Freedom, Broad Run wrestlers combine for six district crowns

Freedom and Broad Run high schools produced six individual champions at the AAA Cedar Run District Wrestling Championships Feb. 4 at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas.

Freedom featured four champions to finish with 191 points, just half a point behind team champion Battlefield.

Broad Run fielded a pair of champions to place fourth as a team with 161 points.

Matt Allison won Freedom’s first title of the night, scoring a 6-3 decision over Battlefield’s Caleb Peltzer at 126 pounds.

Freedom claimed titles in both the 182 and 195 weight classes, with Tyler Young and Brandon Kammerdeiner winning respectively. The Eagles ended on a high note, when DaQuante Timbers, the top ranked heavyweight in Virginia’s Group AAA classification, pinned his opponent 36 seconds into the third period.

The 152-pound championship bout was an all-Loudoun meet, as Mustafa Ahmet of Broad Run defeated Tyler Beck of Freedom 10-4.

Senior Angel Rios also earned a victory for Broad Run, pinning Stonewall Jackson’s Brian Belcher with only one second remaining in the 120-pound final.

In addition to the six champions, five Loudoun wrestlers finished second. Freedom’s Anthony Chau (106) and Broad Run’s Akhil Gowda (113), Tarkan Martin (132) and Neil Hartman (138) reached the final in their weight class.

The AAA Northwest Region tournament is Feb. 10-11 at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge.

-Click here for Cedar Run District brackets.

-Freedom wrestling coach Kent Nagy sent the following recap:

The Freedom High School Eagles finished just half a point behind Battlefield to finish second in the closest Cedar Run District Championship ever. The Eagles, who had beaten the Bobcats 43-18 in the regular season, fell to some bad luck at the end of the season, losing two starters in the final week. Despite their losses, the Eagles battled gallantly.

The Eagles’ day started slow, as they only had four first round matches due to byes, and were in last place after the first round of competition. They began to slowly climb their way out of the basement as they placed six wrestlers into the finals. The Eagles continued to gain ground as they placed five more wrestlers into the consolation finals, taking home three third place medals.

When the finals began, the Eagles found themselves 10.5 points behind Battlefield and just six points ahead of third place Osbourn. At 106 pounds, Battlefield’s Freshmen sensation Matt Asper pinned Freedom’s Senior Anthony Chau to give Battlefield a 16.5 point lead. In the 126 pound match, Freedom’s Matt Allison would chipped away at that lead when he scored a 6-3 win over Battlefield’s Caleb Peltzer. Allison used a reversal and a pair of takedowns to seal the victory.

During the 132 pound match, Osbourn began a run that placed them into the thick of the race. Nathan Tabelon’s third period pin over Broad Run state qualifier Tarkan Martin would tie them with Freedom for second place, just 12.5 points back of Battlefield. After a major decision by Kyle Holcroft at 138 pounds and a pin by Christian Garcia 145 pounds, Osbourn passed Freedom for second and remained just 1.5 points behind of Battlefield.

Mustafa Ahmet of Broad Run would delay any hope of an immediate Freedom comeback, scoring a 10-4 decision over Freedom junior Tyler Beck.

During the 160 pound match, Osbourn temporarily took the lead when Wael Al-Haj scored a come-from-behind 8-5 decision over Dillon Creswell of Patriot. With Al-Haj’s win, Osbourn would gain a 2.5 point advantage over Battlefield.

After Patriot’s first ever district champion Anthony Olsen secured his title over Battlefield’s Alex Thomas, the stage was set for a pair of Freedom/Osbourn showdowns. The first would pit Freedom’s State Qualifier Tyler Young versus. Osbourn’s Robin Garcia. Young would use an escape and a pair of take downs to secure the match 5-1. However, without scoring bonus points the Eagles still stood 8.5 points behind Battlefield and 10.5 behind Osbourn.

Even with the Eagles’ All-American DaQuante Timber’s still to come, Brendan Kammerdeiner would need to score a major decision or a pin in order to keep Freedom’s hopes alive. Kammerdeiner would jump out to an early 5-0 lead on Luiz Mendez, whom he had beaten previously in overtime. In the second period, Kammerdeiner would bring the Freedom crowd to their feet when he escaped and took down Mendez to his back for the fall.

With this win, the Eagle’s remained 2.5 points behind Battlefield and 3.5 points behind Osbourn, with Timbers still to come. However, it was Battlefield which would get the last laugh as 220-pound wrestler Jake Payne would choose top position down 2-1 in the final period and turn Stonewall Jackson’s Thomas DeLeon twice to secure a 7-2 victory and the tournament championship for Battlefield, much to the dismay of the Osbourn and Freedom fans.

Timbers’ pin at 285 pounds marked his third consecutive district championship, yet was slightly bitter sweet as it scored only 6 points leaving the Eagles half a point point behind Battlefield for the title.

Freedom’s region qualifiers
106- Anthony Chau (2nd)
120- Alex Kleinsmith (4th)
126- Matt Allison (1st)
132- Andrew Carney (4th)
145- Andy Hinrichs (3rd)
152- Tyler Beck (2nd)
170- Patrick Haggerty (3rd)
182- Tyler Young (1st)
195- Brendan Kammerdeiner (1st)
220- Chris Freda (3rd)
285- DaQuante Timbers (1st)

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