(Photo provided courtesy of Quakertown wrestling)
QUAKERTOWN CATURES TEAM TITLE AT SOUTHEAST REGIONAL
SOL Teams Finish 1-2 as Council Rock South Placed Second in Team Race
By Glenn Kaiser
Oxford, PA - A wild and crazy finals erupted at Oxford H.S. Saturday evening, after many SOL-connected Hall of Famers were inducted prior to the start of the first, third and fifth place matches at the PIAA 2022 District One Southeast Regional, and after all the wrestle-backs and final results, it was Quakertown on top of the team standings. And with it, Coach Kurt Handel finally realized why he was named the District One Coach of the Year prior to the start as well. Handel picked up his 300th dual meet victory this season, adding to the honor. Coincidentally, CR South lead man Brad Silimperi did the same at the 2022 PIAA Team Championships as both reached the 300-win milestone.
Although Council Rock South had a slight lead over the Panthers prior to the start of the championship matches, and despite both Q-town and CR South advancing five wrestlers to the mecca of scholastic wrestling, the Giant Center-Hershey, PA, this coming weekend, the Panthers pushed ahead for the title when the dust settled in Oxford. Upsets, defensive pins and points at the buzzer were the stories of these finals’ matches. No one could have predicted it, nor even conceptualized the impact of events that occurred on all three mats.
Quakertown needed points in just about every match in the championship bouts to edge CR South 123 to 119.5 points, especially in the consolation matches after Mason Ziegler was upset by a hot Carmen Cortese (West Chester Henderson) at the buzzer in the third period with a defensive fall. His fellow Panthers responded, as Todd McGann won a nail biter over Pennridge’s Sam Kuhns 3-1 for fifth place at 126-pounds. Calvin Lachman did the same, winning his fifth place bout over CB East’s Nils Updale 4-3 in overtime tiebreaker 1. Colin Gaj was the lone champ for Q-town at 132-pounds, and Frederick Retter was the runner-up at 285lbs.
CR South had a similar fate in regards to upsets as Matt Colajezzi was stunned 2-1 in the 160-pound finals by a surging Chase Barlow from Strath Haven. Barlow came out quick with a takedown early in the first period and shut down Colajezzi’s offense for the win. At 145-pounds, Mo Sadriddinov was beaten in overtime with a sudden victory takedown by Boyertown’s Chance Babb. Bek Sadriddinov was the Golden Hawks only champ at 152-pounds.
All in all, 23 SOL grapplers will be taking the road trip to Chocolate Town, USA, this coming week. Most teams will head out Wednesday evening for a workout at the Giant Center to get acclimated and settled before Thursday’s action kicks off at 4pm in the Giant Center at the 2022 PIAA (AAA) Individual Wrestling Championships. Unfortunately, five other SOL guys just missed out, placing sixth at the tournament.
Council Rock North had the most champs with two in their stellar duo lightweights, freshman Eren Sement, who won by tech fall (18-3 in 4:35) over CR South’s Luke Reitter at 106-pounds, and Tony Burke, who downed Spring-Ford’s Cole Smith by fall in 4-minutes at 113-pounds. Big man for CR North Aden Roe advanced to Hershey with a fourth place finish, dropping a 1-0 decision to CR South’s big Lucas Doyle at 215-pounds. Doyle was sixth a year ago in Hershey. Three SOL wrestlers advanced here at 215, as CB West’s Carl DiGiorgio kept his magical season, going with a fall in the finals over John Pardo of Kennent.
The SOL also dominated three other weight classes with all-SOL finals at 106, 132 and 152. At 132-pounds. Collin Gaj (Quakertown) decked Souderton’s Tyler Geiger, who had an outstanding tourney, in the first period in 1:02 for the title. And at 152-pounds, Bek Sadriddinov captured his second title in two weeks over North Penn’s William Morrow 3-1 in a great finals’ bout. Bek defeated Morrow last weekend at D1 East. Mason Stein (CB East) made it three qualifiers at this weight with his bronze performance, winning 7-love over Strath Haven’s Kelton Brunner.
Abington will be riding to Hershey with two wrestlers, as both Matt McCaughey (126) and Shane Kibler (145) had a tremendous tournament. McCaughey finished fourth, losing 9-4 to Spring-Ford’s Quinn Smith in the bronze match, and Kibler, who qualified for states for the second time with his bronze medal effort, winning 6-2 over WC Henderson’s Palmer Delaney in the consolation final. Souderton advanced two as well with Geiger’s runner-up finish at 132 and Kansas (2x state champ) Erick Dominguez losing a close match 3-2 at 138 to finish fourth.
CB East’s Quinn Collins needed a strong late finish in his semifinal bout to get to the finals at 189-pounds, where he needed the same late performance to down a rugged Sam DiTrolio from Garnet Valley 10-6 for the gold. Mason Stein joins him in Hershey, Stein’s second trip, with his bronze finish at 152. Pennridge’s Cole Coffin qualified with his fifth place finish at 113 with 4-3 decision over
Coatesville freshman phenom Andrij Szczesniuk. Neshaminy only managed to get one qualifier in Andrew Pokalsky who was fifth at 160. He decked WC Rustin’s Ryan Corp in 4:25 to earn the right to grapple in the Giant Center. Coming up just a win shy of qualifying were Jake Williams (Plymouth-Whitemarsh) at 120-pounds, Mason Grodzki (Pennsbury) at 138lbs and Zach Borzio (Q-town) at 145lbs.
SE Region Tournament Notes: SOL affiliates Glenn Kaiser (former H-H Coach), Marcus Johnson (P-W Coach) and Norristown Assistant Coach Brandon Parker broadcasted, provided video and conducted interviews for PA-Wrestling.com thru-out the tourney. Host’s Oxford crowned one champ in Cannon Hershey at 126-pounds. Up and coming UFC star Andre Petroski (Upper Darby) was inducted to the 2022 SE Region Hall of Fame prior to the finals along with eight SOL connected Hall of Famers in the Classes of 2021 & 2022.
Southeast Region Hall of Famers Andre Petroski & Matt Martoccio (CR South).
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