Glenn Kaiser recaps the highlights for District One wrestlers at the PIAA AAA Individual Championships. To view Sharon Shipe's photos of Friday’s matches, please visit the Photo Gallery.
DISTRICT ONE WRESTLERS SHUT OUT OF STATE GOLD
By Glenn Kaiser
It was supposed to be a banner year for District One wrestlers this season, but no D1 wrestler stood atop the podium on the final day at the Giant Center for the 2016 PIAA AAA Individual Championships. Championship dreams were broken as only two D1 grapplers made it to the finals. Expectations were high for finalist Matt Parker-113 pounds (Pennridge), Wade Cummings-126 (Downingtown East), Zack Trampe-132 (Council Rock South), Kyle Gentile-182 (Pennridge), and finalist Tommy Killoran-285 (Boyertown) to capture gold in Hershey in 2016. Others also were looking for gold in Chocolate Town, USA, included Jakob Campbell-113 (Boyertown), who finished third a year ago, 138 pounders Riley Palmer (CR South) and Colin Cronin (Upper Darby), Gregg Harvey-182 (Boyertown), Joe Doyle-195, and heavyweight Bruce Graeber (Neshaminy), to name a few.
In fact, Boyertown, Pennridge, and Council Rock South all looked for a state team title as well. Boyertown, without returning state champ Jordan Wood (220 pounds) stepping on the mat at Regionals, lost too many points in his absence to contend. Pennridge with only one finalist slowed them, and Council Rock having no finalists cost them their chance. Nonetheless, all three teams finished in the top 10. Pennridge finished in fifth place (61 points) with four placers, Council Rock South eighth place (49) with Boyertown right behind them in ninth place (47). Bethlehem Catholic won the AAA Team Championship, earning 126.5 points and winning by 36.5 points over runner-up Nazareth.
Matt Parker reached the finals after knocking off undefeated Gage Curry (North Hills) in the quarterfinals with a late takedown and then downed Central Dauphin’s Chris Wright 3-1. However, in the finals at 113 pounds, it was all Jake Chlebove (Northampton) as the freshman phenom shut him out 3-0. Parker won League (SOL), District (D1 East), and Regional (Southeast) titles on the way to the title tilt. Boyertown’s big man Tommy Killoran also won his league title (PAC 10), districts (D1 West), and the SE Regional title but could not complete the quadruple championship run as he was thwarted by BECA’s undefeated 285 pounder Andrew Gunning. Gunning won on a controversial stall call at the end of the match 2-1 to take the last title match of the evening in the Giant Center. Gunning had defeated Killoran once before during the regular season.
Zack Trampe (CR South) was never himself during the three-day championship as he ended up losing three matches in a row after dropping his 132-pound semifinal bout to Hazleton’s James Hoffman to finish in sixth place. Wade Cummings had a tall task in reaching the top of the podium at 126 pounds as he ran into CD’s Tyshawn White in the quarterfinals, dropping a 5-3 decision to the then undefeated White. Cummings rebounded with a D1 battle with Pennridge’s Kordell Rush (8th place) that resulted in a 3-1 victory. Cummings finished fifth overall, making some wonder why he dropped to 126 rather than stay up at 132 pounds.
Kyle Gentile (Pennridge) came up just short of his bid to win a title, losing in the quarterfinals at 182 pounds to North Allegheny’s Jake Woodley 5-3. Gentile controlled the match for five minutes, but a late takedown for Woodley sent Gentile down to the consolations. This match-up was one of several that should have occurred in the finals, but with the PIAA not seeding the tournament, it occurred early on. Woodley went on to win the 182-pound title, and Gentile wrestled back for the bronze as he downed Chambersburg Drew Peck 3-2 in the consolation final. Pennridge’s Josh Stillings also reached the 160-pound consolation final, but dropped a 6-2 decision there to Abington Heights’ Nick Carr for fourth. Stillings dropped a quarterfinal match to the undefeated eventual champ Kaleb Young (Punxsutawney) but was impressive, going 4-2 in Hershey while battling an illness in only his second season. Jakob Campbell (Boyertown) earned his second consecutive state medal at 113, placing seventh and capping his junior season with a win over Hempfield Area’s Vincent Distefanis 5-3.
District One snagged 20 medals after the long ride to Hershey and back was all said and done. The Suburban One League led the way with 10 medals, the PAC 10 netted five, the Ches-Mont three and the Central League, two. District XII secured two medals in AAA by LaSalle College High School grapplers. Anthony Piscopo defeated CR South’s Joe Doyle 2-1 in the consolation final at 195 pounds, and teammate, 220-pounder Garrett Zobel, finished in fifth place with a win over Freedom’s Evan Callahan 3-0.
SE Regional champion at 138 pounds Riley Palmer (CRS) failed to medal, but Upper Darby’s Colin Cronin had a great tournament, finishing fourth for the Royals at 138. Cronin made it to the semifinals but was forced to wrestle back after dropping a 7-3 match to eventual champ Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe). Pletcher won his third title after a controversial win over Nazareth’s Sammy Sasso in the quarterfinals, another match that very well shoulda, coulda, woulda been a final. Bruce Graeber, Neshaminy’s heavyweight was on a tear in the consolation, bracket winning five straight matches to come back to take the bronze at 285 after losing Thursday night in his first round bout. He won in overtime over BECA’s Nico Camacho 2-1 for the bronze.
Spring-Ford’s sophomore Brandon Meredith made the drop to 106 pounds from 113 look easy with his fourth place finish. Meredith rebounded from a third place finish at the D1 West tourney, winning a regional title to set up his run to states. Freshman Ryan Vulakh (North Penn) medaled in his first trip to the Giant Center, placing eight at 132 pounds. Vulakh finished runner-up to Zack Trampe at both districts and regionals in his freshmen campaign.
Three 145-pound D1 wrestlers entered the state tourney, and two left Hershey with medals. CR South’s Lucas Martoccio made it to the semifinals but had to wrestle back after a loss there. Martoccio pinned Avon Grove’s Kevin Edwards in the consi-semis to reach the bronze medal bout. Martoccio lost to Central York’s Dylan Chatterton 4-2 for fourth place. Edwards rebounded with a seventhh place finish, closing out his season with a win by major decision over Pottsvile’s Luke Gardner 11-3. Dustin Stone (Harry S Truman) was the third qualifier at 145. Coatesville’s Chase Stephens was triumphant over South Western’s Gage Thomas to take seventh place at 152 pounds.
At 160 pounds Conestogas’s Dan Iredale capped his senior season with an eighth place finish. Spring-Ford added a second medal at 170 pounds with Steven Rice’s seventh place hardware. Gregg Harvey finished fifth for Boyertown at 182 pounds and did not have to wrestle his friend, Kyle Gentile, to get there. Harvey was the runner-up to Gentile at regionals. Quakertown’s Gavin Caroff finished eighth at 220 after securing pins in the finals at both districts and regionals.
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