Maged Leads Bulldog Wrestlers at District Finals

Several Stone Bridge wrestlers performed well enough this weekend to move on to the regional competition after the Bulldogs scored second place behind Langley at Saturday’s Liberty District championship meet in McLean.

Langley’s impressive roster of finalists put the overall title out of reach, but the remaining teams fought for second place. Freshman Garrett Maged’s win at 112 pounds clinched that spot for Stone Bridge, despite of the fact that he was the only one of four Bulldog finalists to win his weight class.

His dramatic 8-6 overtime win over Marshall’s James Cusack gave Stone Bridge 118.5 points, putting the team ahead of Marshall, which finished third at 114.5. The Warhawks took third even though they earned just three individual titles on Saturday night.

“It feels awesome [to win the district], I set my expectations high for myself, and this was the first step to getting there,” Maged said. “Cusack’s a very tough wrestler, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Maged fell behind 5-0, but fought his way back. Trailing 5-2 with less than a minute to go in the second period, the referees stopped the bout when Maged pinned Cusack’s leg in a dangerous position. When the Marshall wrestler came back to action, he didn’t look to be hobbled, but was less effective. Maged scored two quick points to make it 5-4 before the end of the second frame. Then the wrestlers traded points, setting up a 6-6 finish at the end of regulation. Maged earned the win with a takedown 11 seconds into the sudden-death period.

“I treat (overtime) no differently than the first period. I need to do what I need to do to win, which is get to my offense,” Maged said at the end of his active bout with Cusack.

While Maged’s win was the highlight of the evening, eight Bulldogs qualified eight for the regional tournament at Fairfax later this week—wrestlers who place in the top four of their weight class earn a spot in the state championship meet.

Coach Mike Faul showed pride in his team, but also said he thinks those qualifying wrestlers can do even better at the regional meet.

“The hope is some of these guys who lost today will be able to take that and learn from it,” said Faul, whose son Jonathan lost in the district final at 152 pounds to Langley’s Matt Wilson. “As we go into the regional tournament, maybe they’ll do things they wouldn’t have done had they just won today.”

While Faul would have liked to see his team press Langley a bit harder for the district title, he said second place isn’t so bad.

“Langley did an incredible job with their new coaching staff,” he said, referring to Langley Coach Jeff Mye’s squad. “I commend him highly. He prepared his guys for today and they really pulled through. To come away second to a strong Langley team, I can be happy with that.”

The other Stone Bridge wrestlers whose season will continue at the regional meet are:

• Garrett Maged, first at 112
• Jonathan Faul, second at 152
• Connor Legan, third at 119
• Jon Sommer, third at 125
• Josh Toal, fourth at 130
• Ben Oslund, second at 135
• Cam Bowen, fourth at 140
• Pat Taylor, second at 145

[Editor's note: Thanks again to Karen Faul for the pictures.]