Glenn Kaiser recaps some of the SOL’s top performances in last weekend’s district championships. Check almost 500 photos taken by Sharon Shipe in our District East Wrestling Gallery...CLICK HERE.
GOLDEN HAWKS TOP THE RAMS
The Council Rock South Golden Hawks where matched by the Pennridge Rams with four champions at the District One East Championships, but the Golden Hawks topped the Rams in the team scoring 191.5 points to 158.5 points. The difference was in qualifiers, as CR South pushed nine wrestlers through to next weekends Southeast Regionals, and Pennridge only had seven qualifiers. Bonus points played a part as well, but for the most part, it was South’s pure numbers and quality wrestling.
The two teams split their head-to-head final match-ups as Kordell Rush (Pennridge) got the best of Cary Palmer (CRS) at 126 pounds with Rush securing a takedown for a 4-2 sudden victory in overtime, and Joe Doyle (CRS) owned Andrew Reinhold (Pennridge) at 195 with superior position on top, working cross-faces with legs in until he secured the fall in 3:07 of the second period. Doyle’s domination over Reinhold was the story of the day for CR South as the Golden Hawks recaptured the D1 East crown from the Rams. Pennridge won last year, and CR South edged the Rams in 2014 by six points in the team standings.
This battle of team titans was not the only highlight at Quakertown High School where this years D1 East tourney was wrestled. Youngsters made a name for themselves, and stalwarts on the mats maintained the thresholds they have established. Some newcomers advanced, and some fell victim to elimination. Nonetheless, Pennridge’s fab four of Matt Parker (113), Kordell Rush (126), Josh Stillings (160), and Kyle Gentile (182) all won titles along with CR South’s Zack Trampe (132), Riley Palmer (138), Dylan Schwartz (152), and Joe Doyle (195), thus leaving only six titles for other schools. Matt Parker (Pennridge) defeated his long-time nemesis Aidan Burke (CR North) in the 113-pound title tilt with a late takedown for a 2-1 victory. Parker said after the match that he “was just focused on having fun and staying loose” against Burke. He stated that, “during the match I just kept telling myself that is what I worked for all year, and my goal is to be a state champ this year, and I won’t stop till I get that, and that was what was going through my head. I’ve got to switch some stuff up, get off bottom and work on different positions.” As he knows, he will see Burke again on his way to the podium in Hershey.
Zack Trampe from CR South was battling a cold and some lingering injuries during the D1 East Championships; nonetheless, he was able to dominate his 132-pound finals match over newcomer Ryan Vulakh from North Penn. Trampe was superior from all positions, winning a 12-5 decision over Vulakh in this highly anticipated final match-up.
“I overcame it (the sickness in the finals) and really just controlled that match and did somewhat of what I wanted to do…(that) tells me I know I’m getting ready for Hershey,” Trampe said. Trampe has a knack for turning it up in big matches, and he has only one loss this season with a 42-1 record and is the returning state runner-up, so what does he need to do to be crowned state champion this season? His reply was plan and simple, “It’s hard to go undefeated (referring to his lone loss to Wade Cummings from Downingtown East) in any kind of sport and win a championship…just taking care of what I need to take care of. I believe it is my state championship to lose. If I do everything right from here on out, I should be on top of the podium.” His ability to turn on the switch and take it to another level in big matches may just be the key to his success on the mat. His focus has remained the same as it was last season right before his state final match when he stated the same thing about doing the right things and being prepared.
At 106, freshman Tyler Williams (Souderton) shut out Quakertown’s Josh Stahl 11-0 in the final, dominating the weight class. Gunnar Fuss (Truman) left no doubt about his mission to advance to the Southeast Regional by owning the 120-pound weight class with a solid 3-0 defeat over Souderton’s Brandon Bach. In perhaps the toughest weight class at 145 pounds, Dustin Stone (Truman) was the king here with a gritty win over Interboro’s Eric Thomas 4-2. Mikey O’Brien (North Penn) took third place after Lucas Martoccio (CRS) had to medically default in the consolation final. Martoccio defeated O’Brien in the quarterfinals 6-3.
