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North Carroll’s Jeremy Seipp looks to pin Westminster’s Darrian Meador during the Carroll County Wrestling Tournament at Westminster High School on Monday. — Chris Ammann/Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - North Carroll’s Jason Thomen hopes his wrestling team has learned its lesson.
A few weeks after the Panthers followed their biggest victory with an equally demoralizing defeat, North Carroll has another opportunity to win a title after letting one slip away.
The Panthers posted one of the greatest dual meet victories by any Carroll County team with a 30-28 win against La Plata in the semifinals of the 4A/3A State Dual Meet Tournament on Feb. 16, ending the Warriors’ 52-match unbeaten streak against state teams. But as jubilant as the Panthers were following their win over the Warriors, they were quickly humbled when aspirations of their first state dual meet crown since 1994 were dashed with a 33-26 loss to Stephen Decatur of Worcester County.
“That was incredible,” said Thomen, who competes in the 215-pound class. “We were all so excited that we did that, and that was one of our goals. We were pretty confident after that, and I think maybe we were a little too confident. Maybe that’s why things didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to.”
Said North Carroll coach Dave Dodson: “You only get so many chances to get that far. So I mean, it was disappointing.”
The Panthers ended the dual meet season 15-2, but can add some pretty big trophies to the Hampstead school’s award case in the next few weeks. North Carroll hosts the 24-team, 4A/3A North Region Tournament on Friday and Saturday, when the Panthers compete against schools from Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore Counties and Baltimore City. The top-four wrestlers in each of the 14 weight divisions advance to the 4A/3A State Tournament on March 7-8 at the University of Maryland’s Cole Field House.
And recent history suggests North Carroll will not leave either venue empty handed. The Panthers won the region title last year before placing second behind La Plata at the state tournament, the Panthers’ first top-three finish in 15 years.
But before competing at the region and state meet, North Carroll hopes to win the Carroll County Tournament, which is scheduled to be completed today at Westminster. The tournament was supposed to be completed Saturday, but inclement weather caused it be to postponed.
“We’ve got to have guys winning in the finals,” Dodson said. “ We’ve got to have guys getting to the finals. Some of them are gonna be facing some pretty tough competition.”
avitelli@baltimoreexaminer.com
