CENTREVILLE WRESTLING

Centreville placed 11th at this past weekend’s Regional Wrestling Tournament held at Hayfield Secondary School. The Wildcats put 1 wrestler in the finals and had two in the consolation finals on their way to their 11th place finish. Senior Ryan Sepulveda cruised into the finals of the 170 pound weight class before running into Mount Vernon’s Dusty Floyd. The much anticipated match did not disappoint as the two battled back and forth for 6 minutes. Sepulveda got in deep and looked to score on two separate occasions only to have Floyd scramble out of bounds keeping the match scoreless. Sepulveda seemed to dictate the action during the first period, but was unable to score. The second period found the Wildcat in the bottom position following the coin flip rolling in his favor. Sepulveda worked feverishly to escape and was rewarded with an escape 50 seconds into the period to take a 1-0 lead. With neither wrestler willing to gamble or chance making a mistake, the two remained on their feet for the remainder of the second period. Floyd chose the bottom position in the third period, and he too escaped about half way through to tie the match at 1. The chess match continued on their feet until Floyd took an explosive shot (his only shot of the night) and found got in deep on Sepulveda’s right leg. Sepulveda quickly countered and looked as though he was going to elude the takedown, but Floyds grasp was too tight, and the Wildcat succumbed to a late match takedown by the Major from Mount Vernon, dropping the tough bout and the Regional Title.

Losing a tough match in the quarter finals, David Chenevey dominated hs way back through the consolations to earn himself his first trip to the VHSL Championships. Chenevey squared off against Annandale’s John McCollom who also lost an early quarter final matchup and faught his way back to the consolation finals. Chenevey got the match started with an early takedown and never looked back. An escape and another takedown secured the 3rd place victory for Chenevey bringing an exciting end to his final Northern Region Tournament.

Disappointed from his semi final showing, Joey Steinbach bounced back with an impressive 8-4 demolition of Robinson’s Andre Kendall to earn his State birth. Steinbach’s tournament began with with a decision over Lake Braddock’s Cody Montemayor, and a convincing win over long time nemesis tate Dulany of Langley. Dulany has had Steinbach’s number for the past two seasons defeating the Wildcat on three previous meetings. Steinbach turned things around via two huge takedowns during their contest. Steinbach almost handed delivered Dulany his fourth win as the referee awarded Dulany two stalling points tying up the match. With 15 seconds remaining in the bout, Steinbach dug down and managed to wiggle away for the escape and the one point lead. With time winding down, Steinbach squashed two late period shots by Dulany and found his hand raised in victory. Steinbach’s consolation final match found him standing across from Westfield’s Mitch Polizzi. Polizzi decisioned Steinbach on two earlier match ups this season and continued his winning ways against the Wildcat again, walking away with a 3-1 decision.

For two of the Three Wildcats this will be their final high school competition. Co-Captains Ryan Sepulveda and Davd Chenevey hope to end their high school wrestling careers atop the VHSL podium. For Junior Joey Steinbach he too hopes to earn some hardware, but is feeling far less HEAT than his two teammates. The State Tournament will be held this Friday and Saturday at Robinson Secondary School. Wrestling will begin at 10:00 AM Friday and conclude Saturday evening.