This week’s notebook recaps Friday’s District Duals and also highlights the SOL conference races.
SOL Notebook by Glenn Kaiser
District Duals Finals: #7 CR South Upsets #2 Spring-Ford
Leave it to a Council Rock South freshman to get the job done, no worries right? You got it. Lucas Martoccio, CR South’s 145 pounder, put the finishing touches on a shocking victory for the Golden Hawks at Upper Dublin in the quarterfinals of the District One Duals Thursday night. Martoccio pinned the Rams Ben Schein in 4:49 to cap a come-from-behind win for South. His pin in the third period in the last bout tied the team score at 29-29. And CRS secured the win with the criteria of most technical falls making the final score CRS 30-Spring-Ford 29.
Speaking with the confident freshman - after South’s disappointing semifinal loss to Downingtown East 36-25 - about his dramatic fall in the quarters, there was never a doubt in his mind that he could get the job done against Spring-Ford. Martoccio said, “As long as you keep moving and set it (his signature move, a cross-face cradle) up, you can get it.” And that’s exactly what he did. He forced the pace and locked up the cradle for the fall. Lucas is the youngest of the wrestling Martoccio’s, and credits some of his success to his older brothers. South’s Dan Martoccio, a standout returning PIAA place winner wrestling at 113 pounds, had a fall of his own that started the comeback for South when he decked Ryan Hayes in just :35 seconds, making the score 22-17 with Spring-Ford still in the lead. With only two bouts left, and trailing 29-20, South’s Trey Balasco, who just recently returned to the lineup for the Golden Hawks, went out and secured a huge win over Spring-Ford’s Adam Dombrosky 5-3. Which set up the heroics for the freshmen Martoccio.
Asked about the pressure of it all coming down to him on a big stage, Martoccio replied that it wasn’t the first time, as earlier in the season at the Rockyard Duals at CR North he wrestled in the final bout in one of the high level duals. Besides, he said, “I’ve been wrestling since I was a kid with my brothers and coached by my dad, a CRS assistant coach.” So it was just business as usual for him. And for CRS, no stranger themselves to winning at the duals, it was another victory, putting them in a position to advance to the State Duals, which begin on Monday. But they will have to knock off another high seeded team in #4 Upper Perkiomen in the consolation semifinals at 1 pm Saturday to advance.
The SOL’s other representative in the duals, Pennsbury, did not fare as well, as the Falcons were eliminated from the duals with back-to-back losses to #3 seeded Downingtown East (51-12) and to Spring-Ford (64-12).
Suburban One League Wrap-up:
SOL American:
Earlier in the week in the American Conference, Norristown defeated Wissahickon 39-33, ending the hopes of Upper Dublin possibly getting a piece of the league title. But it was still a good week for the Flying Cardinals as they recorded their 18th win of the season to eclipse the old mark of 17 wins and set a new single season school record. Upper Dublin beat Plymouth-Whitemarsh 33-28 on Wednesday night, as Sam Jacobson remained undefeated at 182 pounds with a pin of P-W’s John Dob in :25 seconds. Bonus points were the difference in this one, as UD carded four pins, capped off by Reed Rapine’s fall at 195 to secure the win for the Cardinals.
Head Coach Dave Jones reflected back on his 13 years at the helm for Upper Dublin during the District Dual Finals with this reporter/coach, whom Coach Jones took over for after assisting for three years at UD. We joked about coaching long enough to reach 100-win milestones, but the school record, with his son on the team, is his shining moment as a head coach. Speaking of coaching his son, Derek, a senior at 152 pounds with a 25-2 record this season, said the last two years have been a lot of fun. Coach Jones wishes he had another shot at wrestling Norristown with his much improved team. The two teams wrestled at the start of the dual meet season back in December with Norristown winning 45-34. So UD will have to wait at least another season to win a league title, as Norristown remains at the top of the class in the American Conference.
SOL National:
CR North put a damper in Pennsbury’s hopes of winning the National Conference outright as the Indians were able to defeat the Falcons Thursday night 33-28. The National Conference has become just as wacky as the Continental with almost any of the top four teams being able to beat one another on any given night. Neshaminy was victorious over CR North Wednesday night with a convincing 40-24 win. Neshaminy will battle Pennsbury next week, and trying to figure out all the scenarios for a league crown is like reading all the NFL playoff scenarios the final week of the season.
SOL Continental:
Pennridge and Quakertown control their own destinies in this race. Quakertown needs to win against CB West next week, while Pennridge must beat an improving CB South team to share the title with both teams holding identical 5-1 records in the league. Quakertown handled Hatboro-Horsham 46-18 and Pennridge beat CB East 43-36. The dreaded coin toss was a factor in both team’s victories Wednesday night.
In the H-H/Quakertown match, the middle weights were filled with high level action as two of the region’s best 138 pounders squared off, with H-H’s Brad Humski hanging on to secure a 2-1 victory over the Panther’s Tyler Seislove. Quakertown’s Lucas Garges defeated H-H’s Jason McLaughlin 1-0, and H-H’s Connor Bodnar handled Sage Malischewski 8-1. The 138 pound weight class is shaping up to be one of the league’s best with Humski, Seislove, CB South’s Giuseppe Marrero, Souderton’s Bobby Jenne and Pennridge freshmen Kyle Gentile.
SOL Top 5 Dual Teams:
1-Council Rock South
2-Neshaminy
T3-Council Rock North
T3-Pennsbury
5-Pennridge
Top Guns:
106 Collyn Dorney (Quakertown)
113 Zach Fuentes (Norristown) & Scott Parker (Pennridge)
120 Jason Bing (Pennsbury)
126 Josh Disanto (Pennsbury)
132 Francesco Fabozzi (Central Bucks East)
138 John Dutrow (Council Rock North)
145 Mike Springer (Norristown)
152 Dan Schueren (Wissahickon)
160 Justin Staudenmayer (Plymouth-Whitmarsh)
170 Dom Rigous (Central Bucks South)
182 Brett Harner (Norristown)
195 PJ Steinmetz (Council Rock South)
220 Tyler Callender (Council Rock North)
285 Andrew Van Buskirk (William Tennent)
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