Tigers third at Martin
While the match was only one of 196 fought over two days at the Dudley Martin Wrestling Classic and had no impact on Brentsville’s third-place finish, it was easily one of the most exciting matches of the tournament, and had Brentsville coach Thad Kiesnowski out of his chair on the corner of the mat and yelling instructions at Germaine.
Germaine, who transferred from South Carolina and is in his first year with the Tigers, spent the final seconds of the match on his hands and knees making certain that his opponent didn’t have a chance to tie up the match.
“The last thing I told him was to just dive in there, grab a leg and hang on for your life,” Kiesnowski said.
Kiesnowski spent a better part of the match standing and giving instructions to his wrestler such as “Push back! Push back! Don’t give up a point.” Or for Germaine to keep his feet back and not allow his opponent to shoot and score a take down. The move paid off for Germaine as he was able to win the match.
After having his arm raised in victory, Germaine ran off the mat and high-fived his teammates as the Brentsville fans gave him a standing ovation. Germaine’s match was a the final high point for Brentsville as they finished a disappointing third in the team competition behind Warren County and Courtland.
“I thought we performed a little below of what are capabilities are,” Kiesnowski said. “We have no excuses… If we want to be better as a wrestling team then we need to do a lot more to really come on and defend the state title. Right now we are not the defending state team that we could be.”
Brentsville, who is the defending Group A state champion, finished with 354 points. Warren County won with 446, Courtland was second with 379 and Fauquier followed Brentsville in fourth place with 240. Louisa (229), Loudoun Valley (167), Madison County (120) and King George (117) rounded out the field.
“Wrestling is a funny sport, because when you are hot, you can get on a roll,” Kiesnowski said. “Warren County and Courtland did a lot more pinning then we did. I thought we matched up pretty well with them, but it came to them scoring pins when we didn’t.”
The Tigers had their best showing in the middle and upper weight classes. Senior Mike Martin (119 lbs.), Brian House (135), Jimmy Kenner (140) and Bert Schlegel (215) each won their respective divisions and Charlie Peele (145) took second place.
Brentsville had its most trouble in the lower weight classes, where only Martin was able to place in any weight class below 130 lbs.
“A couple of our lighter weights need to step it up a little bit, but they’re young” said Martin, who was named Brentsville’s MVP for the tournament. “Our 103-pounder, this was either the first or second match of his career and he is just catching on. A couple other of our guys are just getting in there, but I think we are getting there. I think we’ll be ready to take state again.”