Individual standouts take stage

Warriors have host of favorites at county meet

‘‘I would put my money on Damascus because they have a balanced team and will score so many points the first night that they will be hard to overtake,” Wheaton coach Dave Moquin said.

Whitman coach Andy Wetzel added: ‘‘The favorite to win the tourney is Damascus or Northwest. They both have talented teams with kids that can not only win, but also place at most weight classes.”

Each squad also brings some extra motivation to the two-day event: the Swarming Hornets look to rebound from its lone dual-meet loss of the season, a 39-28 setback to Charles County’s La Plata (20-3) in Saturday’s 4A-3A state dual-meet final, while the Jaguars would like to avenge two straight losses to Damascus, including a 36-33 setback at last Tuesday’s 4A-3A West Region dual-meet final.

‘‘This is something that will motivate them because they’ve got something to go out and prove,” said Damascus coach Dave Hopkins, whose squad is led by Josh Frederick (217 pounds, 25-1 regular-season record), Keith Obendorfer (142, 23-2), Brian Wittenberger (154, 23-3) and Chase Sellman (105, 25-4). ‘‘This wasn’t their best effort. They’re going to be super motivated to go out and prove themselves.”

‘‘We like our chances,” said Northwest coach Joe Vukovich, whose squad boasts returning county champion Sean McCarty (127, 24-0) and Jason Edwards (121, 23-1). ‘‘We’ve definitely got a lot of experience up and down the lineup. Our goal ... we want to win the tournament.”

Other team contenders

Joining Damascus and Northwest in the team title chase will be Quince Orchard, Wootton, Springbrook, Paint Branch and Magruder, who are also loaded with talent.

‘‘We’re chomping at the bit to get back in action,” said Cougars coach Joe Hawkins, whose 20-2 squad will be paced by Robert Dudley (132), Dake Williams (217) and Mike Mascio (173). ‘‘We want to show ... we deserved to be in the dual-meet playoffs.”

Wootton, which reached the dual-meet playoffs for first time this decade, has three county contenders in Jason Lessans (114, 30-4), Alex Schild (121, 28-4) and Andy Rampp (217, 25-1), who could face Frederick for the fourth time this season. Rampp has won the past two meetings after dropping the first at Mad Mats.

Springbrook’s led by Nadjitade Badje (173, 25-2) and Carlo Galeano (147, 24-3), while Magruder has a host of possible top-four-place finishers including heavyweight favorite Tyler Murray (29-0). The Colonels are also paced by Max Schneiderman (105⁄114, 25-3), Davish Chasker (105⁄114, 21-12), Helen Maroulis (114, 23-5) and Alex Tolbert (132, 26-4).

Defending champion Steven Miller (142, 26-1), Danny Lethbridge (114, 27-0), and Wilfred Beah (191, 25-2) anchor the Panthers, who won back-to-back county titles in 2001 and ’02.

‘‘We can make some noise but it depends on how we wrestle,” Paint Branch coach Rick Smith said. ‘‘We have a decent tournament team.”

Individually speaking

Individually, Sherwood returns three county champions in Andy Lowy (132), Rhett Beattie (137) and Steven Gamble (147) and all three should challenge for gold medals again this weekend along with the 114-pound Alex Hakspiel.

Whitman’s Will Sharbaugh, who won county, region and state titles with a perfect 37-0 record a year ago, hopes to turn around an injury-plagued season that has limited him to just nine matches (7-2 record) this season. ‘‘We’ll have to see if he’s healthy enough to make another run,” Wetzel said.

Other individual county contenders of note are the following: Wheaton’s Dave Foreman (173, 23-1) and Justin Ellis (191, 18-4), Seneca Valley’s Brian Hines (114), Blake’s Zack Burger (162, 18-8) and Rasheim Smith (105, 24-6), Gaithersburg’s Andrew Hubert (173, 14-2), and Clarksburg’s Tanner Wrublik (114, 23-5), who has lost to just one county opponent, Hakspiel, this season. Foreman won tournament titles at Mad Mats, Hub Cup and Springbrook’s Grapple at the Brook.

Fast facts

What: 45th Montgomery County Public Schools Championship Tournament

Where: Blair H.S., Silver Spring

When: Friday, Feb. 16 at 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 17 at 10 a.m.; finals at 5:45 p.m.

2006 team champion: Damascus (8th)

Returning individual champions: Will Sharbaugh, Whitman; Sean McCarty, Northwest; Andy Lowy, Sherwood; Rhett Beattie, Sherwood; Steven Miller, Paint Branch; Steve Gamble, Sherwood.