The Chicken Wing Invitational Boys Recap

Last week, the most competitive tournament in the Houston area boasted 99 teams!! This week, the field was pared down a bit, but the competition only took a minor dip.  21 teams including 2 from Louisiana (Sulphur and DeQuincy) and 2 from the DFW Area (Rockwall and Coppell) all met up at Houston ISD’s Westside high school for a Saturday full of great matches.

The fun was scheduled to start on Friday night with the visiting teams plus a few local participants mixing it up for some dual competition, but with the threat of impending weather, those duals were canceled.  This did not seem to dampen spirits as the wrestling began at about 9 am Saturday morning.

In the team competition, there was College Park…………then everyone else.  College Park took the team title with 234.5 points. 2^ndplace Rockwall was 64.5 points back with 170.  The rest of the top 10 played out as follows:

3. Cypress Ranch 158
4. Cinco Ranch 151.5
5. Morton Ranch 124.5
6. Klein 121
7. The Woodlands 112.5
8. Cypress Woods 89.5
9. Sulphur (LA) 88
10. Westside 87

 

Once brackets were posted, It was impressive to see.  Small brackets, but lots of firepower, and the matches did not disappoint!

106

This bracket featured the 4^th, 5^th, 15^th, and 19^thranked 106 wrestlers on a collision course for the chicken wing title.  The Fireworks started early with #5 Alec Robeson of Cy-Ranch and #15 AJ Marino of College Park meeting in the 2^ndround.  Robeson came out on top with a fall and earned a match up with #4 Douglas Melrose of Morton Ranch in the semis.  This turned out to be arguably the best match of the bracket with Melrose eking out a 1 point victory over Robeson (3-2) to earn a Berth in the final against Texas #19 Esai Deras of Cinco Ranch.  Melrose Handled business with a 12-3 major decision sealing his day with another tournament title on his road to State

 

 

113

Texas 6A #2, #7, and #14 all came to put more tallies in the win column in the 113 bracket.  We had the 1^stmeeting of Ranked wrestlers in the Semis when #2 Ken Santiago of Cinco Ranch entered the circle across from #14 Timothy  McGuire of Klein. These 2 met earlier in the season at the Morton Ranch Tournament for an incredible match, and this one was no different with Timothy McGuire of Klein Walking away with the 6-3 victory.  This set up a final of #14 McGuire Vs. #7 Xavier Harrell of Cypress Ranch. Harrell handled business against the upstart freshman, walking away with an 8-4 decision.  Of Note, Jason Patillo of College Park earned a 2-1 victory over #2 Santiago on the 3^rdplace match.  Patillo also owns a victory over #5 Evan Ross of Vandegrift from a dual earlier in the season.  Patillo might be a name to look out for.

 

120

Another bracket featuring some of the state’s top wrestlers that included young men ranked 4^th, 9^thand 10^th.  The 9^thranked Ruben Moreno of Morton Ranch and 10^thranked Zack Flowers of Rockwall met up in the semis with Moreno walking away with a victory by decision.   This set up a Final of #4 Christian Lopez of the host school Westside, and #9 Moreno. Lopez didn’t miss a beat on Saturday, proving why he should be a State favorite with a 16-8 MD over Moreno.

126

The 5^th, 9^thand 20^thranked wrestlers squared off in the wrestling circle at 126.   #20 Ranked Luke Hempfling of The Woodlands got the first ranked match up of the day facing # 9 Pablo Mantilla of Morton Ranch.  This match was all Hempfling.  Luke walked away with a tech fall in the semis to set up a final against #5 Jude Camacho of Cypress Ranch.  Hempfling came to make some noise, but Camacho was able to hold on to win the title with a 4-0 decision.

132

#5 Ranked Jacob Smith of College Park, fresh off of his Debut at 132 up at the Allen Outlaw tourney was the sole ranked wrestler in the field.  Being the lone ranked wrestler was no guarantee of an easy title as the final was worth the price of admission. Morton Ranch’s Mikell Goodwin showed up to make his mark on Saturday and made sure Smith knew it.  Going into the 3^rd, Goodwin owned a 4-2 lead, but Smith was not done.  Smith got a takedown in the 6^thminute to force an overtime.  Scoreless through overtime, it went to 2 30 second tie breaker periods in which neither wrestler was able earn the point needed to win the match.  It came down to the Ultimate Tie Breaker when Goodwin chose bottom, and was unable to escape giving Smith the 4-4 victory.

 

 

138

Here we saw the #6, and #20 Ranked wrestler go to battle. The seeding served its purpose here and gave us a final of the only 2 ranked wrestlers in the field.  #6 Jacob Grogan of Cypress Ranch and #20 Joe Hendershot of College Park. Grogan came away with the victory here, a 7-0 decision.

