By Lem Satterfield
During a recent Owings Mills wrestling practice, 26th-year coach Guy Pritzker said he was “getting on” 160-pound Tony Mack about being more of a vocal leader.
“I was telling him, ‘Tony, you’ve got to get on these kids, make them a
little tougher.’ And Tony says to me, ‘Coach, I don’t like to yell at
kids,'” Pritzker said of Mack, who returns as the coach’s 25th
individual wrestling champion.
“I said, ‘Tony, I’m not telling you to yell at them, I’m telling you to
take them aside and talk to them,’ and I’m telling him that a lot of
these kids look up to him,” Pritzker said. “As big, and as powerful as
Tony is, and as strong as he is and the fact that he’s a real good
wrestler, it’s going to take only a few words from him to motivate his
teammates more than I could. He needs to be the captain, and I need to
be the coach.”
Mack definitely is at the head of the pack when it comes to his weight class, where he’s the likely favorite to earn yet another Class 2A-1A state championship.
Mack won last year’s Class 2A-1A state title with a 9-2 victory over Rising Sun’s Aaron Williams, improving to 37-1, on the year, and 99-6 for his career.
A one-time Baltimore County champion who has twice been county runner-up, Mack has won two straight Class 2A-1A North Region titles after being third as a freshman, and earned his first state title after having been third and second during the two previous seasons.
Mack’s lone loss last year came during a nip and tuck, 145-pound county title-bout, where he was beaten, 5-4, by Dulaney’s Matt Jacobs, who went on to win the 145-pound state title on the Class 4A-3A side.
With Hereford’s returning three-time state champion, Josh Asper (171), Mack is the only other returning state titlist to the county, which has crowned 120 individual state champs.
This year, however, Mack is being called upon to be more of a leader, all the while, maintaining a focus on being undefeated over an entire season for the first time in his career.
A Nov. 28 scrimmage against defending Howard County champion Glenelg, which, like the Eagles, appears to be a state title contender, should go a long way toward setting the tone for Mack.
Mack could match up with state runners-up Chris Stinnett or Danny Bichner of Glenelg, who are up from the 125, and, 130-pound weight classes, respectively.
Pritzker believes Mack compares favorably to one of his former, three-time state champs, Grant Johnson, who placed third at states as a freshman.
Johnson went on to earn All-American honors at Boston College, and now works as a police officer in Boston.
“Tony’s just so strong. For somebody to beat him, they have to be a
grizzy bear,” Pritzker said. “He’ll probably go at 160 all year. He’s certified for 145, but I’m not going to
have him lose weight. He can maybe go at 152. There’s always somebody that can
beat you, but I’ve never seen a kid with this kind of power. That’s why he reminds me of Grant Johnson.”
Mack said he spent much of the offseason wrestling the club circuit, with the likes of Class 4A-3A state champ Maurice Fleming of Northeast in Anne Arundel County, two-time Class 4A-3A state champ Greg Saumenig of Old Mill, Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and private schools champ Mitch Fenton of Archbishop Curley and Class 4A-3A state runner-up Tanner Schaffer of LaPlata in Charles County.
“There were a lot of good wrestlers. I rolled with Maurice a little bit. I got to see some of the mistakes I was making, and I was working on getting better all the time,” Mack said.”There are a lot of things I learned about myself, and a couple of moves that I learned from them that will help me coming into this season.”
Mack could pick up career win No. 100 in the Eagles very first match on Dec. 6. against Franklin.
“I lost one time last year, which didn’t really affect me other than to motivate me,” Mack said. “I was trying to go undefeated, and I went in like I was going to win. I’m sure going to try and go undefeated this year.”
Mack will tackle winning his second consecutive crowns at the Perry Hall, Parkville and Franklin Invitationals as well as the county, region and state tournaments.
But if his goal is to lead the Eagles to their fourth Class 2A-1A state duals title, as well as their eighth state tournament title, he’s not necessarily talking about it.
“I’m a team captain, but I’m not one of those real vocal team captains,” Mack said. “I guess I’m more of a guy who is like, ‘well, the guys will see what I do, and then, mabye they’ll follow by example. I’ll try to make a few people better. We’re trying to get the team together.”
Owings Mills High Wrestling
Coach: Guy Pritzker, 26th season, 377-54 career
Individual State Champions: 25, most by any active coach.
County Division titles: 15
County Tournament titles: 10
Regional Tournament titles: 13
Regional Dual titles: 10
State Tournament titles: 7
State Dual titles: 3
2006-2007 Season: 14-2,Tied with Hereford, Milford Mill for Baltimore County dual meet crown; 3rd Baltimore County Tournament,1st Class 2A-1A North Region Tournament;
Probable 2007-2008 Lineup:
103- Avi Friedman- 1st Region, 5th State
112- Kevin Dufour- 4th County
119– Brian Farbman
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