South Carroll’s second- and fourth-ranked seniors Evan Owen (138 pounds) and Manny Rodrigues (215) pinned all nine of their opponents, and top-ranked junior Jo Jo Gigliotti (144) decked one with three technical falls as the Cavaliers won last weekend’s King Of The Rock tournament at Rock Ridge High in Ashburn, Virginia.
The trio was joined on the victory podium by sophomores Eli Gabrielson (120) and Davy Snyder (157), ranked Nos. 1 and 9, as the Cavaliers (303 points) hammered runner-up Strasburg (204.5), Virginia and the rest of the 26-team field.
Seventh-ranked junior Landon Hamper (190) finished second, with third-place efforts from fourth-ranked junior Grayson Barnhill (113) and 10th-ranked sophomore Brody Henry (132). Placing fourth were ninth-ranked senior Angelo Marchany (150) and freshman Jake Simione (106), with sophomore Conner Deshesky (165) being fifth.
Owen had falls in 2:21, 1:28, 54, 40 and 28 seconds, the latter against senior Steven Stotler of Woodbridge, Virginia, in their championship bout. Rodrigues had pins in 19, 42 and 61 seconds along with those in 2:13 and 5:02, the last in his title match against junior Daniel Serrano of Park View in Sterling, Virginia.
Rodrigues had not wrestled since his sophomore season, when he won Carroll County and Class 2A-1A North Region crowns before placing second at Class 2A-1A states. A three-time county and regional champion, Owen was a state runner-up for the second straight year last season after having placed fourth as a freshman.
Owen’s four losses at states have been to eventual champions. Owen was pinned as a freshman in his third-place bout by Boonsboro’s Tanner Halling, now a top-ranked 132-pounder who won a Class 2A-1A crown last season.
Owen’s other three losses at states were to Rising Sun’s graduated three-time title-winner Tyler Garvin, the past two coming by decision in their championship bouts.
“My goal has not changed,” Owen said. “My goal every year is to become a state champion.”
Gabrielson followed pins in 18 and 43 seconds with a 16-0 technical fall and a 17-4 major decision, the latter in his title bout against junior Adam Skinner of Woodbridge High.
A transfer from St. Mary’s Ryken in St. Mary’s County, Gabrielson earned last year’s Washington Catholic Athletic Conference crown, finished second in the Maryland Private Schools State tournament, and fourth-place at National Preps.
Snyder earned his crown following a pair of major decisions, a technical fall and two pins, the last in 2:17 for the crown against senior Jurgis Petraitis of Woodbridge. Henry was first at counties and regions and placed fifth at states.
Gigliotti used a pin and three technical falls by the combined score of 53-6 to reach the finals, where he earned a 7-2 decision over Woodbridge freshman Colten Jones. Gigilotti is a two-time champion in the Carroll County, Class 2A-1A North Region and Class 2A-1A state tournaments.
“We have a couple of things we all need to clean up,” said Gigliotti, who was named Middleweight Wrestler Of The Year by Legacy Wrestling. “But I thought we wrestled well overall. Fortunately, we have the winter break between December and January to get better.”
Landon Hamper had a tournament record of 4-1 with three pins, being pinned in 49 seconds of his title match with senior Ethan Osburn of Hayfield, who improved to 18-0.
Barnhill went 4-1 with three pins and a technical fall, being decked in 3:17 of his semifinal by freshman Bryson Galofaro of Heritage High in Leesburg, Virginia. Golafaro was the eventual champion, improving to 11-0 with a 17-0 title match rout of freshman Aiden Swink of Strasburg, Virginia.
“Grayson lost to a freshman who’s currently undefeated,” said Bryan Hamper, in his 12th year coaching the Cavaliers. “Landon lost to a state champion who was a blood round guy at Fargo.”
The Cavaliers are currently without injured third-ranked 175-pound Class 2A-1A state champion Anthony Rodrigues, a returning county and regional champion.
“We’re optimistic that Anthony will return,” Hamper said. “He’s just working through a lingering injury that doesn’t appear to be too serious.”
Owen and Rodrigues are 9-0 on the year with nine pins, Gigliotti is 9-0 with seven pins, and both Gabrielson and Snyder are 9-0 with five pins.
Barnhill and Hamper are each at 8-1 with seven pins, Marchany is 8-2 with seven pins, while Henry and Simione are 8-2 with six pins.
Deschesky is 7-4 with four pins, senior Paddy Govier is 5-3 with five pins, and junior Zavier Hagler (132) is 2-1 with two pins.
Hamper was named Class 1A Coach Of The Year by Legacy Wrestling last season, and already has cemented his legacy among the state's all-team greats, if not the most accomplished.
A 2001 South Carroll graduate, Hamper was twice a state champion and twice placed fourth at the states. Hamper coached his alma mater to Class 2A-1A state tournament titles in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 before the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association ceased scoring the state tournament in 2018.
