Post-grad Last Man Standing

Blair Academy's "Last Man Standing" Mark Cirello traveled to Messiah College on Saturday 1/23 to represent his fellow post graduates at the 149 lb weight class in a grueling Messiah Open wrestling tournament.
Cirello drew a tough first round match in #3 seed Ryan Kemmerer from Gloucester County College. Cirello got the tournament off to a good start through by securing a takedown, and riding tough to pull out a solid 3-1 win.
The second round match for Cirello turned in to a dogfight against Chris Hardenberg from Messiah College. After giving up an early takedown, Mark was forced to claw his way back against an unrelenting opponent. But steady pressure and hard work on top gave way to a 4-2 win for Mark.
Quarter finals brought up Miguel Rodriguez from Liberty University. After two good warm up matches, Cirello was able to open the doors up a little bit and work on a lot of different things. With clean takedowns, and good turns from top, he cruised to a comfortable 17-4 win.
In the semi finals Cirello faced a sophomore from Drexel University, Matt Dugan. Mark wrestled a very smart and technical match against the Division I Dugan. Some fierce scrambling and a killer grind on top in the first two periods took Mark out to a good lead that he was able to maintain through the third period for a 5-0 win.
For his finals match, Mark had to wrestle #1 seed, and 2009 NJ state Champion at 145 lbs, Emanual Ajagbe from Delaware Valley College. The up and coming freshman Ajagbe currently holds a Division III "Contender" ranking. Besides both being tough competitors, Ajagbe and Cirello are also very good friends, but both guys went out wrestled the match hard. After a scoreless first period, Cirello did a good job of getting himself off bottom, and out to a 1-0 lead. But a critical mistake led to a takedown by Ajagbe. Another escape in the second period tied the score at 2. A quick escape by Ajagbe in the third period put him out to a 3-2 lead. Good handfighting and consistent control of position put the pressure on Cirello to score, and with time dwindling down, he tried to force a shot and got caught with a pancake maneuver. Despite the final 8-2 score, Cirello wrestled a solid match and was in contention to win the match.
Overall, the tournament was a good learning experience in Mark, and the PG "Last Man Standing" left the Messiah gym with a good number of college coaches talking about his ability to perform, as well as his immense potential on the NCAA level.
The Blair PG squad looks forward to the rumors that have been swirling about the possible return of Max Huntley for next weekend's event.