Someone lied to me. Well, not directly but still. And maybe it wasn’t a lie, maybe it was my own misinterpretation or maybe I still don’t know the lay of the Maryland land enough to know what people mean by “Baltimore area”. I live in Baltimore. And when I read that a dual between the state’s #1 and #3 wrestling teams was happening in the Baltimore area, well of course I was going to go. Only I didn’t realize just how far I was going to go.

Of course I’m glad I went and it was a great dual. But I didn’t get gas before I left and then put the address in the GPS and all of a sudden I was cutting it closer than I would have liked. Like being 22 all over again.

But you aren’t here to read about my poor planning, you’re here for some wrestling results.

Before the dual started, we knew we were in for a battle. And we’re just spectators. The kids were really in for one and they delivered. On both sides.

So let’s start at the team level.

Mount St Joseph’s won the dual 36-25. They entered 195 trailing by 7 at 25-18 and then scored 3 straight 6 point wins for the final score. Now, they got the pin at 195 but the final two were forfeited by the host Cavaliers. Turns out their guys are hurt and they’re getting better for the post-season. But coming in, I think they probably needed to be up by 12 heading into those final two just to be safe. Mount St Joseph’s has a couple of elite guys there and were favored either way.

To the host’s credit, they did win the wrestled matches, 7-5. Again, that’s not to say the forfeits go their way in some alternate universe where they wrestled those but it is to say they were every bit the equal of the state’s #1 for the majority of the night. And I would guess they feel great about things overall.

As for the weights, we have to start at 120. I mean have to. It’s a new Maryland law. I just made it today. It states, when a freshman takes out the top kid in the state (who is also nationally ranked) you have to start any recap with him. Of course that freshman is JoJo Gigliotti. Side note, I can honestly say in 40 something years I had never known anyone called “JoJo”. Moving to Baltimore and it’s been at least a handful. Must be an east coast thing. But I digress.

This JoJo has mojo. Oh my god that’s corny. Deal with it. As someone who suffers from social anxiety, and even had to stop my mediocre athletic career short because of it, I couldn’t imagine being that young thrown to the wolves. Only on this night, it turned out he was the alpha.

The score was 9-3. Four takedowns to zero. And I can’t recall if any sequence was even really close to 2 points for his opponent. It was in every sense of the word a sensational performance.

There were plenty of other big matches throughout the 14 weights so we’ll get into those.

At 170, we saw the current #1 and #2 in the state go at it. That was Nick Barnabae (MSJ) vs Rylan Moose (SC). I hadn’t seen Moose before but with a name like that I wondered if he could be compared to his namesake animal and I would say yes. A moose, a bear, and basically any other animal you can think of. He gave up an early takedown to start the first period but got out and really never looked back. He outscored the top ranked Barnabae 6-1 to close out the bout with a very strong 7-3 decision.

160 might have been the single best match of the whole thing. That was current #1 AJ Rodrigues against #4 Ben Smith. I mean it did go all the way to ultimate tie break. Tied 2-2 if I recall correctly. Rodrigues chose down and got out and that was the win. That was tightly contested and exciting all around.

We’ve highlighted three weights and all three had the home team come out the winner. Surely the winning team had some moments of their own. And they did. But like I said, these 3 results really underscore the kind of quality performance it was for the Cavaliers, even in a losing effort. Well, the effort wasn’t losing – you get what I mean.

As for the Gaels, Coleman Nogle was as impressive as advertised. He seemed to be having his way early – looked like he might pick up the tech fall but closed it out with a pin right before the buzzer.

Matching Nogle’s pinning effort for the Gaels were Max Conley at 126 (1:15) and Brandon Beall at (2:47).

All in all, a great night of wrestling in the state of Maryland. The crowd was amped on both sides. I think I’ll go to sleep with Jayden Diggs’ mom’s voice still ringing in my ear. And I was sitting on the opposite side of the gym. All love here.

 The student section was into it. When it was over, you could hear longtime friends reuniting for a quick moment. Maybe reminiscing of some wrestling match of long ago. Whatever the case, as an outsider to the community, you could tell it was a memorable night for many.

When I decided to head out to this, I thought I was in store for some of the best wrestling Maryland has to offer. I think that’s what I got. And now you got to hear about it.

You can check out the complete bout results below: