.500 Record Gives Hornet Grapplers Hope at Season's Midpoint

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Herndon traveled down to Virginia Beach to compete in the Lions Rotational at Tallwood HS against several ranked teams from the Hampton Roads area to kick off their winter break. The Hornets went 2-3 at the tournament, losing to host Tallwood 30-46 (ranked #5 in VA Beach area), Poquoson 27-39 (ranked #3 in 3A), and Forrest Park 32-43 (ranked #13 in overall VA standings). Herndon defeated Stafford 44-22 and upset Landstowne 43-32 (ranked #6 in VA Beach area).

“I thought we wrestled really well despite some of the results. For whatever reason, we haven’t fielded our full-strength line-up all season. We were missing two starters for this tournament, and we were still able to compete against some of the top teams down there. It was a big boost to our confidence to beat a ranked team (Landstowne) without all our starters,” Coach Mike Gonzales said about his team’s performance.

The Hornets closed out the first half of their season over the winter break with a 4-4 record at the Cougar Claus Holiday Duals at Quince Orchard HS in Gaithersburg, MD. The first day of competition proved to be a meat-grinder as Herndon went 1-3, with losses coming to Whitnall, WI 6-66, a tight match with Broadneck, MD 30-36, Quince Orchard 24-42, and a very tough Northwest, MD 3-68. The Hornet’s lone win came against Sherwood, MD 39-31, a team they lost to at last year’s tournament. The next day Herndon was able to rebound with three straight victories over Stone Bridge 48-21, Saint John’s, DC 60-18, and Berkeley Springs, WV 39-15.

“We got outclassed against the Wisconsin team and Northwest. They were just bigger, stronger, and tougher. Quince Orchard wasn’t a good match-up for us, as their upper-weights neutralized our upper- weights, which is usually a strength for us. We split the matches with Broadneck, but missing some starters hurt us in that match.”

The results evened Herndon’s record at 12-12 as they enter the second half of their season.

“We’ve got everyone to the weights they belong, and we’ll finally have our line-up at full strength in time for our upcoming conference schedule. With the combination of SATs, illnesses, injuries, etc., we’ve had to rely a lot on our back-ups to get through December. I don’t think our record truly reflects how good of a team we are, as many of those matches would have gone our way had we had all our starters in, but that’s wrestling, and we’re not going to make any excuses,” Coach Gonzales said.

Herndon travels to southern Maryland this weekend to compete at the Patriot Classic at Northern HS in Owings. This tournament features teams from Maryland, DC, and Virginia, The Hornets look to improve on their 6th place finish in the 24-team field. Herndon follows that road trip up with a double-dual conference rival and defending state champions Robinson, and #1 ranked Fauquier (4A State) on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at Robinson.