Class AA No. 3 Derry continues to improve in victory over Southmoreland

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, January 2, 2019 | 10:15 PM

In wrestling, a 50-point scoring output almost always puts a smile on a coach’s face. The problem, sometimes, is the opponent’s team total.

There’s nearly always room for improvement, lopsided outcome or not.

Class AA No. 3 Derry registered five pins and three forfeit victories, including a 24-second fall by top-ranked 220-pounder Dominic DeLuca, and trounced visiting Southmoreland, 52-27, on Wednesday night, scoring a ton of points but yielding more than the Trojans would have preferred.

“We gave up 27 points. We probably gave up three pins we shouldn’t have,” Derry coach Mike Weinell said. “If we can eliminate some of those bonus points, that’s going to help us in the long run.”

Yet, Weinell sees progress from the Trojans, and he certainly wasn’t miffed in the aftermath of their latest performance.

“I’m really happy,” he said. “We wrestled well, but we gave up some points on pins, and that’s something we need to work on.”

Derry (6-2, 3-0 Section 3B) got pins from Colton McCallen (106 pounds), Jason Baker (138), Trey Weinell (152), Eric Catone (160) and DeLuca, who bounced back from his only loss of the year Saturday to Braxton Amos of Parkersburg (W.Va.) South in a championship match at the Powerade Christmas Tournament.

DeLuca, the No. 1 wrestler at 220 in the Trib Total Media high school wrestling rankings, scored a 24-second fall over Southmoreland’s Bret Huffman to improve his record to 14-1.

“To be honest,” Mike Weinell said, “we expect him to pin everybody he wrestles. Every kid on our team should have that goal. We want everyone to try to get bonus points, be aggressive, go after your guy, be physical.”

Weinell said DeLuca’s 11-2 loss to Amos at the prestigious Powerade event at Canon-McMillan should be viewed as a great teaching tool for him and anyone else in a similar spot.

“It’s not a bad thing to get beat once in a while,” Weinell said. “You’ve got to take a loss here and there to figure out where you stand and what you’ve got to work on. He has to work on his intensity, and he did pretty good tonight.”

Southmoreland (1-2, 1-2) led early and stayed close to Derry through six bouts before the Trojans pulled away with victories in six of the final eight matches, including forfeits at 113, 126 and 132.

The Scotties got pins from Andrew Johnson (120), Mick Yeskey (145), Kullen McCoy (170), Anthony Govern (195) and Colt Harper (285).

“We beat Mt. Pleasant and we only lost to Elizabeth Forward by two points, so we’re right there,” said first-year Southmoreland coach Dan Boring, a 2008 Derry graduate. “Derry has the kind of program we’re trying to build at Southmoreland. We’re trying to model ourselves after it.”

Boring wrestled at the junior high level at Derry and in a junior Olympics program under Weinell, and he said it was a strange feeling to be coaching against him.

“It was a new experience,” Boring said. “It was weird coming back here and seeing him here and wrestling against his team. We underperformed. We were sloppy, and we’ve got to clean some things up.”

Dave Mackall is a freelance writer.

Tags: Derry Area, Southmoreland