tonight,” Collier said.
The Spartans took the next two bouts with Jacob Ebaugh (165) winning a 9-0 major decision over Ethan MacDonnell and the return of Luke Spoor, who has missed most of the season with an injury, pinning Nathan Wesberry in 1:23 at 175 pounds as St. Mark’s trimmed the DMA lead to 29-22.
The two teams traded the next four bouts ending the match. The Seahawks Hayden Moaney (190) pinned Vincent Hurst in 45 seconds, the Spartans Finn Hanna won a 16-2 major decision over Emelio Messina at 215 pounds. DMA clinched the match at 285 pounds where top ranked Cael DiNigris won a 9-0 major decision over Aiden Zellman extending DMA’s lead to 38-26.
Clif Bakhsh ended the match for St. Mark’s pinning Cyrus Hurley in 3:23.
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