Ten Cecil County wrestlers, including five from Rising Sun, earned a state meet bid by finishing in the top four at the east region tournament Saturday at Parkside High in Salisbury. Rising Sun's Silas Fillaux (132) and Tyler Jones (160) and Perryville's Zac Zacerous (170) each captured an individual title. (See stories on the three champions below.) Two more Tigers reached the final. Matt Childs (106) lost a 10-1 major decision to North Caroline's Ryan Bauer in the championship match. Noah Ulrich (126) lost a 15-0 technical fall to Patterson Mill's Colin McDonald, the UCBAC's all-time leader in career wins. Ulrich defeated second-seeded TreQuan Prattis of Cambridge-South Dorchester 7-2 in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Jason Perez of Easton 8-1 in the semifinals. Jon Price secured a state berth with a fourth place finish at 113 pounds. Perryville's Jarrett Hunter overcame illness to finish fourth in the 132-pound weight class. North East had two third place finishers – Colin Day (120) and Tyrek Fleming (132). Elkton's Pierre Lotts finished fourth at 106 pounds. The state tournament will take place Friday and Saturday. Its new home is The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro. Rising Sun finished third in the team standings. North Caroline (144.5) captured the crown followed by Patterson Mill (99.5) and the Tigers (91.5). Perryville (58.5) was ninth and Bohemia Manor (27.5) was 17th, one spot ahead of Elkton (25). Tigers coach Cory Hall credits assistant Joe Arranté and the dedication and determination of his wrestlers "[Arranté] works with each one individually and gets them tuned up," said Hall. "We're really fortunate to have him in our program. One of the biggest things, and I think [at UCBACs], looking back, we had 19 kids to start the season. That's all we had. We lost only a couple along the way, but every kid there stayed. And every kid contributed [to a fourth place finish at the UCBAC tournament]. And that was a big thing. The consistency, keeping kids in the room, making them believe and buying into the program and into the tradition again, it's huge. These five kids who are advancing are five kids who really did believe and really did buy in, and it worked." Rising Sun's Filliaux wins region title Rising Sun freshman Silas Filliaux showed that his UCBAC tourney title was not a fluke, but rather a harbinger of things to come. Filliaux claimed the 132-pound east region title Saturday when his finals opponent Mike Jantz of North Caroline was forced to default because of an injury. "It feels great," said Filliaux. "After I won conference, the feeling of me winning was just like ridiculous. And I just couldn't let go of that feeling of winning. Coming in first feels real nice. I just couldn't let go of that so I had to get first." Jantz led 3-1 in the second period when Filliaux nearly tied it with a takedown that occurred just off the edge of the circle. After that tussle, Jantz stayed down on the mat and was not cleared to continue. "I wouldn't say [it was an] injury default," Filliaux said. "It was 3-0 and I did get out and I did do a blast double. Even if it did continue it would've been 3-3. The way he was wobbling around I don't think he would've made it. But that's just my opinion." Coach Cory Hall said Filliaux when is good position to win the match even had Jantz been able to go on. "Actually, they didn't give him the takedown so it still would've been a 3-1 match," said Hall. "Silas builds momentum. [His opponent] did score first, but it's a six-minute match, and that's why you keep going…We're confident he would've been coming back in that match." Filliaux says he has "a lot" of confidence heading into the state meet. "I still don't know how states is," he said. "I'm just a freshman. I still don't know. I said that when I won conference, but I easily feel I can place in the top four, definitely." Hall credits Tigers' assistant coach Joe Arranté for helping Filliaux reach his zenith in the postseason. "[Silas is] peaking at the right time," Hall said. "Like I said from the very beginning, we knew we had a special kid. It was just a matter of getting him ready and tuned up for this run. He's coming around good. Joe has got him tuned up. They are definitely prepared. It's been an exciting run." Hall doesn't discount Filliaux's chances of making another run at state meet. "He's got as good as [chance as] any," Hall said. "The state tournament and tournaments in general, draws are important. You're not wrestling the top six guys. You could have 10 guys above you but they're wrestling each other so everybody's knocking each other out. Matchups are what it ultimately comes down to." No Rising Sun freshman has ever won a state title. "We've been really fortunate that we've seen a lot of talent come through Rising Sun," said Hall. "Silas, as a freshman, is starting to make a name, and starting to get some sort of momentum moving forward. Every step, there's always these comparisons. He's his own individual and each year will