Hamper has personally coached 28 of the Cavalier’s Maryland public school-leading 41 individual state champion wrestlers. Second behind the Cavaliers with 36 individual champions apiece are Old Mill of Anne Arundel County and Owings Mills of Baltimore County. In fact, Hamper has coached more individual champions than Montgomery County power Damascus with 26.
Riding a 38-bout winning streak, the Cavaliers (4-0) boast four returning Class 2A-1A state champions and three runners-up among 10 state place-winners, nine who are returning conference or Carroll County champions, and eight regional title-winners.
Last year’s Cavaliers (27-0) earned their third straight Class 1A state duals crown and their 34th consecutive dual meet victory. South Carroll finished at 33-1 in 2022-2023, winning that crown with a 46-30 triumph over a Northern-Garrett County Huskies squad which entered at 25-0.
The title-winning effort of 2023 marked the Cavaliers’ seventh straight dual meet victory following a 36-25 loss on Feb. 2, 2023 to top-ranked private school power Mount St. Joseph.
South Carroll, last year, also crowned six Class 2A-1A North Regional champions among eight finalists, and tied their record of four individual state champions, all of whom were sophomores, with one of them being Hamper’s son, Landon.
The Cavaliers also earned a school record-tying eight individual Carroll County titles among a milestone 10 finalists in winning their program's fourth straight Carroll County Tournament crown. South Carroll’s county tournament performance came a week after earning their third straight Class 1A state duals crown at North Point High representing their 34th consecutive dual meet victory.
Coached by Andrew Winfield, the 2022-2023 squad also received county titles from eventual three-time state champions Mike Pizzuto (145) and A.J. Rodrigues (160), two-time state title-winner Gage Owen (138), and state champ Rylan Moose (182) -- all of whom won their third consecutive county crowns. Then-sophomore Manny Rodrigues (195) was the eighth to win a county championship in 2022-2023.
Although Hamper called the 2022-2023 Cavaliers’ squad “one of the most talented returning teams I’ve ever seen in the state of Maryland," yet he believes that this year’s may be even better.
“This team has 10 returning place-winners, four state champions and three runners-up,” Hamper said. “I don’t know that there has ever been a more balanced dual meet team from top to bottom in any public school ever.”
Gigiliotti was a freshman, and Owen, a sophomore on the Cavaliers’ 2022-2023 squad.
“I loved my sophomore team, but I think this year’s team is the best one, all-around, from top to bottom,” Owen said. “We are learning from the previous year’s experiences and building on that to create our own legacy.”
Owen and Gigliotti are among the Cavalier’s nine returning conference or county champions and eight regional title-winners from last season.
“Manny and Eli being in the lineup is only making us better,” Gigliotti said. “We’re truly going to show why we can be number one in the state with the points they bring to our team.”
Fourth-ranked Mount St. Joseph was dethroned by top-ranked Gilman last year as champion of both the Maryland Independent Schools State Tournament and Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association dual meet and tournament.
“We reached out to both school’s teams to try to schedule them,” said Hamper of Gilman and Mount St. Joseph. “It’s unfortunate that we were not able to put it together because there would have been some great matches for the fans, the sport of wrestling, and the Maryland community.”
A major test awaits the Cavaliers at the January 3-4 War On The Shore at 14th-ranked Stephen Decatur in Berlin, Maryland.
Among the programs to be represented there are third-ranked Loyola, fourth-ranked Archbishop Spalding, sixth-ranked St. Frances, seventh-ranked Huntingtown, 17th-ranked C. Milton Wright, 19th-ranked Leonardtown, 22nd-ranked Northern-Calvert, 25th-ranked Bullis and 28th-ranked Rising Sun.
At War On The Shore, Gigliotti could meet either third-ranked senior Drew Montgomery of Northern-Calvert or fourth-ranked junior Beau Schmidt of Northeast.
Montgomery has won consecutive Class 4A-3A state titles after being a runner-up as a freshman. Schmidt is a two-time state runner-up, a two-time Anne Arundel County champion, and a winner of one regional title in two championship berths.
Last season, Schmidt lost, 4-2, to Gigliotti as well as, 3-2, to Centennial's three-time state champion junior Calvin Kraisser. Also from last year, Schmidt has a pair of regional- and state title-bout losses to Montgomery, by, 5-1, and, 2-0, respectively. As a freshman, Schmidt lost his 132-pound Class 2A-1A state championship bout, 5-2, to Stephen Decatur senior Logan Intrieri.
Owen could encounter top-ranked junior Zane Leitzel, an MIAA runner-up from Archbishop Spalding, who just placed eighth at the prestigious Beast of the East Tournament.
“I’m ready for all of the matchups and fully dialed in for the War On The Shore,” said Gigliotti, the son of assistant coach Anthony Gigliotti, a former Class 4A-3A state champion at Sherwood in 1999. “I’m not over-looking or underestimating anyone. I’m completely dialed in for myself and for the team. I think that we’re going to come in, really turn some heads and show why we’re the best.”