PENNRIDGE LEADS THE WAY IN HERSHEY
By Glenn Kaiser
The Pennridge Rams positioned themselves in the top ten of the team race in the 2015 PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships, as they stand in seventh place after the preliminary and first rounds at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. Individually, the Rams advanced two wrestlers to the quarterfinals in Matt Parker (106) and Kyle Gentile (170) both won their matches. Parker cruised to a major decision over ninth grader Kolby Ho (Dubois) 10-2 in his first round match. Meanwhile, Kyle Gentile added more bonus points for the Rams with a first period pin of Ethan Laird from General McLane. Gentile was overpowering locking up at tight cradle for the fall at the end of the first period at 1:51. Michah Visuwan (120) won by injury default over returning AA state champion from Bethlehem Catholic, Jake Reigel in a preliminary bout, but lost to AAA state champ, and #1 in the nation Spencer Lee (Franklin Regional) by tech fall in the first period 17-1. Visuwan could only smile after the match but gathered himself and won his third match of the evening 11-0, adding more bonus points for the Rams with the major decision using a series of arm bars for back points. He will continue on in the consolations starting tomorrow at 1:30pm (Quarterfinals and two rounds of consolations).
Council Rock South’s Zack Trampe advanced to the quarters with a 4-2 win over Owen Wherley from South Western. He will take on a very good wrestler in Ethan McCoy from Greater Latrobe. South’s Dylan Schwartz joins teammate Trampe in the quarters with a gutsy 3-2 win over Ethan Smith from Greater Latrobe. Council Rock North’s Aiden Burke will join Parker in the quarters at 106 pounds after his 2-1 over Dalton Rohrbaugh (Spring Grove) and will do battle with Becca’s Sean Reddington. Burke is a fine spot to medal along with Parker.
Evan Wilson (182) wrestling for the Patriots from CB East advanced as well to the quarters with a major decision of his own (14-4) and will face Casey Glunt (James Buchanan). If Wilson can get by Glunt, he’ll position himself for a top shelf medal over the weekend.
In the wrestlebacks, several SOL wrestlers remained alive, Pennridge’s Kordell Rush (113) lost a heartbreaker to returning runner-up, Northampton’s Dan Moran 3-2. Rush had a nice ride out until late in the third when Moran reversed him for the win. Rush will square off with Central Dauphin’s Jake Cherry, after Cherry knocked out CR South’s Ben Radner 4-2 in overtime with the tiebreaker. Harrison Campbell, Quakertown’s 113 pounder, stays alive for a medal when he takes on Becca’s Luke Carty. A 120, the SOL’s Dylan Nuttall from Harry S Truman remains alive as well with his 6-4 win out of the championship bracket and will have a long road to medal.
Pennridge freshman Josh Stillings at 132 lost to local Chad Haegele (Archbishop Wood), 9-3, but is still in the hunt for hardware and will wrestle Chambersburg’s Garrett Kyner down below.
Three SOL wrestlers were entered at 145 pounds; unfortunately, all three suffered losses in their first bouts of the tourney. Only Riley Barth (CB West) will continue on after he eliminated Truman’s Dustin Stone in the consis 10 to 1. Moving into the upper middle- weights at 160, both Josh Shalinsky (CR North) and Upper Moreland’s Dom DeLaurentis advanced to Friday with wins in the wrestlebacks. Shalinsky knocked out Wissahickon’s senior Josh Trunk 5-0. DeLaurentis went 2-1 on the evening with a fall to advance in the consolation bracket. Up at 195, both Ben Kenis (CRS) and Quakertown’s Gavin Caroff stayed alive down below, as Caroff won his wrestleback 4-1. Kenis will face Caroff’s preliminary opponent in his wrestle back tomorrow Eli Grape (Upper St. Clair). Grape beat Caroff 7-1. Both SOL big men - 220 pounder Ezra Outlaw (Pennridge), and Neshaminy’s Bruce Graeber (285) - remain alive as well in the consolations.
Pennridge’s six qualifiers remain in the tournament after day one and will need all of their points tor rise in the team standings Friday if the Rams want to contend for the team title.
Hershey Notes: A disappointing move by the PIAA to pre-assign bouts to mats rather than go first available mat led to a lot of confusion for fans, wrestlers and coaches. At one point, heavy weight Bruce Graeber still had not wrestled in the first round while the tournament had already proceeded to the 138-pound bracket in the consolation round. District One and the SOL had a somewhat unexpected poor first round, and the fourth and fifth place winners at the SE Region struggled to stay alive in the tournament. However, top guns like Parker, Gentile, and Trampe survived and kept their hopes alive for State gold.
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