145

This Bracket was LOADED! The #2, #6, #9 and #11 ranked wrestlers at 145 were in the bracket, and the #11 Ranked wrestler at 138 came up to see who was the best on Saturday. We started the action when #9 Ranked Gabriel Sheikh of Cypress Creek, and #11 Ranked Jonathan Lizama of Morton Ranch, met up in the quarters.  Sheikh needed 5:03 to earn the Fall over Lizma. His reward was a match up with #2 Ranked Josh Thomas of College Park.  This was a high scoring affair with Thomas solidifying his spot in the finals with a 10-8 decision over sheikh. Meanwhile on the bottom half of the bracket,  the #11 ranked 138 Roberto Bautista of Klein and  the #6 Ranked Chaz Smith of Rockwall were quietly dispatching opponents to set up a ranked semi of their own.  Bautista proved to be the better wrestler by earning an 11-3 MD over Smith, setting up a major battle of ranked opponents and district rivals! Bautista walked away with the title Saturday with a 3-2 victory.  There does not look like  an easy path to the Berry center for these two, as (if Bautista stays at 145) they will have to meet EVERY tournament of the championship season.

152

This weight saw the #4,#5,and #11 ranked 152 pound wrestlers vying for the title.  152 saw a ranked match up early on as #11 Avante Williams of Cypress Park and #5 Cole Rundell of Cypress Ranch went head to head in the quarters.   Rundell backed up his #5 ranking, earning a Tech Fall over Williams.  After #4 Brandon Thomas of College Park, and #5 Rundell cleared their semi match out of the way, it was time for #4 vs. #5 in the final.  Thomas made a statement with a 16-3 MD to finish off the bracket at 152.

160

The #1, #11, and #13 ranked wrestlers at 160 made their presence known at Westside Saturday. Just for Good Measure the #5 ranked wrestler at 152 from the Prep rankings threw his hat in the ring.   All 4 ranked wrestlers were in the Semis with #1 Jonathan Wertz of College Park and #11 Garrett Rorison of The Woodlands taking a crack at one another.  It took Wertz 1:45 to get the fall and move on to the final.  #13 Ranked Gustav Ebbesen of Cinco Ranch showed he was ready for a match against the #1 ranked wrestler in the state by handing the #5 ranked prep wrestler at 152 Adrian Marquez of St. Thomas a 14-0 MD. Wertz would need a takedown in sudden victory to get the win over Ebbsen with a final score of 6-4.

170

The only ranked wrestler here was #7 Bryce Milster of Rockwall.  Proving that rankings don’t guarantee victories, Cristophe Loewenstein came into the semi match with a 17-8 record, and came out with an 18-8 record, earning a 9-8 decision over Milster.  This set up a Katy Vs. Cypress final with Cinco’s Loewenstein Vs. Cypress Wood’s Marvin Brewster.  Brewster Earned the 5-2 victory to take home the title.  This bracket should throw a couple of kinks in next week’s rankings!

182

#1 Ranked Eli Sheeren of Klein and #6 Ranked Juan Grange of College Park were placed on opposite sides of the bracket in hopes of a showdown in the final, and these 2 young men put on a show.  The final was an action packed display of great wrestling and athleticism! Sheeren finished the match with his hand raised in a 15-5 major over Grange.  Much like the 145 final, these 2 district rivals should battle each other all the way to the Berry center this season.

195

#14, #18 and #20 met up at 195 on Saturday.  The lone ranked wrestler to make the final however was Jake Edwards of Rockwall. Edwards faced off against battle hardened senior Jayden Turner of Cinco Ranch. Edwards came away with the Tech Fall (18-3) to take a Chicken Wing Title back North to Rockwall.

220

This weight featured #12 ranked Jonathan Flores of Cy Ranch, and #19 Ranked Daelon Clark of Westside, but the spotlight belonged to the #3 ranked Prep 220 Jackson Phillips of St. Thomas. Phillips had a smooth road to the finals to set up a Match with Guy Lefort of College Park. Lefort had to dispatch#19 Clark to earn a match up with Phillips in the final.  Phillips needed sudden victory to pull out a 5-3 win over Lefort.

285

#17 Sylvester Villarreal of Cypress Ridge was the only ranked wrestler to grace the bracket at Westside on Saturday. Villarreal met all challengers with a full head of steam. In three matches, This Cy-Ridge Ram only needed 2 minutes and 2 seconds of wrestling to win out.  Sylvester earned pins in 13 seconds, 87 seconds, and 22 seconds to pin his way through the bracket.  Incredible Performance!!

 

Shout out to the assistant coach from The Woodlands, Jackson Ewing, for tipping me off to the chicken wings for lunch in the hospitality room.  Chicken wings for lunch at the Chicken Wing Invite….GENIUS!!

 

Incredible job by the Westside staff and community for hosting an outstanding tournament!  Good luck to the Wolves on the remainder of their season.