2004 Season Summary

FRESHMAN WOES 2004 saw the addition of possibly the most heralded freshman class in Hammond Wrestling History. Two Howard County Vipers joined the team. Zach Halper, a 4th place finisher at Junior League States, and Vince Taweel, a Junior League State Champion. Both would play pivotal roles in the varsity lineup. Other experienced freshman joining the squad were Ryan McKevitt, a HCW rec league star and Matt Ketchum, another HCW wrestler with experience. Ketchum would find himself behind a tough veteran in the lineup, captain Ethan Cohen. Fresh faces in the room included freshman Joe Burns, sophomores Jeff Campbell and Jay Miller as well as Junior Mark Greenstein. A 'Jersey Boy' joined the Golden Bears and was able to crack the lineup at 130 pounds. Sophomore Antonio Alonso, who wrestled at 103 lbs. for Pemberton High School in New Jersey, would wrestled up almost 10 pounds above his normal weight. Sophomore Eric Yee showed what a long off-season of training and wrestling can do as he challenged Senior and County Runner-Up Sean Vorsteg for his 119 lbs. spot. Sean would start the season on Varsity before relinquishing his spot to Yee for three matches. Despite going 3-0 with two pins and technical fall, Yee would fall to the veteran Vorsteg and compete on JV for the remainder of the season. The Bears experienced their worst county and overall record since 1995 finishing with a 9-9 overall record and a 5-5 county record. But the future looked bright as three freshman were able to crack the varsity lineup. Zach Halper started at 112 lbs., Vince Taweel staked his claim at 125, and Ryan McKevitt split time between 135 and 140 throughout the season. All three would place in the county, region and state. Vince Taweel became Howard County's first Freshman State Champion, defeating Oakland Mill's Senior Jeff Plasse in the County, Region and State Finals. Junior Captain AJ Smith started off the year with a bang winning his first 15 matches en route to a Catholic Invitational Tournament title. AJ would place 2nd in both the County and Regional Tournaments, qualifying for his second state tournament. With the loss of County Champion Stephen Sessa to ineligiblity, Ethan Cohen was Hammond's only returning state placewinner, and he didn't dissapoint earning a Springbrook Tournament title as well as a County and Region Title. Ethan would be 29-1 going into the state finals before falling to Northern Garrett's Casey Kamp, the #1 overall ranked 103 pounder in the state. Despite huge holes in the varsity lineup, Hammond managed to finish 8th place at the state tournament, but would once again watch River Hill take home the Howard County Tournament title for the fifth straight year....