Josh Shalinsky captured the title at 170 for Council Rock North over Q-town’s Noah Wood 6-4 in a good battle. Gavin Caroff rocked the gym for the home crowd at Quakertown with a fall in the 220-pound final over Bensalem’s Justin Speer in 1:07 of the first period. At heavyweight (285), Bruce Graeber was Neshimany’s lone champ as he decked Hatboro-Horsham’s Matt Chapman. Chapman pinned both Nick Cooper (Bensalem) and John Anderson (CRS) in the first periods of those matches setting up the final with Graeber. Those four will travel to Souderton to battle in a very competitive weight class that features two state place winners from a year ago in Graeber (5th) and Boyertown’s Tommy Killoran (6th).
Notes: The breakdown by teams in champions was as follows: CRS-4, Pennridge-4, Truman-2, CRN-1, Quakertown-1, Souderton-1, and Neshaminy-1. Thus, seven teams produced champs, all from the Suburban One League at the District One East tourney. Seven SOL schools advanced four or more wrestlers to regionals. CR South led the way with nine qualifiers, Pennridge had seven, Quakertown, North Penn, and Neshaminy had five each, and CR North and Souderton produced four SE Regional qualifiers. Tanner Seislove (Quakertown) joined the 100 Win Club at home as he advanced to regionals. In a surprise announcement of the Outstanding Wrestler Award, Joe Doyle (CR South) was the recipient as he won by pin fall in the finals at 195 pounds.
At the District One Central Championships Upper Dublin’s Colin Devlin captured the 138-pound title as he advances to the SE Regional with the goal of heading to Chocolate Town, USA, for the second straight season. Devlin decked Nik Zimmerman (Downingtown East) in the finals, erasing all doubts about his season by securing the fall in 3 minutes and 56 seconds at the end of the second period. Devlin owns a 30-1 record heading to Souderton for regionals. He is headed for a showdown with undefeated Colin Cronin of Upper Darby in the semifinals in the lower half of the bracket at regionals if he can win his first match in the quarterfinals.
Patrick Walker (Upper Moreland) was the only other champ for the SOL in the Central, as he secured the title with a sudden victory takedown in overtime winning 9-7 over Downingtown East’s Eric Gassenmayer at 195 pounds. Walker with his experience and superior ability on his feet over most opponents will look to get back to the finals at regionals to take on CR South’s Joe Doyle. He will need to knock off a very tough Brian Kennerly from Upper Darby in the semifinals to advance to states.
Although the Ches-Mont wrestlers and teams dominated the D1 Central Championships, several other SOL American Conference grapplers advanced to regionals. Upper Moreland will send three wrestlers: joining Walker will be 133 pounder Jason Amy (3rd) and heavy weight Ryan Caral (4th). Norristown’s Justin Altrogge avenged his SOL American final defeat to Plymouth-Whitmarsh’s Marco DiBittista, ending DiBittista’s season with a 7-2 victory in the consi semi-finals as he went on to take third place at 106. Eric Fuentes joins his Norristown teammate after finishing second to West Chester Henderson’s Kyle Medrow, losing 9-2 in the finals. P-W will advance two grapplers to regionals in Ben Billings at 145 pounds with his third place finish and Tommy DiSisto at 170 who also finished third at his weight class.
Downingtown East ran away with the team title, Plymouth-Whitmarsh finished eighth and Upper Moreland 10th in the team scoring.
Southeast Regional Wrestling Championships Schedule:
Friday March 4th, 2016: Wrestling starts at 5:30pm (Championship Prelims & Quarterfinals)
Saturday March 5th, 2016: Wrestling starts at 9:30am/Hall of Fame Ceremony at 5:30pm followed by Parade of Champions/Finals 6:00pmLook for some rankings and predictions later in the week…
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