Photo by Travis Pratt Frederick's Kurt Shea, left, puts Thomas Johnson's Josh Remling in a headlock before pinning him to win the 215-pound match.

No wonder Byington is 27-1 this season.

"In practice, if I need a partner to help show stuff, he's right there. It doesn't matter weight-wise or anything, he just goes," Latham said of Byington, the Patriots' clear-cut leader and 145-pound competitor. "He's pretty good. He can bull me around a little bit."

With Latham on the sideline Wednesday in TJ's intracity match with Frederick High, it was business as usual for Byington. Against Brian Threadgill, he needed just 48 seconds to maneuver one of his patented throws, shouldering Threadgill for his 26th pin of the season.

The win catapulted the Patriots to a 39-36 win over the Cadets.

"I didn't really think about it, but everyone else was pretty excited that we won against Frederick ," Byington said. "I'm pretty sure everybody in school is going to be happy about it, too."

It's been a satisfying season for both Byington and Latham, no matter who dominates the demonstrations at TJ practice. Byington admitted he was engulfed in a deep, tough 140-pound class last year as a junior, and several of his challengers had caught onto his aggressive style by the postseason.

"People would be like, 'What kind of throw are you going to do now?'" said Byington, who finished third in the county and region meets in 2006. "A lot of the time, it seemed like a throw just fell into place for me."

Byington says he could have wrestled at 140 again this year. But judging by his rŽsumŽ, it seems there's no reason to drop down.

"He's stepped it up big. He's having fun," Latham said. "Hopefully this is his year."

If county, region, and even state tournament victories are in store for Byington, his training regimen, and his toughest foe to date -- his coach -- might deserve some of the credit.

"I try to wrestle the heavier kids in practice, and I see it fun to wrestle Coach," Byington said. "He's always giving me room, and making little mistakes for me to counter. He always beats me, but I catch him every now and then."

Byington's win -- which came when he flipped Threadgill to the floor near the boundary line on the TJ side of the mat -- was actually the Patriots' first, aside from forfeits, of the evening. They trailed Frederick 24-12 heading into the sequence, and after Byington, four consecutive TJ wrestlers added victories, securing the Patriots just enough points to escape the match on top.

Kurt Shea (215 pounds), Michael Hutchinson (140), Adam Dietrich (125) and James King (130) registered pins for the Cadets, while 112-pounder Neil Leishman added the match's fastest shouldering, defeating Mike Menzel in 37 seconds for Frederick .

Trevor Tomlin (152 pounds), David Downey (160) and Jesus Escobar (171) notched the other pins for TJ, which recorded a team victory for just the fourth time this season.

"I was hoping this would happen, but we did eke it out," Latham said. "I know that every other sport this winter has beaten Frederick , so I wanted to make a sweep for TJ this year. I was glad it came together for us."

Thomas Johnson 39, Frederick 36

103 pounds--Meyers (T) forfeit; 112--Leishman (F) pin Menzel, :37; 119--double forfeit; 125--Dietrich (F) pin Jarboe, 1:23; 130--King (F) pin Bauer, 1:08; 135--Sanchez (T) forfeit; 140--Hutchinson (F) pin Brinkley, 2:17; 145--Byington (T) pin Threadgill, :48; 152--Tomlin (T) pin Weller, 1:10; 160--Downey (T) pin Shafer, 1:37; 171--Escobar (T) pin Jiminez, 1:02; 189--Walmsley (T) dec. Morgan, 4-2; 215--Shea (F) pin Remling, 3:15; 285--Cordoza (F) forfeit.