be a little different. But this year, he's had a great run. And if he keeps working the way he's working he's got a chance to keep stacking up with some of the best. We're real excited." Filliaux (30-8) will take on the west's fourth place finisher Joshua Small of Catoctin (28-11) in the first round of the state tournament Friday afternoon. Tigers' Tyler Jones earns region gold Rising Sun senior Tyler Jones had to get lighter before he could get stronger. Starting the year in the 170-pound weight class, Jones struggled at times but began to blossom after dropping down to 160. His hard work culminated with a region title Saturday. "I was nervous that it wasn't going to happen," Jones said. "I started off at 170 and did pretty rough there. Once I started bumping down I felt a lot stronger and more technical. Cutting down weight earlier in the season to now definitely benefitted me. I'm just happy to win regionals." Jones defeated Eddie Burgstahler of Easton 8-6 in the title bout. "I knew he was the first seed," said Jones. "Everybody tells me not to worry about rankings and seedings and what not, but I had a little bit of cautiousness going into the match because I knew he was good, he was a senior, too. He was strong. He was definitely strong. We got a lot of stalemates. Me being more technical kind of canceled out his strength, if that makes sense. We were both gassed. We were both tired at the end. I was nervous that I was going to run out of gas and let something up at the end, but I was glad." Jones built a 7-2 lead in the second period and held an 8-5 edge heading into the final two minutes. Burgstahler escaped with 40 seconds to go, but Jones remained aggressive instead of sitting back and waiting for Burgstahler to attack. "I knew that's what I had to do," Jones said. "I knew I had to keep hitting takedowns. I came into the tournament thinking staying on my feet would be the best thing to win and that's why I tried not to stay on top too much. Stuff like that happens where I get reversed. Neutral is where I took him down the most, where I score the most points so I thought that's what I should do the whole match." Jones is making a second straight trip to states. "I'm excited because I took third [at the region tournament] last year," Jones said. "It put me down in the bracket, so hopefully I'll be higher up on the bracket and get a better chance to go further throughout the tournament." Jones (25-7) will wrestle Owings Mills' Earl Little (21-12) in the first round of states. Perryville's Zac Zacerous win region wrestling title Perryville's Zac Zacerous had a sensational sophomore season last year, placing second in both the UCBAC and region tournaments and sixth at the state meet.
Before his junior season, coach Thad Gough said he expected Zacerous to turn those second place finishes into firsts. The Panthers' 170-pounder placed second again at UCBACs after running into the state's top wrestler but would not be denied in Saturday's region title bout. "That was my goal for him coming into this year, was turn those twos into ones," Gough said. "And for the most part, he has. He lost to [Aberdeen's] Ethan Smith, who's a buzzsaw [in the UCBAC final. He lost to a kid from Pennsylvania who is a partner to the buzzsaw. He's had a pretty good season so far. We're looking to continue it down at states." Zacerous, who was also region runner-up as a freshman, earned his first title by dominating Harford Tech's Josh Hucke 5-1 in the championship match Saturday at Parkside High. "It feels great," Zacerous said. "I've been here since I was a freshman and after losing the first two, I'm glad I could finally get one when I'm a junior." Zacerous has defeated Hucke three straight times. "I was expecting a tough match," said Zacerous. "My first match against Hucke, I didn't know him that well. And then I won that one. The second one, I knew who he was, I got that one again. I knew going in Hucke was going to be my toughest opponent." Zacerous enters this weekend's state tournament riding a wave of optimism. "[This week], I plan on taking it," he said. "I did well as a sophomore and I think I've grown a little and I think I can take this one…Last year, I was the little sophomore in a big tournament," said Zacerous. "And now I'm a junior, I just won regionals, and I think it's going to be a good year." Zacerous (31-3) will open the state meet Friday against Mert Gulen of Middletown (15-11), the fourth place finisher in the west region. Said Gough: "He seems to be more relaxed than he was last year. With both of the Zacerous brothers, it's kind of always tough to see what's going on with them. They're pretty mellow when they're on the mat. Neither tends to get too animated at any point. So, he's definitely got more confidence, but externally, it kind of looks the same, how he talks in the room and how he's handling himself. He's much more at ease with being the guy who needs to go out there and deliver the goods." Comments are closed.
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